Waste of the Day: Florida Emergency Fund Spent on Porta-Potties, DeSantis Donors
Topline: Florida spent $405 million in emergency funding on its immigration crackdown in the last six months, with nearly a quarter paying for porta-potties and millions going to companies whose executives have donated to Republican political action committees linked to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Phoenix reported.
Key facts: Florida’s $2.7 billion Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund was created in 2022 to be used by the governor “for purposes of preparing or responding to a disaster declared by the Governor as a state of emergency.”
DeSantis declared illegal immigration to be a state disaster and appropriated much of the money to detention efforts.
While $405 million has been spent in the last six months, a total of $573 million has been spent since 2022 on Operation Vigilant Sentry, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security initiative led by the Coast Guard to deter illegal immigration near Florida. The largest payment was a whopping $92.8 million to a porta-potty company, Doodie Calls, for sanitation at the South Florida Detention Facility, Florida Phoenix reported.
The state also sent $20.7 million to the disaster response firm Gothams LLC and $9.2 million to the security company GardaWorld.
Gothams founder Matt Michaelsen gave $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida in 2021 and $25,000 to DeSantis’ Empower Parents political action committee in 2022, while GardaWorld donated $5,000 to the DeSantis’ Empower Parents PAC, according to the Miami Herald.
Another $25.5 million went to CDR Companies, an emergency response firm led by Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart. The married couple has previously donated a combined $1.9 million to two DeSantis PACs and to the Republican Party of Florida, the Miami Herald found.
Vidal-Duart is on the board of the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity founded by First Lady Casey DeSantis. As Open the Books previously highlighted, the charity secretly received $10 million in Medicaid funding that was later donated to the Keep Florida Clean PAC run by Attorney General James Uthmeierl. A criminal investigation is ongoing.
The emergency fund also paid for $156,147 worth of “food products,” including $2,170 to Pedro’s Tacos and Tequila Bar, $1,200 to Bumpa’s Sports Bar in Tallahassee, and more than $3,000 to Chik-Fil-A.
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Background: The state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund expired on Feb. 17 but was reauthorized two days later.
The Republican-led Transportation & Economic Development Budget Subcommittee tried to add new guardrails to the emergency fund — such as limiting it to natural disaster spending only and requiring quarterly spending reports sworn under oath — but they backed down following criticism from DeSantis and his allies. James Uthmeier called the idea “moronic.”
Summary: Government spending should always be subject to strict oversight and basic cost efficiency, even when it’s meant to combat a crisis like illegal immigration.
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