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The state is giving millions of taxpayer dollars to companies and using code names to disguise the giveaways. As Whitney Ray tells us Project Snake Eyes and Project Bacon are just two of the aliases given to more 300 proposed deals.

You’ve probably never heard of Project Bacon or Project Snake Eyes and for good reason. They’re the names of secret deals being cut between the state and corporations using millions of taxpayer dollars.

Dan Krassner, Executive Director of Integrity Florida spent months investigating the taxpayer giveaways, requesting information from the Department of Economic Opportunity.

“What we are asking about are secret and code named projects so it will take time,” said Krassner.

Krassner also asked about Project Mae West and the more than 300 other taxpayer deals the state is considering. He’s still waiting for answers.

All the deals come with contracts requiring the companies to create jobs. According to this report by Integrity Florida, the state has signed 1.7 billion dollars in contracts since 1995, with the promising of 225-thousand new jobs. So far one in three promised jobs have been created.

The companies want the deals to remain secret to keep competitors from stealing their business plans. Until this year state law protected the contracts from public viewing for two years. A new law shortens it to 180 days, but with a waiver a company can keep the deal hidden longer.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t put ourselves at a disadvantage to be able to recruit companies here,” said Scott.

Governor Rick Scott says trade secrets have to be protected, but within reason.

“It’s a trade off. We’ve got to make sure we can compete with these other states, but we’ve got to make sure people know how their dollars are spent,” said Scott.

Integrity Florida is calling for the governor to put all the contracts online. The government watchdog group is also asking Enterprise Florida, the state’s public, private economic development group, to better job of publicizing its board meetings.