Florida Center for Government Accountability

Legislation to unmask immigration agents never had much of a chance in Republican-dominated Legislature.

A raft of never-before-seen police reports obtained by the Florida Trident via a public records request portray Carmine Marceno Sr., who was then 67, as a stalker, bully, and thief who routinely roamed a Collier County gated community where he lived in his signature sweat pants terrorizing his neighbors.

Proposals quietly moving through the Legislature would create a new counterintelligence unit in state government, echoing the FBI’s controversial COINTELPRO in the 1960s.

Should local governments in Florida be free to pursue local net-zero goals that fight climate change, sea-level rise, extreme heat and worsening weather plaguing their residents? Republicans in the state Legislature are saying no.

Hoping to position Florida as the next big destination for large and hyperscale data centers that power artificial intelligence, state lawmakers are weighing how much corporate secrecy is enough but not too much and how to manage the centers’ intensive demands for energy and water where they operate. Sen. Bryan Avila, Miami-Dade Republican, is leading the charge, saying Florida can outcompete motivated states such as Georgia, Virginia and Texas to land the multibillion-dollar projects here, creating thousands of high-tech jobs, tax revenue and related economic development.

Editor's note: This article is a part of Power Play, a series of special reports examining the push to reduce or eliminate property taxes in Florida.

This year there are roughly 40 proposals before the Florida Legislature seeking to create exemptions to public records. Historically, the state has been considered a national leader in making its system of government accessible to its citizens — but no more. Open government advocates are dismayed by the many new attempts at whittling down the state’s transparency.

When the U.S. Attorney’s Office closed a criminal investigation into Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno in November, Marceno issued a statement calling allegations that he engaged in a kickback scheme “completely false.” But in an undercover FBI recording obtained by the Florida Trident, Marceno, while not admitting personal involvement, is heard telling his alleged co-conspirator that he has his “back” regarding payments that may have been made and assuring him they were his “personal business” and the public had no way to discover they were made.

Websites of the Florida Center for Government Accountability and the Florida Trident were hit by what was described as a “massive and sophisticated” cyber attack Sunday.Barbara A. Petersen, CEO and publisher of the center and the Trident, said the denial-of-service attack on the flcga.org and floridatrident.org websites were discovered early on and caused only minor disruptions.