A Pattern Emerges In Florida: Vaccine Sites Benefit Governor's Donors

A trend tends not to be a coincidence. JL

Matt Shuham reports in TPM:

A pattern has begun to emerge in Florida: The wealthiest neighborhoods in the state, many stocked with deep-pocketed donors to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), are getting vaccine access ahead of their neighbors.Since DeSantis started using the state’s vaccine initiative to steer special pop-up vaccinations to select communities, his political committee has raised $2.7 million in the month of February alone, more than any other month since he first ran for governor in 2018, records show.

A pattern has begun to emerge in Florida: The wealthiest neighborhoods in the state, many stocked with elderly, deep-pocketed, vaccine-eligible donors to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), are getting vaccine access ahead of their neighbors.

That pattern has created a trickle of bad news that the governor is having a hard time ignoring.

The Miami Herald had the latest yesterday: As seniors around the state struggled to find a vaccine in late January, management at the ultra-high-end Ocean Reef Club neighborhood wrote to residents on Jan. 22 that over the prior two weeks, the development’s medical center had vaccinated over 1,200 homeowners.

“We are fortunate to have received enough vaccines to ensure both the first and second for those vaccinated,” the message obtained by the Herald read. “At this time, however, the majority of the State has not received an allocation of first doses of vaccines for this week and beyond, and the timing of any subsequent deliveries remains unclear.”

That latter bit was an understatement: Overall, elderly Floridians have struggled to snag vaccine appointments amid high demand for the shots in the state; the Census Bureau estimates that 21% of Floridians are over 65 years old, the cutoff for age-based vaccine eligibility.

Early on, the state made national news with the revelation that elderly people had camped out overnight for a shot at one county’s first-come-first-served jabs. Even now, demand for shots outstrips supply, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. “Appointments can be very hard to get, as available time slots are booked quickly, and you may experience long wait times on the phone,” the AARP noted of Florida vaccine distribution scheme.

So how did the Ocean Reef Club get so much early access to vaccines?

A spokesperson for the governor claimed DeSantis had no role in requesting vaccines for the community, and the governor called the Herald story a “train wreck” on Thursday.

But The Herald noted some compelling financial details: “The only people from Key Largo who gave to DeSantis’ political committee live in Ocean Reef.” All of those donors had contributed $5,000 to the governor’s committee as of December. One resident, the wealthy former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R), gave $250,000 in February.

Even before Wednesday’s news, DeSantis donors appeared to be on the winning end of the state’s vaccination plans.

In mid-February, news broke that the governor had reached out to a wealthy developer friend of his, Rex Jensen, with good news: The governor wanted to establish a vaccine site where Jensen had developed a high-end community called Lakewood Ranch. Jensen reached out to a Manatee County commissioner to make it happen. The commissioner, Vanessa Baugh, subsequently spoke publicly about this unusual chain-of-command.

Baugh established an exclusive vaccination site covering just two wealthy zip codes, including Lakewood Ranch. Later, news broke that Baugh had created a VIP list for the site that included… herself and Jensen. The Sheriff’s Office is investigating. Meanwhile, the rest of Manatee County is dealing with a cumbersome lottery system for vaccines.

Similar stories have played out across the state, including in the upscale community of Grand Palm, in Venice, Florida, where residents were offered access to a vaccine site organized by developer and DeSantis donor Pat Neal. Another Neal development, Boca Royale, also got a vaccine site, and so did the Kings Gate retirement community, another Neal project.

“Rest assured Kings Gate residents will receive priority,” read a Kings Gate email to residents obtained by The Port Charlotte Sun. (It is worth noting that local newspapers in Florida have done some excellent reporting about all of this.)

Neal played a role in the Lakewood Ranch site as well: The development is part of his Neal Communities empire, and Neal was on the line with DeSantis when the governor called Rex Jensen about setting up a vaccine site, Jensen told the Bradenton Herald.

DeSantis has responded aggressively to the coverage of his vaccine sites.

Asked last month’s stories about the Lakewood Ranch site, developed after calls with his developer buddies and benefitting two wealthy zip codes, DeSantis threatened to take his shots elsewhere.

“If Manatee County doesn’t like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it,” he said.

Later, a spokesperson for the governor pointed out that nine of the state’s 15 senior living community clinics had been established in Broward County and Palm Beach, which the spokesperson said “are not known for being Republican strongholds.” (Presumably this excludes the former Republican president living in Palm Beach County currently.)

But, again, the numbers and political connections tell a compelling story. As the Herald noted Wednesday,

Since DeSantis started using the state’s vaccine initiative to steer special pop-up vaccinations to select communities, his political committee has raised $2.7 million in the month of February alone, more than any other month since he first ran for governor in 2018, records show.