MCSO Investigation Contradicts Baugh's Telling of Vaccinegate

BRADENTON — "I'm the chair, is the chair not good enough?" is what Manatee County Director of Public Safety Jacob Saur provided in his witness statement to an investigator with Manatee County’s Special Investigation Division. Saur was retelling the response he received from Commissioner Vanessa Baugh when asked who he could speak to on the state level to seek guidance concerning the county’s ability to limit the randomized vaccine pool for a "pop-up vaccine clinic" to just two zip codes. 

 

In a press release issued on Monday, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office announced it had found no evidence of criminal violations during its investigation into Commissioner Baugh's organization of a state-initiated COVID-19 vaccine distribution site at the Premier Sports Complex in Lakewood Ranch. The state was seeking to provide "extra" vaccine allotment to Manatee at a time when vaccination appointments were difficult for Manatee residents to secure, and Manatee’s senior vaccination rate was just 22 percent—among the lowest in the state.

 

The public widely criticized the pop-up site when it was announced that residents of only two zip codes would be eligible for appointments. The initial public outcry over the deviation from the board’s unanimous institution of a random lottery registration pool only grew when the public learned Baugh had also created a list of five persons, including herself, that appeared to be guaranteed appointments at the elite pop-up site. The list became widely referred to as the "VIP” list. 

 

A criminal complaint was filed by paralegal Michael Barfield who believed Commissioner Baugh may have committed crimes in her actions. He specifically cited three statutes of concern; F.S.S. 112.313(6) — Misuse of Public Position, F.S.S. 838.022 — Official Misconduct, and F.S.S 839.26 — Misuse of Confidential Information. 

 

While the MCSO press release states, "After nearly four months, numerous interviews and a review of hundreds of documents, investigators concluded that none of Baugh’s actions rose to the level of a crime,” the attached 113-page report reveals several instances where Baugh’s statements did not align with witness statements of county staff and state officials who were questioned during the investigation.

 

The report’s conclusion acknowledges, "evidence obtained during the course of this investigation clearly indicates Commissioner Baugh, a public servant, knowingly and intentionally attempted to obtain a benefit for herself and others…” and that, "one might surmise,” Baugh was attempting to curry political favor with the Governor, her constituents, and some on the "VIP” list. However, the investigation ultimately uncovered no demonstrative evidence of Baugh receiving any tangible benefit, pecuniary or otherwise, for restricting the registrant pool, or for the creation of the "VIP List.” 

 

Synopses of witness interviews with county staff, state officials, officials with Governor Desantis’s office, members of the board of commission, local developers who were originally contacted by the Governor to organize the event, and others are included in the report (click here to read the report in full).

 

According to witness statements provided by local developer Pat Neal and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Rex Jensen, Governor Desantis and his Chief of Staff, Adrian Lukis, contacted Neal about the proposed pop-up. Neal is a long-time friend and supporter of DeSants and, as a prominent figure in Florida Republican politics, is routinely consulted on such matters when politicians have business in Manatee County. Neal, however, explained to DeSantis that he did not feel he was the best person to accomplish the mission and instead put the governor in contact with Jensen. 

 

In his interview, Jensen alleged that the governor requested he recommend a specific community within Lakewood Ranch to host the site, but Jensen was apprehensive to name one neighborhood due to the potential backlash from remaining communities. Lukis explained the need for someone to organize the scheduling of appointments for the site. Jensen offered to help connect them to someone in county government who could run the operation through the local department of health. After the phone call, Jensen reached out to Commissioner Baugh. 

 

Jensen emphasized his reason for contacting Commissioner Baugh was due to her position as chair of the Manatee County Commission, and not due to his support of Baugh. In fact, Jensen explained that he did not contribute to Baugh’s most recent campaign and reiterated to the investigator that she asked for nothing, tangible or otherwise. After relaying the contents of his conversation to the commissioner, Jensen claims that Baugh told him, "I will handle it.” Jensen alleges he did not take part in any further discussions with the state and that it was his understanding that Baugh worked with Courtney Coppola of the Florida Department of Health to secure Premier Sports for the pop-up site.

 

In her statements to investigators, former Manatee County Administrator Cheri Coryea recounted a meeting attended by herself, public safety director Jacob Saur, and Commissioner Baugh. Coryea recalled Baugh relaying to her and Saur a conversation with Rex Jensen and an unnamed state official concerning the pop-up. Baugh informed Coryea and Saur that the vaccination appointments would be limited to two specific zip codes in Lakewood Ranch and that, at the state’s behest, the event needed to be held in the eastern part of the county due to their senior population. 

 

Saur requested to know who specifically Baugh had spoken to at the state level, but Baugh declined to provide a name, instead implying that Saur was inappropriately questioning the governor’s office. Coryea expressed her concern that limiting the event to residents of only two zip codes would be "manipulating the pool” that had been approved unanimously by the board. Coryea claims that in response to her expressed concerns Baugh said she wanted to do it because "the people in my district will love me.” 

 

In his statement, Saur explained that, following the meeting, he attempted to independently contact state agency officials to obtain guidance relating to the method of selection for vaccine recipients at the planned event. None of the officials with whom he spoke could provide instruction concerning distribution by zip code, only that the state was providing the vaccines and that the localities themselves should choose recipients per the governor’s executive order that set age eligibility. Unable to obtain further direction from the state, Saur said he felt compelled to comply with Baugh’s orders rather than act in an insubordinate manner.

 

During her interview with investigators, Baugh was asked whether she received any guidance from state agencies concerning how the vaccines should be distributed. She purported to have been led to believe the vaccination event should be held in Lakewood Ranch, for residents of Lakewood Ranch. She maintained that the governor expressly intended the event to target Lakewood Ranch. However, e-mails provided to investigators by Baugh to verify this claim made no mention of this directive. 

 

The report goes on to reference an exchange that occurred between the investigator and Baugh after concluding the interview. The investigator details how Baugh recommended the investigator speak to Governor Desantis’ Executive Chief of Staff, Courtney Coppola. Coppola worked in the Florida Department of Health at the time, and Baugh implied that she had sought and received approval from Coppola to restrict the vaccination appointments to the two zip codes.

 

When investigators questioned Lukis, he told investigators it was the entirety of Manatee County that was being targeted with additional vaccines and not Lakewood Ranch. Ms. Coppola also directly contradicted Baugh’s claims that the event was meant to specifically target the residents of Lakewood Ranch in her statement to investigators. Additionally, Coppola denied that she and Baugh ever discussed restricting the vaccine registrant pool to residents of any specific zip codes or any particular community, including Lakewood Ranch. 

 

Another contradiction of Baugh’s revealed in the report concerns the now-infamous "VIP” list. Commissioner Baugh explained to investigators that the purpose of the list of names was not about securing anyone's vaccinations, but rather was a list she made after reviewing the pool list reduced to set zip codes by county staff. 

 

Baugh alleges that she did not see herself, Jensen, his father, or her two former neighbors, Robert and Marie Keehn, among the approximate 7,300 names and only intended to have Saur add the missing names to the pool list. However, the investigator writes, "It should be noted that upon my inspection of this same spreadsheet as provided by Baugh, her name and both Keehn’s names were all, in fact, included. Neither Rex Jensen nor his father were documented in the spreadsheet, however, neither of them reside within either the 34202 or the 34211 zip codes and therefore should not have been included in the spreadsheet per the parameters previously set by Baugh.”

 

Though the MCSO investigation was unable to identify any crime committed by the commissioner, the investigative report has been forwarded to the Florida Commission on Ethics, per their request. Manatee County Commissioners have moved three times to remove Baugh as chair for violating board policy, but all three votes failed to pass.