Ybeth Bruzual
Spectrum News Anchor

The Tourism Oversight District, the governor and Christian Ziegler

Any behind-the-scenes experience always gives one a sense of intrigue. The curtain being pulled back, allowing one to see what really happens in real time.

That’s the feeling I got a few days ago when we got a one-on-one interview with the administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Glen Gilzean. He was appointed to the role earlier this year by Governor DeSantis. The interview is coming soon on Spectrum News.

Gilzean’s staff was very attentive as my photographer and I arrived at the iconic building in Lake Buena Vista. We also met the acting fire chief who has been there for 24 years as talked about safety at the parks.

But as I write this story, I cannot help but think of one of the CFTOD board members, also appointed by DeSantis.

What will the future hold?

I was not scheduled to talk to any board members, one of which soon may be under the spotlight.

Bridget Ziegler was appointed to the CFTOD, the state-created board, to oversee all dealings on Disney property. Her term, according to the CFTOD website, is set to expire February 2025, but will she stay in that role?

New this week, Ziegler’s husband, Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler became the subject of a rape investigation by the Sarasota Police Department from Oct. 2 of this year at a private home.

What happened? Who is making the accusations? The documents have been heavily redacted by Sarasota PD.

So far, no charges have been filed, and Ziegler’s attorneys report they are working with the police to assist in the investigation. 

DeSantis called for Ziegler to resign his post as head of the Republican Party in Florida on Thursday, saying that the allegations were too serious for him to remain at his post. 

A few months ago DeSantis stripped Disney of the self-governing body known as Reedy Creek District, which was created in the late 1960s. This after Disney leadership opposed the governor’s ban on LGBTQ+ topics in public schools.

The next few days will be interesting, to say the least.

Greg Angel
Spectrum News Anchor

Specialty license plates and Tallahassee

Out with the orange and in with the salt shaker. 

If there is anything Florida loves more than sunshine and beaches, it must be the plethora of specialty license plates. 

More than 2 million Florida drivers right now have a specialty plate on the back of their car, all raising funds for various programs and initiatives. 

The most popular specialty plates are:

1. Endless Summer (132,651 plates)
2. Helping Sea Turtles Survive (107,686 plates)
3. University of Florida (92,526)
4. Miami Heat (74,662)
5. Florida State University (69,607)

With over 100 specialty license plate designs already available, Florida lawmakers are looking to give you a few more options. 

If some Florida lawmakers have their way, drivers can soon sport specialty tags for themes that include Margaritaville and General Aviation. 

Florida State Senator Gayle Harrell (R-Stuart) is the sponsor of both bills. “Support General Aviation” proposes a specialty plate to fund scholarships for aspiring pilots and aviation workers, while the “Margaritaville” plate is more than a nod to Jimmy Buffett, a singing, salt-shaking friend to many who died earlier this year.   

His legacy lives in the memories of his concerts and music. Buffett turned his paradise dreams into a multi-billion-dollar economy of music, resorts, housewares, and lifestyle products.

His legacy inspiring a specialty plate could soon raise funds for South Carolina-based Singing for Change. Inspired by Buffett, the group says their mission is to support small nonprofits making a difference in communities around the country. The bill includes language that portions of the funds can be used to “…provide grants to nonprofit organizations in communities impacted by natural or manmade disasters for recovery, rebuilding, and future sustainability in those communities, and to promote and inspire local grassroots leadership that will work to improve the quality of life in those communities and others in this state.”

Before you start driving off to your Tax Collector’s office to pick up a Margaritaville plate, you should know it’s a long road to getting specialty plates onto the back of your car. 

Not only does the idea and design have to get approval from the Legislature, but specialty plates then need to pre-sell at least 3,000 orders or it won’t go into production. 

There are a few dozen specialty plates still shy of the 3,000 presale mark, and plates only have two years to sell. 

"Learn To Fly," a separate general aviation related specialty plate approved a few years ago is 109 orders short of production, while a “Give Kids The World” plate needs 115 more orders before it moves into production. 

Gary Darling
Spectrum News Producer

How voters can make an impact during the Legislative session

When we last checked in on the Florida Legislature, they had just concluded committee weeks meetings just before the Thanksgiving holiday. At that time, 502 bills had been filed for the upcoming Legislative Session. Fast forward to now, and, as of this past Friday morning, that number has increased to 673.  

