Takeaways from Tallahassee — Salute the Flagg

Salute the Flagg

While a well-modulated voice was his stock-in-trade, Rick Flagg loomed large — literally — during his 43-year tenure covering the ins and outs of state government in Tallahassee.

You can’t miss him in photos of the media scrum around Governors, legislators and other notables. His 6-foot, 3-inch height makes him easy to find anywhere, but Flagg has a most distinctive look that includes one white eyebrow, a long beard and even longer hair, and an ultra-casual wardrobe that stands out in the reportorial swarm of suit jackets.

After a final installment of the Sunrise podcast on Tuesday, Flagg — the Dean of the Capitol Press Corps — will turn off his microphone and retire.

Like Flagg, Gary Fineout is an alumnus of the Florida Flambeau student newspaper, but his tenure there was several years after the soon-to-be retiree. Crossing paths for Fineout’s past 25 years in the Capitol, the POLITICO reporter came away with this description of his compatriot:

“He was his own guy. He didn’t feel the need to follow the protocols of others,” Fineout said. “His hair was long, and he wore what he wanted to wear that made him comfortable.”

Flagg says his appearance does make him stand out. Originally it was born of necessity, but over the years became his trademark. “When I first started working, I was still a lowly college student, didn’t have money for anything. So, when other people were going out to lunch, I was bagging it and wearing jeans and flannel shirts,” he explained. “No one knows the radio reporter, but everyone knows Rick. Give people or persona to latch onto, and they’ll remember it.”

For most of his career, Flagg was the sole voice of the Florida Radio News Service, which started while attending Florida A&M University — at its high point serving 14 radio stations around the state — and doing news reporting for local stations. For the past two years, he has served as host of the Florida Politics podcast, Sunrise.

He has worked through profound changes in the reporting process.

“We have to generate a lot more content now. Back in the old days, you could work on one story a day …” he said. “Nowadays, there is no time for that. It’s just crank it out the door, cover it superficially and get it done, move on, get the clicks. And if you can work a Simpsons reference into it or some kind of topical thing that might make one more click, gosh, they just love that.”

He’s also not too thrilled about the transformation of state leadership throughout the years.

“Politicians used to have a sense of humor. I mean Bob Graham,” who he once asked if a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Georgia sodomy law would have any impact on his personal behavior. “You could play with Bob Martinez. You could play with Lawton Chiles. God almighty, he loved playing with us,” he reminisced. “But after that, it’s like, Jeb (Bush), Charlie (Crist), Rick Scott, (Ron) DeSantis. Is there any wonder I’m leaving?”

Flagg turns 64 on Sept. 3, a little early for traditional retirement, but his mother’s death in July drove his decision. “The passing of my mom sort of catalyzed in me that I have family responsibilities and it’s time to step up …. Frankly, there was a little money, not much, but enough that I can take a couple of years and not work,” he said. “Mom’s final gift to me was an early retirement.”

Those family responsibilities include being there for his 40-year-old daughter, Kate, who has Down syndrome. She has doubled her original life expectancy and lives independently but has health problems and other needs that require on-call help. Flagg also has another daughter, Jenny, and two teenage grandsons who inherited his height, but not his bulk. “They’re very lanky,” he explained.

Flagg’s other plans for retirement should take him no farther than his Frenchtown backyard.

He plans to work on his backyard garden in Frenchtown with his fiancee, Debbie Campbell, who he describes as “the hippie/granola lady I’ve been looking for all my life.” She grows and sells everything from peppers and herbs to figs and satsuma oranges at the Red Hills Farmer’s Market. Flagg was known around town for his beekeeping, but disease has wiped out all but one of his hives. He plans to let that one die off and rebuild them again in a year or so.

As his reports have been for four-plus decades, Flagg’s parting shot is disarmingly honest and slightly acerbic:

“I will be perfectly fine. Don’t worry about me. There are plenty of things to fill my time, and I will not miss state government one tiny bit. I guess that’s a good way to sign off, isn’t it? Adios suckers. Ron DeSantis is someone else’s problem now.”

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Coming up, the usual assortment of tidbits, leftovers and not-ready-for-prime-time moments by Peter Schorsch, Drew Wilson, Renzo Downey, Jason Delgado and the staff of Florida Politics.

Take 5

The “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:

Mask mandate ban defeated in court — Leon County Judge John Cooper ruled against Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate Friday, calling his executive order “arbitrary and capricious.” He ruled that the state did not fully follow the Parents’ Bill of Rights by preemptively issuing a blanket ban on mask orders. Moreover, the DeSantis administration followed a small minority of health experts when they said masks didn’t mitigate the spread of COVID-19. But the fight’s not over. The DeSantis administration will look for a redo in the 1st District Court of Appeals. “This ruling was made with incoherent justifications, not based in science and facts — frankly not even remotely focused on the merits of the case presented,” a DeSantis spokesperson said.

Rivkees leaving DeSantis administration — The Surgeon General will leave the DeSantis administration on Sept. 20, the Governor’s Office made clear Thursday. Dr. Scott Rivkees’ time in government was marked by his absence from public view throughout much of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, the news comes as Florida continues trudging through the pandemic with peak cases and hospitalizations on account of the delta variant. Because Rivkees was on an employee interchange agreement with UF, under state law, he could only sign a two-year contract with the administration. State law also allows him a three-month extension, which he took in June when his contract was initially set to expire.

FDLE opens investigation into SD 9 allegations — The Department of Law Enforcement is investigating another high-profile State Senate race from 2020, this time in Central Florida’s SD 9. The Orlando Sentinel reported that FDLE is reviewing allegations into that race, but the agency didn’t detail the allegations. Sen. Jason Brodeur ultimately defeated Patricia Sigman by more than 7,600 votes. Little-known independent candidate Jestine Iannotti received nearly 5,800 votes. A dark-money nonprofit called “The Truth” with ties to a fake candidate scheme in South Florida’s SD 40 boosted Iannotti with ads that appeared tailored to appeal to left-leaning voters.

DeSantis responds in Associated Press feud — In a strongly worded letter to The Associated Press, DeSantis criticized the news organization for writing and defending its “political smear” against him. DeSantis wrote the letter after the news wire reported press secretary Christina Pushaw to Twitter for “abusive behavior” that led to threats against reporter Brendan Farrington. Twitter locked her account for 12 hours late last week. “You succeeded in publishing a misleading, clickbait headline about one of your political opponents, but at the expense of deterring individuals infected with COVID from seeking lifesaving treatment, which will cost lives,” DeSantis said. “Was it worth it?”

Disney cruises buck state law for Bahamas policy — Disney Cruise Lines on Tuesday became the latest cruise company to announce it would defy Florida’s ban on COVID-19 vaccine passports and require passengers to provide vaccine proof. While Disney’s rules violate state law, it puts it in compliance with The Bahamas’ emergency order essentially blocking cruise ships from Florida unless the ships provide proof that everyone on board who is eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations has had their shots. Disney Cruise Line announced it will require all cruise ship passengers ages 12 and older to be fully vaccinated to get on a Disney ship headed for The Bahamas, starting with the Sept. 3 cruise of the Disney Dream out of Port Canaveral.