The employee’s dismissal letter, shared with the Tampa Bay Times, said he released ‘unauthorized’ information to the public.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/09/03/florida-state-parks-whistleblower-james-gaddis-leaked-plans/A Florida state staffer who admitted to leaking plans about putting golf courses in state parks told local media Tuesday he was fired from the state’s environmental protection agency.
Jared Gaddis told the Tampa Bay Times he received a letter from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) over the weekend informing him he was dismissed from his role as a planning consultant, as of last Friday.
The dismissal letter, obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, told Gaddis the department “became aware that you intentionally released authorized and inaccurate information to the public.”
“At least one document was created, authored, and disseminated by you without direction or permission,” it read.
The agency hired Gaddis as a cartographer to make conceptual land use maps for state proposals, he told the Times. The proposals reportedly included golf courses and other developments, including a 350-room hotel at one state park.
His leaking of the plans was not intended to be political, Gaddis said, but stemmed from his concern over the rushed timeline of the plans and the environmental harm they would cause if carried out.
“It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks,” Gaddis said in an interview Tuesday.
“This was going to be a complete bulldozing of all of that habitat,” he continued. “The secrecy was totally confusing and very frustrating. No state agency should be behaving like this.”
The leaked plans immediately drew scrutiny, with people protesting in parks across the Sunshine State. Petitions against the plans received hundreds of thousands of signatures.
