Woman Who Complained To Commissioner Added To VIP Vaccine List

LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL — Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh’s former neighbor emailed her to complain about the county’s COVID-19 vaccine lottery system not long before being added to Baugh’s VIP list for an elite vaccine event in February, the Herald-Tribune reported.

Baugh, the representative of District 5, selected residents from the county’s two wealthiest ZIP codes for a state-run pop-up vaccine clinic held Feb. 17-19 in Lakewood Ranch.

She also created a VIP list of five people to receive the vaccine at the event, and told the county's Public Safety Director, Jacob Sauer, to add their names to the list of those being vaccinated at the clinic. In addition to herself, this list included Lakewood Ranch president and CEO Rex Jensen and his father, as well as her former neighbors, Marie and Robert Keehn.

Marie Keehn emailed Baugh Feb. 11 to complain about Manatee County’s vaccine registration process.

“You and your other members need to take a good hard look at the ridiculous random lottery Manatee County has adopted,” Keehn wrote to Baugh from her husband’s email address, the Herald-Tribune reported. “Everyone we know is registering in other counties because ours is so totally unfair. We, and many others, registered on day one and hear about people getting appointments who registered last week. At least with Sarasota, you have an assigned number and know where you stand. You and your colleagues really dropped the ball on this one. It’s time to make some changes. Really disappointed with our county officials."

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Baugh responded, “Sorry Marie but I can only do so much.”

She added, “That being said stay tuned I am working with the Governor on something this coming week for LWR (Lakewood Ranch).”

The next day, the commissioner followed up with Keehn, asking her to call “ASAP,” reports said. Three days later, Saur received the VIP vaccine list, including the Keehns’ names.

Text messages between the commissioner and Jensen also indicated political motives behind the vaccine distribution event. They discussed how the pop-up clinic could benefit Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Baugh and the clinic has been under investigation by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office since a criminal complaint was filed against her at the end of February. An ethics complaint has also been filed against the commissioner through the Florida Commission on Ethics.