Editorial: More sunshine needed at Visit Florida

Enterprise Florida, the state's primary job recruitment operation, isn't the only public-private partnership in this state that deserves more scrutiny of its use of public tax dollars. Visit Florida, the state's tourism agency, also should get a thorough examination of how it spends public money — and a healthy dose of openness. Record tourism does not justify a blank check and a blanket of secrecy.

Visit Florida receives $75 million in public money to promote the state, which is more money than the state has spent in some years on maintaining public schools or buying environmentally sensitive land. Yet no elected state officials sit on its board, and there is no government audit that thoroughly reviews where the money goes. Don't bother asking for details, because the Sunshine State's marketing arm likes to work in the darkness.

As the Orlando Sentinel has reported, Visit Florida refuses to say how much it paid the rapper Pitbull last year to promote the state and will not release details of the contract, citing "proprietary trade information.'' That is an absurd use of an exemption the public records law. The agency also won't say how much it paid Emeril Lagasse to host 13 shows about Florida on the Cooking Channel. Or how much it paid Motocross champion Ricky Carmichael to be an ambassador for the agency. Or how much it paid for a sponsorship with Fulham FC, an English soccer club, other than it was in the "high six figures.''

Exactly what was the return on investment to taxpayers for these secret payments? Unclear.

Those payments are not the only issues surrounding Visit Florida's finances that could use a public airing. The Sentinel recently reported that the agency paid thousands of dollars last fall for foreign journalists from China and elsewhere to vacation in the Florida Keys. Visit Florida's travel spending has increased, its staffers' salaries are not made public online like those in government agencies, and it was sitting on more than $22 million at the end of the 2014-15 budget year on June 30. Yet lawmakers gave it another $75 million for 2015-16 and another $78 million for the budget year starting July 1. The same skepticism legislators have regarding Enterprise Florida should apply to the tourism agency.

While Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida are public-private partnerships, both rely much more heavily on taxpayers than private contributors. Visit Florida receives relatively little cash from private businesses, and the rest of the private investment comes from what the agency describes as advertising and promotions. In both cases, true partnerships would not be so one-sided.

To his credit, Gov. Rick Scott has expanded his review of Enterprise Florida to include Visit Florida and Space Florida, which looks to attract businesses related to the space industry. David Wilkins, the former secretary of the Department of Children and Families, is overseeing an audit of Enterprise Florida's spending habits and has been directed by the governor to cut $6 million. The reviews of the other agencies should be just as thorough.

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In theory, there is nothing wrong with public-private partnerships to recruit business and lure tourists to Florida. But when the public is investing most of the cash, the public deserves more openness and better verification that their money is being wisely spent.