Voters react to Glades Commissioner not living in his district

WINK News exclusively broke the news to you last week about the Glades County District 1 Commissioner, Tony Whidden, now living outside of his district.

Whidden won his seat in 2020 when he lived at a house in District One. Then, in 2022, he moved six miles away to a home in District Four and has been living there ever since.

Some people who live in Glades County claim that Whidden’s seat has been vacant since he moved and that none of his votes should count. 

The state attorneys’ office has confirmed that the move means his seat is vacant.

In the Florida Constitution, it states that commissioners must live in the districts they represent. Whidden doesn’t, which makes several Glades County residents upset.

One of them, Margaret Pass, even wrote a letter to the governor asking him to “investigate, take action, to immediately call for Whidden’s removal.” 

“There’s a good old boy system that’s been in place for a long time here. They don’t want change; they want it their way. And it’s just for the few that benefit from it,” Pass said.

Weeks after Pass sent the letter, the Governor’s Office responded saying that she should direct any questions to the state attorney’s office, but documents we obtained from the state attorney’s office say it found Whidden had not committed any crime. The state attorney’s office said violations of the constitution are not criminal unless the state legislature makes it so.

Voters of Glades County are not only upset about Whidden still holding office but frustrated with the entire Glades County government.

“The commission has been complicit in the fact that they have done nothing. They could have at least put it to a vote and said, get him out of there, and done what’s necessary, but they all just champion around him, just the opposite of what should be done,” Pass said.

“I wish we could get a real large broom and just sweep them all out. They don’t deserve to be there. They don’t represent our best interest as county residents. They don’t,” another Glades County resident, Mario Miranda, said.

Miranda, who served as the former Glades County Code Enforcement Officer, said he even confronted the commissioners about Whidden. 

“I spoke to them one-on-one. And they say, ‘Well, if the state doesn’t want to enforce it, how are we going to? How are we going to enforce it?’ I said that’s immoral, illegal for you to tell me that. And it’s borderline not acceptable. It’s not acceptable,” Miranda said. 

WINK News attempted to reach all of the commissioners. None of them wanted to comment on this story.

Earlier, Whidden had said he wasn’t going to resign and told WINK News Reporter Olivia Jean he did nothing wrong. 

The next Glades County commissioners meeting is Tuesday at 9 a.m.