That got me to thinking, is this a typical number of bills for the Legislature to file? 

You just KNOW I had to bust out a spreadsheet to get that answer. I compiled a list of all the REGULAR Legislative Sessions since 1998 and threw the data in to find out. It turns out that the average number of bills filed is 2,601.  2022 was the highest year with 3,685 bills filed, and 2015 was the lowest year, with 1,755 bills filed. 

These numbers sound huge, but you have to remember that a bill filed in the House almost always has a companion, similar, or identical bill filed in the Senate, so if you apply that theory to the number of bills, the number of bills that could eventually be acted upon on the floor of the Legislature is cut in half. Now, there are bills that are filed each year that do not have a companion, similar, or identical bill, so the “cut in half” mathematical approach is not 100% accurate. It’ll just give us a ballpark idea of the number of legislative agendas lawmakers are pursuing in a given year. 

Back to committee weeks. There are two more committee weeks scheduled before the start of the Legislative Session on January 9, and those meetings happen this week and next week. For this week, lawmakers will hear presentations about budget appropriations, but by Tuesday, more filed bills will come before committees. This is an important step in the legislative process, especially for anyone in the public who would like to have their voice heard. Public comment happens during committee meetings. It does NOT happen when a bill makes it to the floor of the Legislature, where lawmakers discuss, debate, and eventually vote on a bill. If you want your voice heard in a public forum, committee meetings are where that needs to happen. 

The good news is that committee meetings will happen for a while after the session starts. In fact, the last committee meetings will happen by day 50 of the Session, which this year is February 27. 

But what about those 673 bills and the average of 2,601 bills filed each year? You can expect more bills to be filed by lawmakers in the next month. The deadline for filing of bills by lawmakers is 11:59pm on January 9, the first day of the session. By then, we will have a really good idea of what lawmakers want to focus on for the 2024 Legislative Session.  

Holly Gregory
Spectrum News Anchor

An in-depth look into the Ziegler allegations

Florida has outdone itself this week. Just look at the juicy topics I have to pick from this week:

• 3 Florida Lawmakers push for the truth on UFO’s
• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holds up a “San Francisco Poop Tracker” during a debate with Newsome
• Florida GOP Chair Accused of Sexual Battery amid a Ménage à trois Scandal.

Envelope please…

And the winner is: “Florida GOP Chair Accused of Sexual Battery amid Ménage à trois Scandal”…because holy cow! I did not see this one coming. 

Let me just dispense with all the relevant caveats first, so we get to the nitty gritty here. This is an allegation. It is a complaint that is being investigated. Christian Ziegler is not charged with any crime. He issued a statement that he does not believe any charges will be filed and he will be completely exonerated.

But the political fallout has already started. It took no time for DeSantis to knee-cap Ziegler, calling on him to step-aside. While many believed that Ziegler was a Trump supporter at heart, he and DeSantis have always been allies. Even as DeSantis called on Ziegler to step down as party chair, he said they had been “friends.” DeSantis appointed Bridget Ziegler to the new board overseeing Disney. Bridget was directly behind DeSantis when he signed the “Parental Rights in Education” Law that she helped to craft.

The Zieglers now face a reckoning after their conservative missions focused largely around LGBTQ+ issues, especially in schools. Christian is accused of sexual battery by a woman who allegedly was in a long-term relationship with both Zieglers. Citing anonymous sources, the Florida Center for Government Accountability wrote that the woman accusing Christian of sexual battery “alleged that she and both Zieglers had been involved in a longstanding consensual three-way sexual relationship prior to the incident.” If this is true…the hypocrisy meter is in the red.

To be fair, I’ve never heard either Ziegler say anything about what consenting adults do in the bedroom. Their crusade has been around transgender school policies, including a heated debate about transgender bathroom use in Sarasota schools. They became leading advocates for limiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

This statement from the Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried sums up how this scandal is likely to be widely viewed:

“As for the more salacious allegations — what happens behind closed doors is Christian and Bridget’s personal business. That being said, I do find it interesting that two people who are so obsessed with banning books about gay penguins might be engaged in a non-traditional sexual relationship.”