Episode 4: Barbara Petersen: warrior queen of accountable, open government in Florida

Visit (and donate) to the Florida Center for Government Accountability (FLCGA) here.

Check out its investigative journalism arm, “The Florida Trident,” here.

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Anyone who has dwelt at the intersection of journalism, public records, and the pursuit of political power in Florida has known Barbara Petersen for a long time.

In the before times, as leader of the First Amendment Foundation, Barbara was the first call for any reporter covering any government (from the Mulberry City Commission to the Executive Office of the Governor) and facing static over access to public information. She was always extremely generous and purposeful during my many chats with her, providing advice and guidance and the occasional “stink eye” letter to the agency in question, which rarely dared to cross her.

But that was another country, as the saying goes.

There are very few Florida government reporters left to call anybody; and precious few institutional dollars ready to fight for government transparency in hostile and largely corrupted courts.

Enter Barbara Petersen again. As co-founder of the Florida Center for Government Accountability (FLCGA) and The Florida Trident, Barbara and her partners embody what I consider an important evolution: journalism that makes power react through moral and legal confrontation.

This model has already taken down the Zieglers — the grossest power couple in the history of Florida politics. And it’s won a very important lawsuit over COVID data.

Barbara and I talk about that and many other things, including the fact she still thinks Kay Fields and I committed a minor, technical Sunshine Law violation in 2016, when I was a newly elected School Board member, despite what State Attorney Brian Haas said in clearing us. (At least I think she considers it minor and technical; I’m kinda afraid to clarify.)

Finally, I think this podcast makes an excellent companion piece to the episode I did with independent Tallahassee reporter extraordinaire Jason Garcia few months ago. It touches many of the same themes and shows one model for addressing the challenges Jason and I identified.