Seeking Rents – The Podcast

In this episode: Though the job doesn’t get nearly as much attention as governor, the Attorney General is one of the most important figures in all of Florida politics. The state’s highest-ranking lawyer has the power to investigate, litigate and prosecute — powers that have been used in the past to challenge electric utilities and phone companies but also to defend cruise lines, car dealers and Donald Trump. In today’s show, we take a closer look at two important ways that current Attorney General James Uthmeier is using the office: Backing developers that want to build subdivisions on rural land — and controlling what women can, and cannot, do with their own bodies. Show notesTo make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.Stories discussed in today’s show:Florida counties may be breaking law when classifying areas as rural to manage growth, AG saysAttorney general questions legality of rural boundaries in Orange, SeminoleRural boundaries spared, but lawmaker to try again to curtail themFlorida AG letter undercuts Sarasota County in Live Local legal fightThey gave Uthmeier’s campaign $25,000. Then his office stepped in to help.Florida AG James Uthmeier pushes for fetal personhood and an end to all abortions in stateFlorida AG James Uthmeier On Fighting For Life In The Sunshine State Florida AG made sweeping claims in confidential abortion caseSurrogacy is akin to slavery, Florida AG says, with big implications for familiesUthmeier files $354 million lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for alleged racketeering, deceptionTexas, Florida sue FDA over abortion pill approvalFlorida's attorney general is trying to help Elon Musk's Tesla get out of a $243 million verdictAttorney General James Uthmeier is raising hundreds of thousands from firms he hiredThe bipartisan plot to take out Florida’s best senator (update)Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected] to the show: Apple | SpotifyWatch the show: YouTube Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode: Early voting has begun in Florida. So, too, have the eleventh-hour election schemes — particularly in the campaign for Attorney General, which just may be the most important race on the ballot in Florida this year. Allies of incumbent Attorney General James Uthmeier are trying to censor TV commercials that spotlight Uthmeier’s role in the $10 million Hope Florida scandal. At the same time, some of the same consultants behind the infamous “ghost candidate” plot are once again trying to take out challenger José Javier Rodriguez. Meanwhile, another statewide elected official on the ballot — Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia — is running a double-barreled campaign in which he’s using taxpayer money to boost his own name ID and special interest money to attack his opponent. And the Florida Realtors are lying about Amendment 3. Show notesTo make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.Stories and previous podcasts discussed in this show:Republicans want Hope Florida story silenced and jail for anyone who talks about itThe bipartisan plot to take out Florida’s best senator (update)Florida AG made sweeping claims in confidential abortion caseSurrogacy is akin to slavery, Florida AG says, with big implications for familiesBlaise Ingoglia is spending millions in taxpayer money on advertising as he runs for electionAmendment 3 could increase home prices across Florida — and real estate agents love itData center interests have put $30 million into Florida campaigns as Election Day approachesThe investors behind the “Blue Ribbon Projects” bill are pouring money into state Senate racesThe races that will decide the fate of the supermajorities in the state LegislatureRon DeSantis took money from you and gave it to businesses. And you didn’t even notice.Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected] to the show: Apple | SpotifyWatch the show: YouTube Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode: The data center-backing billionaires behind ChaptGPT and a prominent right-wing tech investor are trying to tilt swing elections for seats in the Florida Legislature. So, too, are developers and real-estate investors behind some of the most sprawl-inducing bills to come through Tallahassee in recent years. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier claim vindication following an election-eve appellate court decision on the misappropriation of $10 million. But the Hope Florida ruling is not the absolution they say it is. Show notesTo make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.For more information on the Oct. 10 recording of WSLR’s “Talk of the Town” in Sarasota, click here. For more information on the Oct. 10 “Florida’s Resource Grab” forum in Sarasota hosted by the Social Justice Alliance of the Florida Suncoast, click here. For more information on the Oct. 14 town hall on Amendment 3 in Tallahassee hosted by the Askew School of Public Policy, click here. For more information on the Oct. 15 town hall on Amendment 3 in Clermont hosted by Braver Angels, click here. For more information on the Oct. 16 “Environmental Advocacy Symposium” in Orlando hosted by Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson, click here. Stories discussed in today’s podcast: Data center donors have spent more than $20 million in Florida ahead of the 2026 electionsThe investors behind the “Blue Ribbon Projects” bill are pouring money into state Senate racesIn the race for Florida governor, the fate of two sprawl-inducing state laws hangs in the balanceDeveloper lobbyists secretly sought to maintain a law handcuffing local communities on growthCourt erases Hope Florida grand jury report after shutting out anyone who would defend itGovernor’s office paid a second law firm $111,000 as Hope Florida grand jury report was fought in secretHidden consultants and hurried payments: Records reveal details of DeSantis’ campaign against abortion and marijuana amendmentsBlaise Ingoglia is spending millions in taxpayer money on advertising as he runs for electionQuestions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected] to the show: Apple | SpotifyWatch the show: YouTube Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode: In June 2025, just a few hours before Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature finalized a new state budget, GOP leaders in Tallahassee slipped a sentence into the spending plan authorizing state officials to acquire a piece of property in the Panhandle through a popular land-preservation program. Three months later, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet used that little line in the budget to spend $83.3 million in taxpayer money on a tiny spit of vacant land owned by a prominent real-estate developer and Republican Party donor. Here’s the story of how Florida politicians pulled off a land deal that one longtime conservation leader called “a sham.” (Note: This is an update of a podcast that initially aired in November 2025. The three Cabinet members who voted to approve the $83 million land deal — Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson — are all now running for re-election.) Show notesTo make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.Stories discussed in today’s show: Florida lawmakers took instructions from a landowner’s lobbyist. Now Florida taxpayers will pay $83 million for four acres.Transcript of the Sept. 30, 2025, meeting of the Florida CabinetBlaise Ingoglia is spending millions in taxpayer money on advertising as he runs for electionFlorida politicians may give Big Sugar legal power to go after activists and silence criticsThey said they wanted to help farmers. They really wanted to hurt environmentalists.Conflicting testimony and foggy memories: How the Hope Florida grand jury found wrongdoing but no wrongdoersThe bipartisan plot to take out Florida’s best senator (update)Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected] to the show: Apple | SpotifyWatch the show: YouTube Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode: The Ron DeSantis administration has been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to hide the Ron DeSantis administration’s misspending of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. The governor and his allies have also been handing out promotions, appointments and contracts to people who played roles in what is now widely known as the Hope Florida scandal.Show notesTo make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.Exclusive: Taxpayers paid nearly $200,000 in legal fees for a witness the Hope Florida grand jury found “not credible”DeSantis staff quietly rehired jilted lawyers who helped secure the Hope Florida settlementWhere are they now? Key actors in Hope Florida scandal got promotedHidden consultants and hurried payments: Records reveal details of DeSantis’ campaign against abortion and marijuana amendmentsThis story didn’t come up during the podcast, but it is an absolute must-read about an important — under-reported — aspect of the entire Hope Florida morass: How Hope Florida quietly hollowed out Florida’s safety netQuestions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected] to the show: Apple | SpotifyWatch the show: YouTube Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe