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Who is Don Gaetz? Matt Gaetz's father was president of Florida Senate, has aerospace institute named after him

Don Gaetz was the representative of District 1 for a decade till 2016 and also worked as president of the Senate from 2013 to 2014

Matt Gaetz is currently embroiled in controversy as his name has come up in a possible sex trafficking case. He is under federal investigation for sexual misconduct after it was alleged that he was sexually involved with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her travels with him. However, the 38-year-old has denied all the allegatons and accused a “a former DOJ official" of "seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name.”

He also mentioned in a tweet that his father was “wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals”. Presenting his side of the story, the close ally of former President Donald Trump tweeted, “Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter...and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals. The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets...of the ongoing extortion investigation. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.”

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Who is Matt Gaetz’s father?

Don Gaetz is the father of Matt. The 73-year-old was a prominent politician of his time, and used to be the Republican member of the Florida State Senate. He was the representative of District 1 for a decade till 2016 and also worked as president of the Senate from 2013 to 2014. But in 2016, he retired as he did not participate in re-election that year.

As per the Florida Education Foundation website, Don “dedicated his life to expanding Floridians’ access to quality health care services as a hospital administrator and co-founder of a successful hospice carebusiness.” It noted, “As a school board member and later as superintendent, he led Okaloosa County to become the highest performing public school system in Florida, winning numerous national awards for academic excellence. President Gaetz has an undergraduate degree from Concordia College and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Troy State University.”

The site also added that as president of the Florida Senate, he “used his time leading the Senate to champion expanding economic opportunities through education, increasing government accountability through major ethics reforms, and making Florida the most military and veteran-friendly state in the nation.” Besides, reportedly an aerospace institute has also been named in his honor. He once said, “Connecting our high school and college enrollment programs to Florida’s economic development in the aerospace industry equals added value to our students, at no cost to their families.”

Who are Matt Gaetz’s mother and sister?

Matt’s mother and Don’s wife is Victoria "Vickey" Quertermous, who keeps herself away from the limelight and worked as a pharmacist for over two decades. A northwestern Florida native, she reportedly got her pharmacist license in 1976, which expired in 1997. She attended Choctawhatchee High School in Destin, Florida, before joining the University of Florida. Victoria married Don in 1981 and they lived in a house that was used in the 1998 movie ‘The Truman Show’.

Erin Gaetz is the sister of Matt and the younger child of Don and Victoria. It has been said that she is less conservative than other family members. But she supports her elder brother like any sibling. Once Erin said about Matt, “Though like most siblings, we don’t agree on everything, I love him and am deeply proud of him. Where you may see a brash, combative loudmouth, I see the brash, combative loudmouth who insisted to the neighborhood boys that I be allowed to play football with them — even though I was a scrawny, nine-year-old girl.”