Gov. Rick Scott has used his emergency authority to spend $33.3 million to combat Zika, some of which went to pay for aerial spraying done by a company that is partnered with his wife’s mosquito spraying businesses in another state.
Florida Bulldog reported last August that Scott, via First Lady Ann Scott, had an undisclosed financial interest in Mosquito Control Services (MCS) of Metairie, LA. The company describes itself on its website as a “fully-certified team of mosquito control experts – licensed throughout the Gulf Coast, including Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.”
Further examination of Louisiana corporate records, however, shows the Scotts are also tied to eight other active mosquito control firms all at the same Metairie address. Several have lucrative, multi-year contracts to provide aerial spraying and other services to local parishes and cities.
The nine are not on Florida’s list of state vendors. Records show, however, that at least four of them, including MCS, conduct aerial spray operations in Louisiana using planes owned by one of Florida’s largest Zika-fighting subcontractors, Dynamic Aviation Group of Bridgewater, VA.
By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, Sept. 5, 2017
