Don Gaetz, former Florida Senate president, has served on the Florida Commission on Ethics since 2020. While in the Florida Legislature, he pushed for stronger ethics laws, and since joining the ethics commission, he has advocated for not letting parties drag out the proceedings. Gaetz is the commissioner that made the motion to recommend to Gov. DeSantis to remove Doug Underhill from the Escambia County Commission for the District 2 commissioner’s numerous violations.
On WCOA, I asked him about the importance of Florida’s ethics laws.
“Well, it just seems to me, and I don’t mean this to sound like a bumper sticker, but it seems to me that Florida deserves to have its public business done honestly and openly,” he said. “And I think when we do that, when we do honest and open public business, whether we agree or disagree, whether Democrats are in charge or Republicans are in charge, we have better policies and people have an interest in and support of and belief in their government.”
Gaetz added, “Here in Florida we want high standards, we want our government to be as good as its people, and it can be.”
He also talked about giving the ethics commission “more teeth” and not letting cases drag on for years. Underhill’s case had numerous delays and postponements and took almost two years to conclude.
“I’ve worked with the other ethics commissioners and now with our new executive director to move ethics complaints and cases along quickly and to give everybody due process, but to give everybody their day in court,” the former senate president said. “We’re moving more expeditiously, and that’s the case I think with the Underhill matter and other matters that frankly, people feel as though if they can drag it out and drag it out, then maybe it’ll go away or maybe events will occur that will make certain penalties moot. But I don’t think that’s the way the people want it.”
