Opinion | Baugh admits to 'vaccinegate.' But proposed punishment falls short

Manatee County commissioner agrees to reprimand and fine in connection with special COVID vaccine clinic in 2021.

Editor’s note: This column has been edited to clarify that Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh “admits the facts” determined by the Florida Commission on Ethics related to her role in the organizing of a COVID-19 clinic in Lakewood Ranch in February 2021. An earlier version mischaracterized Baugh’s admission. (Updated at 3:15 p.m. EDT, Nov. 4, 2022.)

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Almost two years after the vaccinegate scandal broke, Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, after dozens of deflections and denials marked by an arrogance rarely seen in local politics, has finally admitted what we already suspected and knew.

As part of a proposed settlement of ethics charges against her, Baugh admitted to findings of a Florida Commission on Ethics investigation that in February 2021 she abused the power and prestige of her office, such as they are, and directed other county officials to ensure that only residents of Lakewood Ranch and other parts of her commission district — and no one anywhere else in Manatee, contrary to county policy at the time — would have access to then-scarce doses of COVID-19 delivered to the county by Gov. Ron DeSantis.