In a court hearing Tuesday, a lawyer for Florida’s environmental agency argued that the state employee who was fired after leaking plans to develop nine state parks in 2024 doesn’t qualify for whistleblower protections.
Ed Lombard, an attorney representing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, argued that former parks employee James Gaddis simply “disagreed with a policy direction that the agency was taking,” but that doesn’t mean the state was breaking any laws.
In August 2024, Gaddis wrote an anonymous memo, later obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, that detailed how the state was planning to build golf courses and hotels in state parks from Miami to the Panhandle. The revelations sparked bipartisan condemnation of the plans and statewide protests before Gov. Ron DeSantis reversed course.
Gaddis was then fired after he admitted to authoring the memo, leading him to sue the agency for retaliation.
The state argued Tuesday that because the memo was anonymous, that also disqualified Gaddis from whistleblower protections.
State law lays out specific requirements for whistleblower cases, including that they disclose information in a “signed complaint” or that they submit concerns to a supervisor or inspector general.
Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey dismissed Gaddis’ complaint, but said his lawyers could refile it to address legal issues raised by the environmental agency within 30 days.
Katherine Viker, a lawyer defending Gaddis, said they would work on a new filing. She argued that Gaddis warned the public about the sweeping plan that would “invade” and “imperil” protected park land, as the state tried to keep the plans secret.
“Rather than investigating, they sought to seek out who leaked their plan,” Viker said.
Instead of addressing the issues Gaddis raised, the agency decided it was going to “shut up whoever had the unmitigated gall to leak our little high-priority secret,” Viker added.
Gaddis’ legal team in November alleged in filings that the park development plans “came directly from the governor’s office,” and were surrounded by an uncommon level of secrecy.
Gaddis has alleged that he was called into a “surprise” Microsoft Teams meeting in July 2024 with top environment department officials. He said a bureau chief held up a Post-it note from the governor’s office listing “high priority” parks proposals, and Gaddis was told to keep them secret, even from co-workers.
He has also previously alleged that a supervisor told him to move documents about the state parks plans to a disguised shared folder, misleadingly titled “DirecTV Subscription Info.”
Alexandra Kuchta, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Protection, said Tuesday that the agency was “pleased that the court granted its motion to dismiss.”
After the news broke about Gaddis’ firing, the public donated more than $250,000 to a GoFundMe that supported him. The DeSantis administration then released portions of Gaddis’ personnel file to a Gainesville TV news station that had not formally asked for the records.
The documents detailed issues from a previous state job involving a former romantic partner. Gaddis called the release of his personnel records and a subsequent article about them a “hit piece.”
Gaddis has maintained that he didn’t disclose the park plans for political reasons, but was appalled at the prospect of habitats like scrubland and coastal dunes converted to 350-room hotels and golf greens.
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The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida’s most urgent and enduring challenges.
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