Coming soon to a Florida neighborhood near you: Employees of Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia raising awareness of the dangers posed by hurricanes in this year’s storm season.
Ingoglia announced Tuesday he’s started dispatching staff from the Department of Financial Services Office of Consumer Services armed with leaflets bearing his name and image, directing them to knock on doors and leave the pamphlets behind.
Ingoglia, a Republican, said he launched the initiative last week as part of a hurricane safety and education effort. The 2026 season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
But some view it with a bit of skepticism.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly noted that Republicans leaders in the Legislature sharply criticized then-Agriculture Commissioner (now chair of the Florida Democratic Party) Nikki Fried when she put consumer protection inspection stickers featuring her image on gas pumps at filling stations across the state. State legislators eventually prohibited the practice.
“Look, between our campaign finance system and the rules regarding elected officials, we have the most corrupt system in the state of Florida and the entire country,” Jolly told the Florida Phoenix.
“That is true. That was true with Hope Florida. That’s true with what Blaise is doing. The problem is there’s nobody providing a check on that. But look, I also think that, if it was a misuse of state dollars for Nikki Fried, it’s a misuse of state dollars for Blaise. There’s no way of getting out of that.”
Ingoglia — a former state senator appointed to the job by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year and running for re-election this fall — swiped away any suggestion that his push would benefit his campaign.
“We want to make sure as many people are as educated as possible about the services available to them and everything they possibly need to know in order to prepare for hurricane season,” he said.
Of any complaints, “Anyone who says that probably doesn’t care about the people of this state,” he added.
Troubled marketJolly argues Florida’s homeowners’ insurance market has not improved enough and that premiums remain unaffordable for many people. Republicans stumping on the campaign trail in 2026 are trying to dodge that reality by “educating” the public, the Democrat said.
“I also just think there’s a pattern here between Blaise and [Republican gubernatorial candidate] Byron Donalds and others. They have no solutions on homeowners’ insurance because they’re in bed with the insurance companies. And so, they’re offering scorecards, they’re offering education. But they’re doing nothing to actually bring down costs,” he said.
Jolly, while serving in Congress as a Republican, proposed a national catastrophic fund. His 2026 platform includes creating a state-run catastrophic insurance pool.
“I think the homeowner insurance market in Florida has collapsed. It’s not coming back. It’s being held together by Republican policies that allow undercapitalized firms to come into Florida, ship their profits out of state, keep their losses here, and deny 50% of claims, and we give them a bailout for doing that,” he said.
Florida officials of both parties long have posted their images on websites and in brochures and pamphlets. But legislative Republicans took aim at Fried when she put stickers featuring her image on gas pumps, threatening to eliminate $20 million in funding from her agency’s budget.
Nikki Fried, official campaign photo in 2022 and now the chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Used from 2019 to 2020, the stickers noted that the pumps had been “inspected and approved” for accuracy and to find skimmers — hidden devices that steal people’s credit or debit card information.
The Agriculture commissioner’s office includes the Bureau of Petroleum Inspection.
Fried’s office ordered about 120,000 stickers featuring her smiling face and spent about $5,000. DeSantis and other Republicans at the time accused her of using taxpayer dollars to boost her political recognition.
The day after she announced her Democratic gubernatorial bid in 2021 with hopes of defeating the governor, DeSantis — inflating the sticker costs — accused Fried of spending “millions of dollars to put her face on every gas pump across this state purely to boost her own image at your expense as a taxpayer.”
The Legislature ultimately changed the law to ban her from using her image on the stickers.
“They (Republicans) literally changed the law after I changed the design of a mandatory function of FDACS (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services). They threatened to zero out my budget. This is outrageous and outright campaigning,” Fried told the Phoenix in a text. “This is a complete violation of state statutes but they have no issues with violating the Florida Constitution as they see laws as merely suggestions. They have zero ground to ever claim law and order.”
Taxpayer costsIt’s not clear how much Ingoglia has spent on his leaflets or how many employees will knock on doors and distribute them.
The CFO’s office said the materials were being printed in-house as part of existing outreach efforts. The division is required by law to to assist residents. The Office of Consumer Services has offices throughout the state.
Ingoglia said Tuesday that employees from the Office of Consumer Services routinely go into hurricane-ravaged areas to provide residents with information.
“What we are trying to do is go out proactively into these communities and give them information they need so they have it in advance. Now, we are giving it to them in a way that they can hold on to the information.”
He added that the material will contain information that runs the gamut from emergency evacuation routes to telephone numbers for utility companies, as well as the toll free number to the Office of Consumer Services.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
