Now that Florida's Lieutenant Governor, Jennifer Carroll, has resigned, it's time to examine how this new development will affect the 2014 gubernatorial election.
Carroll, who is of Trinidadian descent, helped Scott peel off just enough votes of women and black voters to win a close election against Alec Sink. She had been under fire for more than a year because of rumors of involvement with a female staff member.
Several of my friends wondered then if Scott would keep her on the ticket for his re-election bid. Now come the corruption allegations. She's gone.
This can only be good news for Scott. His reelection will still be a huge challenge, what with his
dismal approval ratings, but at least he's now free of his toxic running mate. This is not Lt. Gov. Carroll's first
scandal, and there's no way having her on the ticket could have helped him in 2014. Plus, he now has the chance to help boost his new
"moderate" credentials by picking, say, a sane person to replace her.
The problem? Every prominent Republican in Florida is either totally unelectable, or firmly in the hands of the Tea Party.
According to the Florida Constitution, it will be up to Scott to appoint Carroll's replacement:
(f) When not otherwise provided for in this constitution, the governor shall fill by appointment any vacancy in state or county office for the remainder of the term of an appointive office, and for the remainder of the term of an elective office if less than twenty-eight months, otherwise until the first Tuesday after the first Monday following the next general election.
Naturally, Scott will want to make the most of this opportunity and continue his run to the center on issues like
voting rights and
Medicaid expansion. If you have any suggestions, I'm sure Scott would love to hear them, because I can't think of a single Republican who fits the bill.
Local political blog SaintPetersBlog is already playing Great Mentioner, but the bench seems pretty thin.
Conservatives are salivating at the prospect of former Congressman Allen West joining Scott’s administration and 2014 ticket. But that’s too much star power in the LG’s office, isn’t it?
I'm salivating, too, over the prospect of absolutely destroying Scott's reelection chances.
Speaker Will Weatherford is term-limited in 2014 and so he could run as Scott’s LG, but that’s a non-starter, isn’t it. No way Weatherford damages his brand by jumping aboard Scott’s sinking ship.
Weatherford has
already said he doesn't want the job.
The comments section doesn't offer many other possibilities. Anitere Flores, a female, Hispanic state senator from Miami-Dade, might work. But she has no more reason to join the "sinking ship" than any other Florida Republican with a future.
Then there's Adam Hasner, who managed to lose two different elections in one year--dropping out of the Senate race, then losing to Lois Frankel in the 22nd House district.
So in another words, expect Carroll's replacement to be as boring and unheard-of as possible.