Top DeSantis staff spoke with group pushing state park golf course earlier than known
As Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to try to distance himself from last year’s scandal to build hotels and golf courses on preserved state park land, public records released this past week show his highest-ranking deputies scheduled a meeting with the nonprofit involved in the plans nearly two years ago.
A calendar appointment for DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier, shows a call on Feb. 9, 2023, with Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, the founder of the Folds of Honor veterans charity that had pitched multiple politicians on the idea of building a golf course on Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Also included on the appointment were Scott Tolley, who has worked for both Folds of Honor and famed golfer Jack Nicklaus, as well as Alex Kelly, who at the time was a deputy chief of staff for DeSantis.
The subject of the call is “Jack Nicklaus golf course.” Nicklaus had offered to design the courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, according to his lawyer.
If the conversation was about the state park, the date would make this the earliest known discussion about the golf course plans — happening at the highest levels of Florida government — more than a year before they were revealed to the public through a leak by a concerned state employee. The governor’s office staffers involved in the meeting have advanced in state government since the scandal — DeSantis recently tapped Uthmeier to serve as Florida attorney general and Kelly has since become the leader of the state commerce agency.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2025/02/04/florida-state-parks-desantis-golf-courses-pickleball