We have uncovered some shocking evidence that seems to clearly indicate that Walton County Commissioner Brad Drake is defrauding state taxpayers by engaging in political activities while being “on the clock” for this state job.
Drake, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created by Mike Barker’s departure to become the interim city manager in DeFuniak Springs in September 2023, currently works as the Director of Rural and Community Affairs. According to his job description, his working hours are the standard 8AM to 5PM Monday thru Friday schedule. See the images below.
When government employees run for local office it is expected that their political duties should not interfere with their regular work duties. In many cases, local elected officials must use their vacation or PTO time to attend official meetings whenever they conflict with their work schedule. For employees holding municipal offices it is much easier as those council meetings are traditionally held in the evening hours. However, county meetings across the country are commonly held during normal business hours.
There cannot be any doubt or confusion as it is plainly clear that Commissioner Drake has submitted timecards to the state stating that he was engaged in official state business when he was actually engaged in Walton County BCC activities. The data is shocking in that we have only received timecards for 6 pay periods covering a total of 12 weeks.
Here is one example image from the previous link.
During those 12 weeks, he attended 10 official county meetings, executives sessions, or workshops. And anyone who follows Walton County politics knows that these BCC meetings aren’t thirty minute affairs. They last hours. And this does not county any other time Drake may have spent on county business while being paid by the state taxpayers.
This 12 week snapshot shows that Drake habitually bilked state taxpayers and shirked his duties to advance his political career. Imagine what many other weeks of timecard data will show!
Several weeks ago, I started beating the drum on “Somali Scott” Brannon’s apparent timecard fraud.
Drake, who claimed to be a fiscal conservative who would root out waste and dismantle the Good Ol’ Boy network shortly after he was appointed, has been completely mum on the issue. Instead, it appears he is your typical political grifter who feels entitled to leech off the labor and sweat of the taxpayers while trumpeting the conservative cliches that play well in a district that votes 70-80% Republican every election cycle.