Baugh's Texts and Emails Reveal Additional Vaccinegate Deceptions

BRADENTON – Text messages between Manatee County Commission Chair Vanessa Baugh and SMR CEO Rex Jensen regarding Vaccinegate, show that not only were the political benefits to Governor DeSantis discussed but that Baugh lied to her fellow commissioners regarding when she'd become aware of the event and whether she had time to consult other board members before deciding to restrict the vaccine pool to just two zip codes in her district, violating policies and procedures of the board.

DeSantis has been criticized for using vaccine doses for political purposes by holding events in Republican neighborhoods and for the benefit of Republican donors, including developers like Jensen and Pat Neal. Jensen has said that he was approached by Neal and the governor who'd wanted to do an event at a couple of his company's Lakewood Ranch developments. However, fearing blowback from neighborhoods that were left out, he decided to bring in the county and reached out to Baugh.

County commissioners have no authority outside of a majority vote of the board, and board policy prohibits them from directing county staff, who report to the county administrator. However, even though the board had approved a random lottery process for vaccinations, Baugh unilaterally decided to limit the lottery for the pop-up event to just two zip codes in her district and directed public safety director Jake Saur to make it happen. Baugh then created a list of five people–herself, Jensen, Jensen's father, and two friends–who were to bypass the list and get special vaccine privileges (Baugh, who's been a vocal anti-masker, decided against taking the vaccine once word got out).

"Gov said he might show up," said Jensen in a text message to Baugh. "Should try to see if that would help him get exposure here."

"Excellent point," Baugh responded. "After all, 22 is right around the corner."

"Yup and he is better known on east side," replied Jensen. "Premiere could have a nice setup for him."

"Absolutely, we will make a very big deal about having it at Premier," Baugh responded. "This can be huge for him."

After the scandal broke, it was addressed at a February 16 board work session. During public comments, Baugh was asked to clarify when any commissioner was first aware of the proposal for the vaccine pop-up and why the rest of the board was not brought in once Jensen had requested the help of the county (see video below).

Baugh said that she'd first heard of the proposed pop-up "on Thursday," which would have been February 11, and that it was not even certain that the event would even be able to happen until that Saturday (February 13), the implication that there were no meetings or work sessions of the board in between.

However, text messages between Baugh and Jensen, and Baugh and Saur, which were obtained by TBT and published Sunday, show that communication began on February 9. What's more, there was actually a commission meeting on February 9. That means Baugh was literally communicating about the event with Jensen and Saur during the meeting, yet deliberately refrained from bringing it up with the board.

Obviously, this further compounds Baugh's malfeasance, but don't expect any consequences. A county commissioner can only be removed from office by the Governor and, rather than discipline Baugh, DeSantis actually attempted to fundraise off of what he called "fake news." Baugh has defiantly refused to resign, and her three allies on the board–commissioners Kevin Van Ostenbridge, George Kruse and James Satcher–voted to keep her as chair when other commissioners moved to have her removed from the chair position (Baugh herself cast the deciding vote, which failed 4-3).

Commissioner Carol Whitmore again motioned to remove Baugh as chair at Tuesday's meeting, citing the hundreds of emails from constituents who overwhelmingly want Baugh to resign and/or the board to strip her of the chairmanship. The motion failed for lack of a second.

Baugh, clearly emboldened by having survived another effort to hold her accountable, responded even more defiantly this time. Watch her response in the video below.