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Scott Maxwell Profile picture
@Scott_Maxwell
May 12 • 3 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
Even the feds had to finally admit "Alligator Alcatraz" was a boondoggle.

1) It was an environmental shit-show. (Literally. 1,400 people defecating daily in one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country - a place taxpayers spent billions to restore.)
orlandosentinel.com/2026/05/12/max…
2) Spending was out of control - $92 million went to a single porta-potty company. (Repped by a lobbyist close to Trump and DeSantis.)
3) There were lots of other costly, no-bid deals - and zero accountability.
4) It had a record of rights violations ...
orlandosentinel.com/2026/02/17/92-…
... both human and constitutional, cited by multiple judges. One judge issued another ruling against the state this past Monday.
So it was an environmental mess, a human rights mess and a costly mess.
Apparently that final part was the nail in the coffin.
nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/…

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More from @Scott_Maxwell

Scott Maxwell Profile picture
May 15, 2025
A prediction:
Bondi will claim she had no idea the tariffs were about to be announced when she dumped the stock.
Ignorance was also the excuse she used when she got caught taking $25,000 from Trump while her Florida office was reviewing complaints against him.
A reminder 🧵
Bondi cashed the $25k check from the Trump Foundation after her own office told our newspaper that it was reviewing complaints against Trump U.
But Bondi claimed she didn't know her office was doing so.
She claimed she only learned about the conflict from ... wait for it ..
... my column.

Yes, her defense was that a schlub newspaper columnist in Orlando knew more about what was going on in her office than she did.

But even that didn't hold water.
Internal memos from her office revealed that ...
orlandosentinel.com/2016/09/24/tru…Image
Read 7 tweets
Scott Maxwell Profile picture
Apr 21, 2025
Eye-opening reporting by @jeffschweers who tracked down 1 of the 4 people that the DeSantises' Hope Florida program touted as a success story.

It turns out, she's still struggling and still receiving public assistance.
A🧵...
Celia Fanjul is “featured in the Hope Florida magazine alongside a softly-lit photo of two children hugging a woman.”
“The photo is not of her or her family, however. And her actual encounter with Hope Florida … is very different from the one featured in the online magazine.”
Three years after turning to Hope, Fanjul "appears to be no better off than she was. She lives with her three youngest daughters in a double-wide mobile home … not working, and she and her children are still on Medicaid ... just as they were three years ago.”
Read 4 tweets
Scott Maxwell Profile picture
Mar 13, 2024
As most predicted, thanks to Florida Dems canceling their presidential primary (to help Biden), Democratic voters are so far taking a pass on next week's voting - when municipal races are at stake.
GOP mail advantage whopping 15-to-1 so far.
Local-level effects could be massive. Image
Even in Orange -where D's way outnumber R's - Republicans are outvoting 3-to-1.
And this is where city races in Apopka, Ocoee and Winter Park and more are on the ballots.
Will probably even out some heading into election day, but this is a huge difference.
countyballotfiles.floridados.gov/VoteByMailEarl…
Image
As @SoFlaOpinion wrote last year: “It’s an insult to Democratic voters and a disservice to local elections being held the same day.”

Editorial: "Big mistake for Florida Democrats to cancel presidential primary"

"It’s arrogant — and it’s wrong"
orlandosentinel.com/2023/12/05/big…
Read 4 tweets
Scott Maxwell Profile picture
Mar 23, 2023
Yesterday, Florida's top education official learned high students had invited a drag queen to speak - and swooped in to take action.

Now, look at what state officials do when alerted to serious problems - including actual criminal issues - at state-approved voucher schools.
1/8 Image
You can read that full story - from two years ago - here:
"Troubled Orange school gets millions in vouchers. State investigates after a teacher’s arrest and does nothing. Again."

But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
2/8
 orlandosentinel.com/news/education…
The @orlandosentinel has also discovered and written about voucher schools that were evicted and that didn’t their pay teachers.

The school owners were allowed to open up second voucher schools.
3/8
 orlandosentinel.com/news/education…
Read 9 tweets
Scott Maxwell Profile picture
Jan 21, 2023
I've got $20 for any member of the DeSantis administration who can provide an accurate list of all the times courts and judges - including his own appointees to the state Supreme Court - have ruled he violated the U.S. or Florida Constitution.

I'll help you get started.
🧵 Image
There was the time a federal judge - very conservative, appointed by Donald Trump and Rick Scott - said the state wasn't allowed to arrest people for donating to citizen amendment drives the governor disliked.
(First Amendment.)
orlandosentinel.com/opinion/scott-…
One of the more embarrassing:
When DeSantis' own Supreme Court appointees ruled he couldn't appoint a justice who hadn't met the constitutional requirements for being a lawyer long enough.
(Here, they basically said the governor can't overrule math.)
orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne…
Read 6 tweets
Scott Maxwell Profile picture
Oct 4, 2022
Hi Carolina.
Records show the prior owners had a homestead exemption on the house - meaning their tax bill was lowered b/c they claimed they still lived there - when you say you were leasing it.
In both 2020 and 2021.
Hard to see how both things can be true.
Can you explain?
Here's a statement from the prop. appraiser's office.
The house listed as your address for voter-registration purposes in 2020 still had a homestead exemption for them in 2021.

Seems like either tax implications for them or residency issues for you.
Welcome your thoughts.
And here are the sales records for the house, along with your campaign documents.

They show the nonprofit school your family is affiliated with bought the house on March 24, 2022 - one week *after* you filed paperwork to run for office listing that house as your address.
Read 4 tweets

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