In early July, a lobbyist at a firm run by a top fundraiser to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called four of the governor-appointed members on the board that runs Orlando International Airport on behalf of a client.
Under the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority’s lobbying policies, lobbyists are supposed to publicly disclose meetings with board members within seven days. The lobbyist didn’t reveal those phone calls until nearly three months later — after the Orlando Sentinel began asking questions and requesting records related to the firm’s work at the airport.
But aviation authority leaders say they don’t plan to do anything about it. That’s because the lobbyist — Christina Daly Brodeur, a partner at the Tallahassee firm Ballard Partners and the wife of Republican state Senate candidate Rep. Jason Brodeur — ultimately did reveal her calls to board members, even though she did so more than 80 days after the fact.
“The point is compliance. And she self-reported and became compliant, and that’s really the purpose here,” said Dan Gerber, the aviation authority’s interim general counsel. “Given her compliance, there’s nothing further we can do.”
But some government-transparency advocates criticized the lack of consequences.
“It’s an indication that the agency doesn’t really take these disclosure requirements seriously,” said Ben Wilcox, the research director at the Tallahassee-based watchdog group Integrity Florida. “The reason why lobbyist disclosure is important is because it allows the public to see the forces that are moving beneath the surface to help shape public policy.”
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