Steve Boussquet of the Tampa Bay Times Ex-Lt. Gov. Carroll says working for Scott was 'bad' for minorities, due to his "good ol' boy system," and her "loyalty to Scott was not returned."
"It came time that I would have expected him (Scott) to give me the common courtesy that he gave to his male counterparts there, his chief of staff, who had wrongdoing, he supported and defended them," Carroll said. "Me, with no wrongdoing, (he) utilized an excuse and asked me to leave office for no reason."
Carroll, the state's first African-American lieutenant governor and the most visible black member of Scott's administration, quit in March 2013, nine months before the Times/Herald exposed Hollingsworth's resume-padding.
"It's bad enough, particularly for minorities, when you are in the good ol' boy system, you're trying to walk that fine line because, you know, there are little whispers that they give. You know, if you go off too much, then there's a B-I-T-C-H," Carroll told listeners.
The Times reports Carroll was forced out of office after it was learned she had been a paid consultant to a veterans group with alleged illegal times to the gaming industry.
Carroll had problems of her own. The Associated Press reported that Carrol had failed to report nearly $100,000 in income from a purported charity Allied Veterans of the World, and then changed two financial disclosure statements to include those payments when she was questioned by FDLE, which apparently is a Floridia election commission. But then she is not running for Governor.
The Miami Herald has released a poll showing a near tie in Florida's Governor's raceGOP (McLaughlin) poll: Rick Scott 42%, Crist 38% which is within the polls margin of error. This is a conservative polling organization that used high "likely voter" screens for this poll as explained here.
Just as Republicans do when their guy is losing, Democrats are sure to doubt this poll's validity. It's an outlier, for now. And McLaughlin & Associates have what are generally known as "tight screens" for their likely voter polls, which could make this one inherently more-conservative leaning.
That's because a likely voter in a Florida mid-term tends to be more conservative than one in a presidential race. And that's why there are no Democrats elected statewide who hold a position in the state Capitol.
The last Quinnipiac poll late last month had Crist up by 10 points (background here), other polls showed smaller Crist leads generally. When the polls were "unskewed," however, the race became pretty tight (background here).
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The Herald reports that Scott is on pace to burn $8.5 in two months on T.V. alone.
I am dedicated to doing whatever I can to help Crist beat Scott in this election.
11:27 AM PT: Sunshine State News reports Personnel note: Rick Minor set to join Charlie Crist campaign
Rick Minor, the Chief of Staff to Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, is set to join Charlie Crist’s gubernatorial campaign, according to sources inside and close to the campaign.
Minor, a former candidate for state House who recently dropped a bid for the Tallahassee City Commission, is expected to take on a policy-oriented role for the campaign.