Suspicions About A DeSantis Ally

This was something unsettling happening this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida: A DeSantis political ally and fundraising supporter found dead of a suspected suicide (via Ryan Dailey for news channel WCJB): 

Kent Stermon, a Jacksonville-area businessman and member of the state university system’s Board of Governors, was found dead in an apparent suicide Thursday night, law enforcement officials confirmed on Friday.

Stermon was found “deceased, alone in a locked vehicle” in the parking lot of a post office in Atlantic Beach by a post-office employee, an Atlantic Beach Police Department report said.

“There is no suspected foul play. The investigation is being worked as a suicide,” a news release from the police department said.

According to the report, Stermon had been sought as a missing person by the sheriff’s office shortly before he was found deceased. Stermon apparently took his own life amid an ongoing probe by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office...

Stermon was president and chief operating officer of Total Military Management, a logistics company that enables “Department of Defense qualified transportation service providers to better serve the military marketplace,” according to its website.

A politically connected figure in Northeast Florida, Stermon --- who was named “citizen of the year” by the sheriff’s office in 2016 --- was part of the host committee for the 2020 Republican National Convention in Jacksonville.

Stermon also was a donor to Gov. Ron DeSantis and served on his transition team in 2018. Stermon contributed a combined $53,250 to DeSantis and his political committee Friends of Ron DeSantis between 2018 and 2022, including a $25,000 contribution to DeSantis’ committee on Nov. 30, 2021.

DeSantis appointed Stermon to the Board of Governors in March 2019. Stermon served as chairman of the board’s Audit and Compliance Committee.

This was a connected guy making money off of government contracts, with his hands in a lot of Republican activities. Notice the quid pro quo of DeSantis putting Stermon on the Board of Governors overseeing our state university system.

Just what exactly were the law enforcement investigating Stermon for?

The Politico website has something to note, not official of course (reported by Matt Dixon):

Waters said that because the investigation remains active, there is “limited information available to release at this time.” The Florida Times-Union reported, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, that authorities were examining allegations of sexual misconduct.

When I heard the news about Stermon, my first thought was "Is any of this tied to the Joel Greenberg/Matt Gaetz matter we've been waiting years on for resolution?"

Last we heard anything major about that ongoing scandal was back in 2021, when Greenberg agreed to plead to six major charges the feds had out of THIRTY-THREE (!) possible, in exchange for Greenberg giving more details about any other illegal activities tied to his county and state-level work with other politicians (hint: Republicans) and business figures (hint: also Republicans).

It's been almost 18 months waiting, but this December the feds finally put Greenberg away, with the judge sentencing him to 11 years in prison. Prosecutors argued for a relatively lighter sentence on Greenberg because he had given them useful information about other state-level figures - the numbers bounce between eight to twenty-five other suspects - involved in the sex trafficking investigation.

With Stermon under similar investigation when he took his own life, I am pondering if there's a link here.

I'm also wondering about this week's other state scandal of the "Don't Say Gay" hypocrite State Rep. Harding getting charged with acts of wire fraud involving COVID-19 bailout funds that Greenberg was also committing.

I'm still waiting for Matt Gaetz to face these moments. Gaetz was tied to so many of Greenberg's antics - and Gaetz has shown so much bad behavior on his own related to these matters - it's impossible to believe he will walk away from any justice here.

Give us that wonderful Saturnalia gift of Gaetz in a perp walk, people.