Exclusive Vaccine Clinic's Organizer Investigated By Police

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh is under investigation by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office for her role in a pop-up vaccination event in Lakewood Ranch that targeted two of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the county.

Baugh, the representative of District 5, which includes Lakewood Ranch, also created a VIP list of five people to receive the vaccine at the event and told the county’s Public Safety Director, Jacob Sauer, to add their names to the list of those being vaccinated at the pop-up clinic. The list included Baugh and Lakewood Ranch president and CEO Rex Jensen, though Baugh didn’t receive the vaccine.

Typically, at vaccine clinics in Manatee County, names are randomly chosen through the county's vaccine lottery.

“Michael Barfield, a Sarasota paralegal, filed a more than (two) dozen-page complaint on Monday," Randy Warren, MCSO public information officer, said in an email to Patch. “MCSO detectives are looking into claims that Commissioner Vanessa Baugh broke the law with her handling of last week’s vaccination event in Lakewood Ranch.”

Warren said he couldn’t comment further on an active investigation.

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Barfield, a paralegal for Denovo Law Services, LLC in Sarasota, is also the board president for the ACLU of Florida.

In an emailed statement, Baugh told ABC7, “I have apologized to my constituents and my colleagues for a lapse in judgment. These petty partisan political calls are nothing more than the divisive politics our Nation needs to steer away from. I will continue working to bring more vaccine to Manatee County and lead us through this pandemic.”

Baugh Retains BOCC Chair Position

At the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners’ Tuesday meeting, despite several commissioners pushing for Baugh’s resignation as board chair, she retained the role in a 4 to 3 vote.

Commissioner Reggie Bellamy made the initial motion for Baugh to resign as chair. Commissioners Carol Whitmore and Misty Servia also voted to push for her resignation.

Baugh — along with Commissioners George Kruse, James Satcher and Kevin Van Ostenbridge — voted against the motion.

“Any time you make a choice you had consequences. There are choices and there are consequences to anything that takes place and this (Lakewood Ranch clinic) was a bad decision and I do think there should be some consequences,” Bellamy said. “We work for the citizens. We’re here to be public servants, not with our own individual strides and things of that nature. I believe as much as I respect you (Baugh) as the chair, as much as I admired your work for your district, I do believe we need to make sure there are some consequences here from the board perspective.”

He added, “I believe no one can make a mistake or make a decision that has impacted so many and reached the level of magnitude that this has and we do not address it as a board. This is not targeting Vanessa Baugh. This is supporting our constituents.”

Servia said, “Our job up here is one that is difficult, sometimes, but we always have to operate transparently. Everything we do is being watched and everything we say is being scrutinized. Creating a VIP list above all others, it just wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Baugh’s actions put “Manatee County in the national spotlight due to her thoughtless actions,” Whitmore added. “If this board does not take some kind of action on behalf of the citizens, it proves what others have been thinking for a long time, that special interests are involved and not our constituents.”

Van Ostenbridge condemned Baugh’s handling of the pop-up event.

“Commissioner Baugh made a terrible mistake. She compromised the fairness of the lottery system,” he said. “The fundamental point of that system was to avoid favoritism and that’s exactly what happened when people were hand selected and as were ZIP codes.”

Still, he doesn’t believe she needs to be punished for the clinic by the BOCC, he said. “She’s apologized. She’s accepted responsibility for her actions. She has to answer to her constituents, as do I, as do the rest of us. We have to answer to the voters in our districts.”

Kruse said about 40 people attended a town hall meeting he hosted Saturday. They had many questions about various issues — urban service boundaries, impact fees, development and infrastructure — but none commented on or asked him about the Lakewood Ranch event.

“They asked me about real questions because that’s what real people of Manatee County care about,” he said.

Whitmore said commissioners have received hundreds of emails from county residents upset by Baugh’s handling of the Lakewood Ranch clinic, many of them calling for her resignation from the BOCC.

Readers Express Concerns About Baugh's Lakewood Ranch Clinic

Many Bradenton Patch readers have concerns about the pop-up event, as well.

“We have been assured the selection is random. Certainly, this was not. I listened to Baugh’s weak and ridiculous ‘apology.’ She NEVER addressed the specific issue. She also said she was taking full responsibility. If that were true, she would resign,” Cheryl Gerhold wrote in response to a Bradenton Patch Neighbor Post.

User Raymond T. commented on the same Neighbor Post, “Vanessa Baugh should immediately be forced to resign or be recalled as a Commissioner of Manatee County for such flagrant corruption. Picking winners and losers is certainly not the job of government. The counties random vaccine pool should have been used for choosing the 3,000 people. How can people have trust in local government when people like Ms. Baugh use their position in such a corrupt and self-serving manner?”

“I am really upset. My wife and I are 82 years old with major medical vulnerabilities. We registered on the first day and have heard nothing except how many people have joined the lottery after us,” Martin Rosen wrote. “We were willing to wait our turn but after seeing that the lottery really isn't a lottery, we are pissed. Who knows how many people Vanessa ordered pulled out of line? This really requires her recall and banning from public service, as she has proven not truthful and her lack of integrity and morality is mandatory.”

Baugh did not comment during the BOCC's discussion of her resignation Tuesday and did not respond to Patch's multiple requests for comment.