‘Disregard for our community.’ NAACP wants Baugh off commission after vaccine event
The Manatee County chapter of the NAACP has joined a growing number of voices calling for Commissioner Vanessa Baugh’s removal from her position in local government. The group’s criticism of Baugh comes after the commissioner played a central role in the organization of a COVID-19 vaccination site last month that exclusively served an affluent and predominately white area of the county.
The vaccine event was open only to residents of two ZIP codes in Lakewood Ranch, circumventing Manatee County’s random vaccination process and the thousands of other seniors waiting for a shot.
The event has also drawn criticism for the behind-the-scenes nature in which it was organized in a process that lacked input from other county commissioners, local health officials or residents of Manatee County. Instead, Baugh, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lakewood Ranch developer Rex Jensen were involved in setting up the site, as previously reported by the Bradenton Herald.
In addition, Baugh also requested that herself, Jensen, Jensens’s father and two friends of hers be added to the list for vaccination.
In a statement released to the media on Monday, the local NAACP chapter characterized Baugh’s actions as a “blatant disregard for our community.”
“It is a known fact that minority communities have disproportionately been negatively impacted by the coronavirus, yet fewer doses of the vaccines have reached our residents,” the statement reads. “Vanessa Baugh’s decision to limit the distribution of the COVID vaccine to the predominantly white, financially affluent area of Lakewood Ranch had a direct effect on the health of the seniors in our community because they were not allowed to go out there and receive the vaccine.
“Due to her blatant disregard for our community, it is the feeling of the Manatee County NAACP that Mrs. Baugh be removed from her position as County Commissioner, and be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if the current investigation finds that she violated the rights of her position.”
Baugh’s role in organizing the vaccine site is currently under investigation by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office to determine whether it violated state law following a criminal complaint from Sarasota paralegal Michael Barfield. It also prompted an ethics complaint filed by Ellenton attorney Jennifer Hamey.
In addition to the criminal and ethics inquiries, the exclusive vaccine event received nationwide coverage that resulted in sharp criticism of Baugh and Gov. DeSantis and brought scrutiny to the manner in which vaccines are being distributed in Florida.
In the following days and weeks, elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the state’s highest-ranking elected Democrat, criticized the vaccine site, and Fried called on DeSantis to suspend Baugh from her position on the county commission.
Robert Powell, the president of the Manatee County NAACP, was interviewed for a CNN segment amid the fallout over the vaccine site in February.
“It is unfortunate because the Black and brown communities suffered here the most, and for them to do it that way and to just limit to that zip code really just blew my mind,” Powell said at the time.
Baugh did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the NAACP’s statement on Monday.
In addition to the NAACP, the Manatee County Democratic Party has also called on Baugh to resign, as have angry residents.
Baugh previously apologized for her role in organizing the vaccine site when confronted by fellow commissioners. A later attempt to remove Baugh from her position as chairwoman of the Manatee Board of County Commissioners failed; Baugh cast a tie-breaking vote to preserve her title.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.