Florida Center for Government Accountability@FLCTRGA

To produce well-sourced quality reporting that illuminates complex issues, holds government accountable to its citizens, and enhances civic engagement.

flcga.org/
Joined April 2021
135 Photos and videos
#DefendDemocracy orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/…

Guest Commentary: State GOP tried to sidestep the First Amendment. It didn’t work.

As former state legislator Dick Batchelor writes, the since-dropped lawsuit over a Democratic political ad that highlighted the $10 million Hope Florida scandal was an effort to hide the truth.

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Last week, FLCGA filed motion requesting a rehearing on the court's decision to expunge the Hope Florida grand jury report. #DefendDemocracy orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/…

Government watchdog wants expungement of Hope Florida report overturned

The group says the First District Court of Appeal wrongly decided the case and should reconsider or send the matter to the Florida Supreme Court.

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Government watchdog wants expungement of Hope Florida report overturned

A government watchdog group wants the First District Court of Appeal to reverse its decision to delete the Hope Florida grand jury report from public records, arguing it was denied its rightful...

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#DefendDemocracy orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/…

GOP player in ‘ghost’ candidate scandal behind texts slamming AG candidate

Alex Alvarado’s political action committee sent the texts attacking Jose Javier Rodriguez, the Democrat running for Florida attorney general, and was an early supporter of Republican Attorney General...

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A growing number of Florida physicians are fighting the DeSantis administration’s effort to repeal longstanding vaccine mandates. The latest to join the legal challenge: the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians Services. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/repeal-of…

DeSantis administration’s repeal of vaccine mandates faces mounting legal challenges

A second wave of Florida physicians is joining a family practice doctor, a leukemia patient and a school nurse in a legal fight to defend longstanding

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FLCGA is asking the First District Court of Appeal to reconsider its decision ordering a grand jury’s Hope Florida presentment expunged. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/hope-flor…

FLCGA Seeks Rehearing of Hope Florida Grand Jury Ruling

Parties to the case learned of the appeal by reading the opinion. Now they are asking the First DCA to hear them before the presentment is gone for good.

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The Republican Party of Florida has now dismissed its Highlands County lawsuit seeking to ban ads about the Hope Florida scandal -- just one day after a circuit judge refused to grant the request without a hearing. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/breaking-…

Florida GOP Drops Hope Florida Ad Lawsuit

The Republican Party of Florida dismissed its Highlands County suit to ban Democratic Hope Florida ads, five days after the First DCA denied Attorney General James Uthmeier’s own emergency motion to...

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FLCGA "reported that Uthmeier and other members of the DeSantis administration spent at least $327,000 in taxpayer dollars to keep the report under wraps." #DefendDemocracy orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/…

GOP sues to ban ads tying Uthmeier to Hope Florida scandal, threatens TV stations

The ad has aired on some Orlando TV stations, the lawsuit says.

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GOP sues to ban ads tying Uthmeier to Hope Florida scandal, threatens TV stations

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Republican Party of Florida is threatening TV stations and the Florida Democratic Party with civil and even criminal sanctions if they don’t cancel an ad targeting Attorney...

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#DefendDemocracy floridatoday.com/story/news/…

GOP threatens media with criminal prosecution if Hope Florida TV ad runs

Florida Republicans are suing to block campaign ads about the 'Hope Florida' scandal, raising free speech concerns.

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Join us at noon ET today! REGISTER: flcga.org/special-events #DefendDemocracy
Join FLCGA & the Florida Trident for a Lunchtime Conversation Fighting for Florida's Right to Know An Impact Webinar on the Ziegler Victory & Hope Florida Investigation Wednesday, October 21, 2026 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET Join us for a deep dive into two of FLCGA's public-records battles: the Ziegler case and Hope Florida. Hear what the courts have decided, what remains sealed and what comes next.

ALT Join FLCGA & the Florida Trident for a Lunchtime Conversation Fighting for Florida's Right to Know An Impact Webinar on the Ziegler Victory & Hope Florida Investigation Wednesday, October 21, 2026 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET Join us for a deep dive into two of FLCGA's public-records battles: the Ziegler case and Hope Florida. Hear what the courts have decided, what remains sealed and what comes next.
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BREAKING: A judge has denied the Florida Republican Party’s request for an emergency order banning broadcast of the Hope Florida ads. As the Trident reported on Sunday, the party sued to block the ads under threat of criminal prosecution. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/breaking-…

Florida GOP loses emergency bid to ban Hope Florida ads

Judge Peter Estrada denied the party's ex parte request, days after the First District refused to ban publication of the Hope Florida grand jury report.

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The Republican Party of Florida is threatening criminal prosecution of anyone who repeats a Leon County grand jury’s finding that high-ranking state officials diverted $10 million in the Hope Florida scandal. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/florida-g…

Republicans want Hope Florida story silenced and jail for anyone who talks about it

The party's theory: once an appeals court ordered the Hope Florida grand jury report erased, airing its "content, gist, or import" became a crime. Uthmeier is on the Nov. 3 ballot.

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Maxwell highlights a few more overlooked races in Florida to make sure to vote in next month. #DefendDemocracy orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/…

Maxwell: Ignore the polls in Florida. Focus on what matters. A voter guide

Maxwell: Forget the polls. They’re often wrong. More importantly, they don’t matter. Only votes do. And there are some overlooked races in Florida that deserve your attention. A voter guide

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Court wipes out Hope Florida grand jury presentment that blasted DeSantis administration

” A grand jury may investigate and report, but it may not declare conduct unlawful and then decline to charge it, and it may not condemn people by name without indicting them,” Appellate Judge Lance...

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Court wipes out Hope Florida grand jury presentment that blasted DeSantis administration

TALLAHASSEE — In a surprising twist to a tortuous political controversy, a state appeals court has now expunged the confidential Hope Florida grand jury report leaked two months ago that accused key...

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BREAKING: A Florida appeals court has thrown out the grand jury report from the Hope Florida scheme. The court said the money was never public money, despite the state reimbursing the federal government for the full amount. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/hope-flor…

Court erases Hope Florida grand jury report after shutting out anyone who would defend it

No one was allowed to argue to keep the report. The lawyers who won include firms paid more than $300,000 in public money. A third firm, hired 12 days before the grand jury met, represented a witness...

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Despite DeSantis' push to eliminate school vaccine requirements, polls indicate voters strongly support widely immunizing school-age children. Tomorrow's hearing gives the public another opportunity to weigh in. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/politics-…

Politics turns up the heat on latest plan to strike vaccines; groups lawyer up

TALLAHASSEE – Another clash over vaccine mandates in Florida is coming Thursday, when state health officials will hear from the public about striking four

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"The proposal is billed as a tax cut, but will actually jack up housing costs for millions of Floridians." #DefendDemocracy orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/…

Maxwell: Florida sheriffs, fiscal watchdogs say Amendment 3 is a misleading, financial disaster

Florida sheriffs have been among the loudest critics of Amendment 3, saying the proposed property tax cut would gut public safety budgets and increase response times. Conservative fiscal watchdogs...

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Maxwell: Florida sheriffs, fiscal watchdogs say Amendment 3 is a misleading, financial disaster

One of the most striking things about Florida’s Amendment 3 is that almost everybody who’s actually studied this plan thinks it’s a bad idea. Fiscal watchdogs and Wall Street Analysts. Sheriffs and...

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