Gainesville Activists and Commissioner Speak Out Against Local DOGE Audit
Thursday afternoon, Gainesville activists led by the Alachua County Labor Coalition (ACLC) hosted a press conference to voice their dissent for the Florida Department of Governmental Efficiency's (DOGE) audit into the City of Gainesville.
As the press conference took place outside City Hall, Florida DOGE officials were inside the building conducting their audit into the local government.
ACLC Coordinator Bobby Mermer said, “The taxpayers of Gainesville don't want DOGE here. We are much happier with our local government than our state government. This investigation by DOGE isn't about waste or accountability. It's a political stunt by DeSantis to sell his plan to eliminate property taxes for the wealthy.”
ACLC member Garcia Ramos called Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia DeSantis' “puppet” and said, “This is the man who chased headlines by introducing a Senate bill to ban the Democratic party.”
Alachua County Democratic Party member Taylor Murphy said, “The City of Gainesville has already undergone a thorough auditing process by the state legislature, making this new efficiency program redundant. This is not a service to local taxpayers but is instead part of a larger calculated and hostile takeover of our community.”
Activists condemned DeSantis for his own financial controversies, such as allegations of fraud in Casey DeSantis’ Hope Foundation and the use of emergency funds to build the Everglades Detention Center, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.
Executive director of North Florida Indivisible, Jyoti Parmar, said, “Ron DeSantis is the face of government corruption in Florida. Let’s investigate Ron DeSantis.”
President of the North Central Florida Labor Council Lanny Mathis called out Ingoglia for his position against unions and said, “Watch the jobs… Working families are gonna suffer because of what they’re doing right here.”
Alachua County NAACP President Evelyn Fox said, “We're not going to drive all the way to Tallahassee like some of us did last year. We elected qualified commissioners and the mayor to run our city, and we don't want to lose the home rule.”
Following the press conference, Mermer asked anyone in the audience from the Florida DOGE team to raise their hand, prompting no response. He then thanked City Commissioner James Ingle, who was in the audience, for listening to his constituents and asked him to come speak.
Ingle said, “One of the things I learned about being an elected official is sometimes people ask you to speak unexpectedly. There’s an old saying that figures don’t lie but liars figure. I think that really applies to what we're looking at here.”
Ingle called Florida DOGE’s claims about property taxes increasing by 80% “absurd” and said, “It didn’t happen, but we’re dealing with those types of lies and misinformation that are made to make the citizens of Gainesville worried and scared about what’s going on.”
Ingle went on to say, “The people of Gainesville are being taken. They're being asked to kick in more to cover what the state doesn't want to. They aren't here to investigate us because of the way we spend our money. They're here to investigate us because of the way the city votes.”
Ingle chanted, “Whose city?” prompting the crowd to chant back, “Our city!”
“Your goddamn right it is,” said Ingle.
