The critic of ‘Sarasota Socialism’ sees his spending as beneficial for the state.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: July 31, 2024
Host: The Florida Trident struck again. The in-house publication of the Florida Center for Government Accountability obtained a trove of receipts produced by County Commissioner Mike Moran over a period of 18 months. These receipts show that he spent $36,000 in taxpayer funds on meals and travel. Moran has been the driving force behind recent cuts to Sarasota County funding for emergency helpline, childcare, public housing, and arts groups, citing his desire to end what he calls “Sarasota Socialism” and be a good steward of taxpayer funding.
Mike Moran: We just had a tranche from the feds for $201.5 million to literally, if you ask me, reward people, for example, that didn’t carry insurance like they were supposed to. And the people that did it right and saved their money and did the insurance properly, they get nothing. But if you didn’t do it right, we’re talking about at this board paying literally to cover those expenses. You ask me, it’s literally rewarding bad behavior. If you ask me, we are literally brinking on, I nickname it “Sarasota Socialism.” Where are you coming to the edge of when the taxpayer dollar stops?
Johannes Werner: This is Moran during a Sarasota County Commission meeting last fall, expressing his objections to using federal funding for homeowners devastated by Hurricane Ian.
In addition to being a Sarasota County commissioner, Moran is also the executive director for a state agency called Florida PACE Funding Agency. PACE provides loans to low-income owners to weatherize their homes, making them more energy efficient. He incurred the $36,000 in expenses in that function. They included meals he and staffers hosted at a high-end steakhouse complete with $150-a-bottle wine and tequila shots. There also was travel to Vegas, New York City and California.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune had access to Moran’s receipts and independently verified them by filing its own public records request. Moran did respond to the Herald reporter’s questions. In an email to the Herald, he said his meals and entertainment helped bring close to $900 million in private funding to Florida: “I will gladly take a group of investment bankers to a nice dinner and buy them a glass of wine to bring another billion dollars to Florida and continue carrying out this mission.”
In addition to the receipts, the Trident obtained Moran’s work contracts with the PACE agency. His annual salary amounts to more than $194,000, and the first agreement included a 0.2% cut of all home improvement projects obtained by the agency under his leadership. The current agreement does not include these additional payments. The agency has five employees, including Moran’s daughter.
Moran is termed out as a county commissioner, and is now running for Sarasota Tax Collector. Under his leadership, the PACE agency clashed with tax collectors in Florida, after it obtained a circuit court judgment the agency says allows it to operate in all 67 Florida counties, even if they don’t want it. The majority of tax collectors challenged that interpretation of the judgment, and the case is now pending before the Florida Supreme Court. During his campaign for tax collector, Moran attacked the incumbent for being part of the legal challenge, calling her and her peers rogue. He has said he will resign from his PACE job if he is elected tax collector. Under Moran’s leadership, his agency also spent $900,000 on a lobbyist, to block a law that eventually passed, limiting its reach.
Johannes Werner, WSLR News.
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