Ron DeSantis aide Larry Keefe used ‘Clarice Starling’ alias for migrant flight bid
Keefe #Keefe
A top aide for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used an alias from “Silence of the Lambs” while helping a former client secure a bid to fly asylum seekers from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in September.
DeSantis’ public safety czar, Larry Keefe, used a private email address under the pseudonym Clarice Starling to help private contractor Vertol Systems Company win the opportunity to operate the state’s controversial migrant flight program, WTVJ reported last week.
Emails between Keefe — who formally represented Vertol for years in the private sector — and CEO James Montgomerie, were not initially turned over in connection with a lawsuit, despite Montgomerie’s testimony his company released “every single” record, according to the report.
Vertol had reportedly earned at least $1.5 million to fly dozens of mostly Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to the Massachusetts island on Sept. 14, and for other planned migrant flights to Delaware and Illinois that have so far never materialized, according to the article.
Language in eight paragraphs sent from Keefe to Montgomerie in late August ended up nearly verbatim in the proposal Vertol sent to Florida transportation officials on Sept. 2, according to the local station.
The clandestine communication was finally released just before Christmas after the Florida Center for Government Accountability sued the state and Vertol to obtain documents related to the migrant relocation efforts.
The governors’ office had previously said it was “unaware of this email address belonging to Mr. Keefe.”
“This is the email channel to use,” Keefe wrote from his Gmail alias to Montgomerie’s AOL account on Aug. 26, as the aviation company was poised to bid on the state’s program, according to The Miami Herald.
In addition to the email chain, the two men had reportedly called or texted each other 33 times in the days before Florida and Vertol agreed on the principal of a contractual agreement, WTVJ said.
The state and the contractor have denied accusations of violating the migrants’ civil rights and concealing public records in connection with the political stunt orchestrated by DeSantis, who won re-election in a landslide last month and is rumored to be eying a presidential bid.
Keefe, a former US attorney in the Trump administration, was hired last year by DeSantis to run his $12 million migration relocation program, which was approved by the Tallahassee legislature earlier this year, despite the fact Florida has no land border. US Border Patrol in Florida recorded 35,000 interactions with migrants in the 2022 fiscal year, mostly of people arriving by boat.
The latest revelations come as the state and the contractor are accused in lawsuits of violating the Texas migrants’ civil rights and concealing public records, allegations they deny.
Keefe’s “Starling” Gmail address — a reference to the FBI trainee who hunts fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the “Silence of the Lambs” movie and its sequels — also included the phrase “Heat 19,” which was a call sign given to Keefe by a military commander when he served in the private sector, The Herald reported.
Neither Keefe nor DeSantis responded to a request for comment from the newspaper.
“Who is Mr. Keefe working for?” Michael Barfield, director of public access for FLCGA, reportedly asked. “The state of Florida or the contractor or both?”
Barfield said Montgomery lied under oath and accused the state of deliberately trying to conceal the records, which were released only after FLCGA questioned whether all correspondences had been fully disclosed.
He had called for an investigation into the alleged sleight of hand, even though Florida officials are allowed to use private emails for public business under the law, according to the newspaper.
“Our open government laws were designed to prevent backroom deals and keep the public informed. This is the antithesis of open government. Using encrypted apps and military lingo, it doesn’t square with doing things in the sunshine,” Barfield reportedly said.
“Worse, both Mr. Keefe and Mr. Montgomerie knew what they were doing. They are very well versed in the public records laws. Communicating in this way sure makes it more difficult for the average citizen … to uncover what was really going on behind the scenes.”
The flight program was approved by lawmakers to remove “unauthorized aliens” from The Sunshine State, but the migrants that were flown to the posh East Coast liberal enclave had never stepped foot in Florida and were in the country legally applying for asylum.
Both Florida and Vertol had referred to the contested program as a “humanitarian operation” in internal documents, according to the newspaper.
With AP wires