For months, the Orlando Sentinel has been asking a simple question:
How many taxpayer-funded paychecks is Glen Gilzean cashing each month?
We knew the ethically embattled ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis was getting paid $205,000 to serve as Orange County’s newly appointed elections supervisor.
But neither Gilzean nor his former employer — the governmental district that provides municipal services to Disney — would answer questions about whether he was also still getting paid there.
Newly revealed documents show he is — to the tune of $20,000 a month.
That means Gilzean gets more money from the Disney district each month than he does for his supposedly full-time job running Orange County’s elections office.
That’s obscene. Especially when you consider that the Disney district is allegedly paying Gilzean for his expertise and experience there — a place he only worked 10 months and during which he generated one controversial headline after another.
It’s like a golden parachute for a guy who barely had time to take the pilot’s seat and narrowly avoided crashing while occupying it.
Don’t take it from me that it’s inappropriate for Gilzean to take paychecks from both public agencies at the same time. Take it from someone who described it as “not fair.”
That someone was Gilzean himself back in March when he was talking to a local TV station. Back then, Gilzean didn’t provide clear answers about whether he’d continue working for two different public agencies, but said: “It’s not fair to the taxpayers over in the district to be in two different areas at the same time.”
He was right.
Elections chief Gilzean got $20K-a-month consulting deal with Disney district
Orange County taxpayers pay their election chief $205,000 for a simple reason: It’s a full-time job.
And it’s one Gilzean isn’t doing very well since DeSantis appointed him, according to both Republican and Democratic candidates who say the office hasn’t been willing or perhaps able to do simple things like tell them how many petition signatures they need to run for office. (See last month’s story: “Candidates accuse Gilzean’s office of ‘radio silence’ on needed info about petitions”)
That’s probably the most disturbing aspect of all this. Gilzean, who used to run the Central Florida Urban League, is being paid to do two jobs — neither of which he was particularly qualified to get and both of which raised questions about his job performance.
While Gilzean helmed the Disney district, there was turmoil among agency staff, and it repeatedly awarded no-bid contracts to politically connected insiders.
Forget open and competitive bidding — often the best way to ensure taxpayers are getting the best deals and most qualified firms. Under Gilzean, one political insider’s law firm scored a $495-an-hour no-bid contract. And a communications-services contract was awarded in another no-bid deal to another DeSantis appointee.
At Disney district, another no-bid contract pays political pal $495 an hour | Commentary
After the Sentinel used public records to expose those deals — one of which was then canceled — the district stopped providing some of the records we requested, even though state law says it must. All while boasting about increased “transparency.”
Maybe that wasn’t surprising since Gilzean got the post under a cloud of controversy.
At the time, he was volunteer chairman of the state’s ethics commission and voted to dismiss an ethics complaint against DeSantis who then gave Gilzean the $400,000-a-year job running the Disney district.
But that was just the beginning of the controversy. Because state’s ethics laws said Gilzean was supposed to resign from the ethics commission as soon as he started cashing a paycheck from another state agency. But he didn’t … until Florida media exposed that as well.
That made for one heckuva storyline: Florida ethics chairman violated state ethics laws, according to state’s own ethics attorney.
That’s the guy now in charge of our elections.
How a $400k Disney job derailed DeSantis’ ethics appointee | Commentary
The newly revealed “consulting agreement” shows Gilzean is making $20,000 a month from April through December of 2024.
The district says it desperately needed his expertise, but the contract details very few specifics about what he’s expected to do to earn his pay.
The district did provide a couple of memos from Gilzean where he said he was working to drum up more contracts with veteran-owned businesses. That goal sounds noble — yet also achievable for less than $20,000 a month. Probably even something that could be tackled by one of the district’s other 400 or so existing employees.
If there’s any saving grace to this sussy contract, it’s that it gives the district the right “to terminate this agreement with or without cause …”
It should do so.
New district director Stephanie Kopelousos, another DeSantis pick, seems to have instilled more confidence and competence in the district. (Perhaps because she actually has experience running a government as a former county manager.)
She was also responsible for providing the public records last week.
Kopelousos is the one who signed Gilzean’s consulting deal. But since his deal took effect four days after she was hired, it sure seems like that arrangement may have been in motion before she started. She and board members, including Orlando’s Craig Mateer, should end it.
Not only would it save the district $20,000 a month, it would allow Gilzean to focus all of his attention on the job he’s already being paid to do full-time … and where it sure seems like his undivided attention is sorely needed.
