Noah Pransky: Five pieces of unfinished business

After more than a decade covering how the political sausage gets made in Florida — and the often-ugly byproducts of said sausage — I’m leaving this remarkable state for some new opportunities in television.

However, for all the stories my WTSP team helped expose and prompt change, there are five unfinished storylines I hope my counterparts in Florida will continue digging into:

SunPass and the state’s dereliction of duty.

If anything was more negligent than Florida Department of Transportation awarding a $343 million contract to a troubled (but politically connected) company, it was the agency’s lack of oversight on that project.

It’s been a true embarrassment to both the state and Rick Scott’s administration: Seven months (and counting) of account problems, hourslong backups for customer support and customer data breaches are just some of the entirely avoidable issues the state allowed.

The worst part? The attempts to cover-up the problems by pushing out misleading news releases and withholding public records.

Actually, the worst part may be that Scott didn’t even want to investigate the issue at first, and did virtually nothing to hold the (again politically connected) contractor or anyone at FDOT accountable. There are still some toll charges backlogged by more than seven months.

And while the state could force the contractor to pay for those, Scott’s administration insisted drivers should be the ones paying off those monster bills.

Now, it’s Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ turn. He too has political ties to the controversial contractor, but can he overlook those and put the people of Florida ahead of special interests?

House Speaker Jose Oliva and Senate President Bill Galvano’s commitment to Florida kids.

For years, the Florida Legislature tried to put Band-Aids on bullet wounds, neglecting real mental health care; other priorities always seem to be more important.

Did you know Florida is one of the few states that doesn’t require mental health counselors in high schools? Or that 93 Florida kids died by suicide in 2017, the most recent year available?

That’s six times more students than have died in all of Florida’s mass school shootings combined.

Mental health is the root cause of so many tragedies, as well some of our Florida’s most significant and potentially avoidable expenses. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and it’s time for the Legislature to finally prioritize prevention.

Florida’s prison and probation problem.

Studies show when felons are released from prison after serving their time, they are far more likely to become productive members of society — and not commit more crimes — when there is proper probation supervision.

Yet for more than a decade, Florida has put community safety at risk by short-changing its probation (and prison) programs.

Officer salaries have barely budged in the last decade, forcing many to work second — and even third — jobs to make ends meet. The retention and recruitment problems are so severe, the state can’t find qualified people to keep the community safe. And the officers are so poorly equipped, not only do they have to buy their own firearms, but up to 20 at a time have to share a single vehicle to check on felons in the community.

Even circus clowns have better ride-sharing resources.

The legislature and governor have neglected this safety issue far too long.

Florida Democrats.

Florida Democrats found two rising stars this year: Andrew Gillum and Nikki Fried. Forgive me if I don’t offer a polite golf clap since this was a year they should have found several more.

What will it take for the Florida Democratic Party to improve its embarrassingly shallow bench?

Admittedly, it’s hard to restock your bench when you keep losing gubernatorial races; but if Florida Democrats ever expect to fairly represent its statewide constituent majority, they’d better come up with a better long-term strategy than “hope Trump, Scott, and DeSantis implode and hand over their keys.”

Clearly, it’s not happening.

Sheriff Grady Judd.

Florida’s toughest-talking sheriff loves the camera … as long as he is in control. You would be hard-pressed to find another major law enforcement agency that shuns cameras in cruisers as does the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Judd’s agency doesn’t have a single one.

Dashcams are an established, reliable and cost-effective way to ensure accountability — for both officers and the suspects they’re targeting. It’s time Sheriff Judd embraces 21st-century technology — and transparency.

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Noah Pransky is an investigative reporter who spent the past 10 years covering Florida politics, consumer issues and sports business at WTSP-TV in the Tampa Bay area. His work exposing abuses in red light camera programs, Congressional campaign spending, and local consumer safety issues earned him national George Polk, Dupont-Columbia and Edward R. Murrow awards.