Ron DeSantis caught Orange County playing hide and seek with one strategy that backfired spectacularly

Orange County Democrats thought they could outsmart Ron DeSantis.

They had a plan to hide their woke spending spree from state auditors.

But Ron DeSantis caught Orange County playing hide and seek with one strategy that backfired spectacularly.

Orange County got caught red-handed trying to hide their DEI spending

Here’s what happened when DeSantis sent his DOGE team to audit Orange County’s books.

The Democrats running the county thought they were clever – they started renaming computer files to hide their diversity, equity, and inclusion spending from state investigators.

But somebody on the inside wasn’t having it.

“We started receiving those tips that Orange County employees were possibly tampering with documents to circumvent our review of their egregious spending,” Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/GovGoneWild/status/1961027412654805048

The whistleblower told state investigators that county employees were scrambling to change file names containing keywords like “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion.”

They were renaming PDFs, contracts, and computer tags to try to make their woke spending disappear.

But the cover-up only made things worse.

When DOGE investigators dug into 1.2 million emails related to six DEI grants worth over $500,000, they found something suspicious.

Five of those grants had mysteriously vanished from the email records.

“So, I wonder what happened with those emails?” Ingoglia said. “So, it’s telling me that it is probable that we have county employees [who] tried to hide some of this information.”

The county employees even showed up to meetings with what appeared to be prepared scripts instead of answering questions honestly.

DeSantis wasn’t buying their act for a second.

“They wouldn’t fully answer the questions and really left a lot of our folks not satisfied that they were getting all the answers that they could,” the Governor explained.

Orange County’s Mayor tries to play innocent

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings rushed out a statement denying everything.

“Orange County Government fully cooperated with the Florida DOGE audit team providing all the data and documents requested. No employee was instructed to alter, change or delete any documents,” Demings claimed.

Right.

If that’s true, then why are state investigators issuing subpoenas to county employees?

Ingoglia wasn’t playing games. He’s demanding answers from every county employee involved in these DEI grant programs.

“Don’t lie to us, because, if we have to, we will bring in FDLE and digital forensic units to find out exactly who did what, so please be truthful with us,” he warned.

The CFO made it crystal clear that Orange County “fooled around, and now they’re about to find out.”

That’s a reference to the “FAFO” nickname – which stands for “F*** Around and Find Out” – that DeSantis and Ingoglia have been using for Florida DOGE.

And Orange County is about to find out what happens when you try to hide woke spending from taxpayers.

The numbers tell the real story about Orange County’s spending spree

Look at what Orange County has been doing with taxpayer money over the last five years.

Their property tax collections jumped by over $330 million – a 52% increase since 2019.

At the same time, their general fund spending exploded from just over $1 billion to more than $1.6 billion.

That’s a 54% budget increase while the population only grew by about 10%.

Where did all that extra money go?

Into woke ideology programs that prioritize skin color over merit.

Orange County spent $322,000 on a “disparity study” to manufacture evidence of discrimination in government contracts.

They’ve been pushing diversity hiring over qualifications for critical positions like the Orange County Fire Department.

Meanwhile, working families are getting crushed by skyrocketing property taxes to fund this left-wing social experiment.

DeSantis created Florida DOGE to expose exactly this kind of wasteful spending.

https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1960863497622900942

The program has been auditing local governments across the state, from Broward and Hillsborough counties to cities like Gainesville and St. Petersburg.

Every audit tells the same story – local Democrat politicians jacking up taxes to fund their woke priorities instead of basic services.

Here’s why this matters for every Florida taxpayer

DeSantis isn’t just going after Orange County for fun.

This is all part of his plan to eliminate property taxes for homestead properties by 2026.

“Do you really own your home?” DeSantis has asked, pointing out that property taxes mean you’re essentially renting from the government.

But before DeSantis can eliminate property taxes, he has to prove that local governments are wasting money on stupid programs instead of essential services.

Orange County just handed him the perfect example.

When local officials try to hide their spending from auditors, it tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.

They know taxpayers would be furious if they saw how their hard-earned dollars were really being spent.

That’s why Orange County employees were frantically renaming files and showing up to meetings with scripts.

https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1960791301152235699

They were trying to cover up years of wasteful spending on woke ideology programs that don’t make anyone’s life better.

But their plan backfired spectacularly when a whistleblower exposed the whole operation.

Now DeSantis has the ammunition he needs to make his case for property tax elimination.

Orange County Democrats thought they could outsmart the Governor.

Instead, they just proved his point about local government waste better than any campaign ad ever could.

The subpoenas are going out, the digital forensics teams are standing by, and Florida taxpayers are about to learn the truth about where their money has been going.

Orange County “fooled around” – and now they’re about to find out.

¹ Mitch Perry, “CFO Blaise Ingoglia issuing subpoenas to Orange County employees after initial DOGE audit,” Florida Politics, August 27, 2025.

² Florida Daily, “DeSantis Orders Subpoenas in Orange County Audit; Demings Pushes Back,” August 27, 2025.

³ Gabrielle Russon, “Blaise Ingoglia accuses Orange County of hiding records in DOGE audit,” Florida Politics, August 27, 2025.

⁴ Joe Byrnes, “Florida CFO says Orange County not cooperating with DOGE efforts, subpoenas DEI grant records,” Central Florida Public Media, August 28, 2025.

⁵ WKMG-TV, “Orange County staff subpoenaed amid DOGE audit issues, CFO says,” August 27, 2025.

⁶ Governor Ron DeSantis and CFO Blaise Ingoglia, “Governor Ron DeSantis and CFO Blaise Ingoglia Announce Subpoena of Orange County Employees Linked to Obstructing State DOGE Audit,” August 27, 2025.