Salzman to DOGE: ‘Bro, come on out to Pensacola…We’ll take you to Wahoos game…Check out the books’

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves isn’t worried about the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) coming to review city records next week. At his weekly press conference, he refused to speculate why the City of Pensacola has been targeted.

• He said, “I fully expect that an audit team would leave here maybe using the city of Pensacola as an example of how government should be run.”

WEAR-TV’s Tanner Stewart reported Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia has explained how he chooses cities for audits.

• “If you ever wonder how we find out to go and what to target is because there are people inside local governments, people that are government adjacent are telling us, ‘Hey, you should look at X, Y, and Z because A, B, and C is happening,’” Ingoglia said a recent press conference.

On Aug. 3, State Rep. Michelle Salzman posted on Facebook that she had asked Attorney General James Uthmeier and CFO Ingoglia to audit Escambia County, paying close attention to the Escambia Children’s Trust and the Escambia County School Board.

• Salzman toned down her claims in her interview with Stewart on Tuesday, Aug. 12. “I would say I asked for it. I didn’t necessarily say, ‘I demand you’re going to Pensacola.’ I said, ‘Bro, come on out to Pensacola. Visit us. We’ll take you to a Wahoos game. Let’s have a good time. Check out the books; let us know what we can do better.”

The state lawmaker added, “I know for a fact that my county commissioners and that my school board and that my city council, I mean, I’ve had conversations with all of them over the past six months and they’ve all said, ‘Yeah, we welcome DOGE. No big deal.’ So I don’t think I’m doing anything that they would be upset about.”

Salzman later issued a written statement to WEAR-TV:

• “This is an opportunity to confirm that taxpayer dollars are being used wisely and our processes are as strong as they can be. And Mayor Reeves put out a statement last night saying The city appreciates any efforts by the state to ensure taxpayer dollars.”