The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

It was a mixed bag politically in Florida this week. On Tuesday, the Manatee County Commission held a meeting, in which we saw some good and bad. Tallahassee, as per usual, came through on the ugly.

The Good

The Manatee County Commission voted to end its lobbying contract with Ballard Partners, a Florida firm with deep ties to the Trump administration. The firm is headquartered in Tallahassee but maintains a strong presence in major metropolitan areas, including Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, and Sarasota.

In March of 2023, then-commissioners Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Vanessa Baugh made a hard push for the board to replace its longtime lobbying firm, Hong & Associates, with Ballard, citing better connections with Republican decision-makers.

Founded by Brian Ballard, a longtime Republican fundraiser and close Trump ally, the firm is essentially comprised of high-profile former Republican officeholders. Most notably, both White House Chief of Staff and recently canned AG Pam Bondi joined the second Trump administration from Ballard. If you wanted the ear of the White House during the first Trump administration, it was said that your best intermediary was Ballard. In fact, some GOP members of Congress said that it was easier to get the President’s ear through Ballard than through conventional channels.

Considering Joe Biden was president when the board gave the contract to Ballard, the upside was not very obvious, other than perhaps an opportunity for individual commissioners to curry favor with the politically powerful firm. In the meantime, the county added and staffed a Government Relations Department, raising questions as to whether an outside lobbying firm is even necessary.

BOCC Chair Tal Siddique raised the issue of ending the county’s relationship with Ballard, which passed 5-1 with only Commissioner Bob McCann objecting. McCann did not vocalize the reason for his dissent.

Ballard’s bread and butter is lobbying for foreign governments like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Liberia. In fact, the job Bondi had before becoming Attorney General of the United States was actually as a registered foreign lobbyist for Qatar.

The firm also has documented ties to American pro-Israel organizations and Republican pro-Israel political circles. In 2026, Ballard signed a $2 million contract connected to Libyan strongman Khalifa Hifter and his son, drawing criticism because of allegations of human rights abuses tied to their forces.

Ballard operates in the most shadowy of lobbying lanes and clearly has far more important clients to cater to than Manatee County, so good job, BOCC.

The Bad

This week, Manatee County residents were asked to wrap their heads around a contract that would see the county spend some $53,000 each month under a service agreement with FPL to install and maintain backup generators at its new LWR administrative building. The 20-year agreement totals $12.48 million (more than half the purchase price of the 100,000-square-foot facility).

I read the agenda and listened to the meeting, and still cannot quite get my own head around the idea that we would need to pay such a steep price to account for the rare instance when we might need backup power, especially in an area of the county where nearly all of the power lines have been put underground.

As I’ve stated before, I haven’t liked this acquisition from the beginning. The lack of transparency was the first red flag. There was absolutely no conversation whatsoever regarding the need for another administration building, let alone an older facility so inconveniently located in the far southeast corner of the county.

Employees seem to hate the commute and complain about poor AC circulation and a lack of restrooms, which has reportedly led many to go to the nearby Publix when there are too many people queued to relieve themselves. That’s probably not going to get better when the number of employees working there roughly doubles after the significant (and expensive) renovations are complete.

Was there a cost analysis of developing a new east county facility on the Lena Road tract of land the county already owns, as originally planned? Obviously, it would have cost more, but we would have had a new building built to the specific needs of not only the present day but also years out into the future, when other departments' planned relocations would have surrounded the facility.

I can’t answer that question because, again, there was zero public conversation, just a hurry up and approve this or we’ll lose the sale, followed by assurances that this is all perfectly normal and a good use of taxpayer dollars. Commissioner McCann, who pulled the item from consent and voted against it, said he felt like this is starting to become something of a money pit. I can't say I disagree.

The Ugly

On Thursday, Gov. DeSantis responded to questions regarding the big, dumb, ridiculously expensive stunt that was Alligator Alcatraz, now that it’s “served its purpose” and is likely to be shuttered. In all, somewhere between half a billion and $1.4 billion was spent to process and house around only 22,000 inmates under some of the most wretched conditions imaginable, so that good old pudding fingers could continue his effort to make nice with Trump and MAGA after trying to primary Dear Leader.

This is just one in a long string of hollow, moronic, fiscally irresponsible pieces of political theater that will be DeSantis’ legacy. And he’s not done yet. The governor is itching to use some of the upcoming special session time to give USF-Sarasota/Manatee to New College, and to further his hair-brained scheme to eliminate non-school property taxes. Let’s hope there are enough Republicans in Tallahassee who’ve grown tired of his theatrics and aren’t afraid to offend a lame duck governor who wants them to own votes they will surely come to regret.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. Mitch's new novel, Fish Kill, is currently available and can be found along with his previous books here. He can be reached at editor@thebradentontimes.com.