Vanessa Baugh resigns from Manatee Co. Commission

Vanessa Baugh puts her ethical woes behind her.

Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh has submitted her resignation and will leave office at the end of July.

The Lakewood Ranch Republican sent a notice to her colleagues on the Commission and to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“It has been the biggest honor and privilege of my career to represent the people of the ‘best county’ in the State of Florida,” Baugh wrote in an email to DeSantis.

Baugh’s 11-year tenure on the Commission has been both influential and controversial. She’s an ardent supporter of DeSantis, even voting to name a park after the Governor last year.

She also praised the partnership between Manatee County and the Florida Department of Transportation under DeSantis, including opening up the nation’s largest diverging diamond intersection, at the interchange for Interstate 75 and University Parkway. And she thanked the state for support in closing the Piney Point reservoir after a disaster in 2021 forced the discharge of 215 million gallons of industrial wastewater into Tampa Bay.

“I am so proud of the State of Florida for the direction we are taking in ‘moving Florida forward’ and being a ‘free state,’” Baugh said. “I will miss being a part of this.”

Baugh also leaves office after making national news for an embarrassing episode in the pandemic, in which she arranged with the Governor’s Office for a pop-up vaccine clinic in Lakewood Ranch and requested she be placed on a VIP list to receive a shot ahead of citizens at a time of high demand.

Baugh never received that shot, but a complaint was filed with the Florida Ethics Commission, which ultimately found probable cause she abused her position. Last year, Baugh reached a settlement to pay an $8,000 fine.

But even through that episode, Baugh found political success in Manatee and led a board majority that multiple times has named her as County Commission Chair. Ultimately, she led a political faction that defeated both Republican intraparty foes and Democrats, and she leaves the board with an entirely GOP makeup for the first time in decades.

She had considered running for state House, but signaled in her letter to fellow Commissioners she needs time off for personal reasons right now.

“Commissioners, the day has come to announce my retirement from the Manatee BOCC,” she said. “One thing I have come to realize is that one of the most important things in life is family. This week has reinforced that it is time to take care (of) my husband, children and grandchildren and to be a bigger part of their lives.”

DeSantis will appoint a replacement for Baugh to serve out her term, which ends next year.