Of all the governors, Rick Scott seems to have the worst judgement when it comes to choosing staff – they don’t stick around. Some resignations have been prompted by scandalous revelations, others because of clashes with Scott or because they could no longer sacrifice their integrity to do the job.
Here are two lists highlighting the top fifteen.
THE SCANDAL LIST:
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Jennifer Carroll, Lt Governor
She weathered a fraudulent documents controversy in 2011, allegations of "sex, lies and illegal audio taping" in 2012 and was finally undone in 2013 after being questioned over her involvement with Allied Veterans, a charity accused of operating as a front for a $300million gambling ring. Rumors abounded that she was forced out by Rick Scott who ran a "good ol' boy system" that made life difficult for the female African-American.
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Steve McNamara, Chief of Staff
After only eight months in the job, McNamara resigned after press reports asserted that, during his time in the Senate, he helped steer a $360,000 no-bid consulting contract to a friend. It turned out to be just one of several suspect contracts. Further controversy surrounded his decision to allow the state’s film commissioner to travel to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
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Doug Darling, Director of the Dept of Economic Opportunity
After only six months, Darling was forced out when an audit found his division lacking in internal controls. He also stirred up considerable controversy when he revealed that Florida had paid tens of millions of dollars to lure companies to the state for jobs that were never created.
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Hunting Deutsch, Executive Director of the Dept of Economic Opportunity
Deutsch, who oversaw the state's unemployment programs, resigned in December 2012 after eight months when it was revealed that he’d received unemployment benefits during a period in which he taken several trips to Europe.
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Carl Littlefield, Secretary of Agency for Persons with Disabilities
In February 2011, Littlefield’s short career with the agency ended in an abrupt resignation which saved him from testifying before a Senate panel about a Tampa group home that allowed residents to have sex. Scott found him another job - at the Department of Children and Families.
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Brian Burgess, Communications Director
His combative history with reporters ended less than five months into the job when Burgess clashed with his boss over the puppy adoption controversy. Scott had acquired “Reagan” during his campaign but then handed the pup back to the rescue home as soon as he was elected. Burgess was held accountable for the bungled handling of the controversy and resigned in January.
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David Wilkins, DCF Secretary
Wilkins’ belief in the power of prayer failed to save him after he cut his department’s budget and retrenched 500 workers. The resulting staff shortage had tragic consequences with the deaths of some 40 children in the first half of 2013 alone. Wilkins resigned in July that same year.
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Tony Bennett, Schools Superintendent
He lasted eight months before a scandal from his time in Indiana caught up with him. It concerned a charter school which was in line for a poor grade. It was run by a prominent Republican so Bennett’s team obligingly rejigged the grading system to give the school an A instead of the C it deserved.
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CLASHES, COMPLAINTS AND SO LONG LIST:
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Mike Fernandez, Campaign Finance Chairman and major donor
In emails leaked to the media, Fernandez complained that campaign staffers mocked Mexican accents and cited a car trip to a Mexican restaurant as a particular instance. Not only did the campaign deny it but Curt Anderson, a DC-based adviser to Scott, responded by insulting Fernandez in an interview with Politico. Fernandez quit the next day and his donations and prolific fundraising ability went with him.
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Hayden Dempsey, General Counsel
Dempsey made himself very unpopular with his governor when he told the Miami Herald that Scott’s administration hadn’t presented
anything to the Legislature in 2011. He resigned in August that year.
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Mary Anne Carter, Senior Adviser and Policy Maker
After complaints from the budget director and entreaties to the campaign manager to "keep the Governor out of his budget decisions because we don’t want him involved in political decisions", the job fell to Carter to prevent the governor from attending the budget meetings. A few months later, Carter decided she’d rather spend more time with her family.
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Edwin Buss, Secretary for the Dept of Corrections
A strong supporter of more compassionate treatment of inmates and longer shifts for correction officers to give them more weekends off, Buss was concerned about the extent to which the governor’s office drove policy including contracting decisions in the agency. Buss resigned citing "differences in philosophy and management styles".
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Charles Trippe, General Counsel
Trippe was defending Scott’s administration in seven lawsuits which included election law, drug testing of state employees (elected officials exempted of course) and redistricting. Trippe must have known back then that he couldn’t win these cases. He resigned in March 2012 after just six months in the position.
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Mike Hansen, Secretary of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities
Hansen’s resignation had the distinction of being the seventh from an agency head in less than two years from the time Scott became governor.
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Jon Costello, Legislative Affairs Director
Costello found himself a better job with the North Florida Water Management District and resigned from the state government in September 2012.
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In staffing his current campaign, Scott’s judgement hasn’t improved. This time round he’s chosen all non-Floridians for key positions, and their lack of state knowledge has affected their media strategy resulting in a number of gaffes:
♦ Scott attacked Crist for backing Obamacare yet when he sat down to discuss it with seniors at a retirement village in Palm Beach, he discovered it wasn't such a winning issue for him after all. All but one of them gave glowing reports for the ACA plus plenty of praise for how it had helped friends and family members.
♦ When he called Crist an elitist for wearing a Rolex watch, the media were only too happy to point out that Scott is a multi millionaire with his own private jet and that his net worth is many times more than that of Charlie Crist.
♦ Scott Criticized Crist for flip-flopping with regard to in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, apparently forgetting that he himself had also flip-flopped on the same issue.
In Huffinton Post’s article Rick Scott's Missteps Have Florida Republicans Worried, Tony DiMatteo, former chairman of the Pinellas County Republican Party was quoted as saying:
There's a lot of curious things going on. Their people have never reached out to the local people. They're isolated. They have their own way of doing things. It's like hitting your head against the wall — they're going to do what they want to do and you let them go.
Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political science professor, said:
The missteps I think have to do with bringing in outsiders to help run the campaign that are not familiar with the Florida terrain, and it's easy to make mistakes.
However, in addition to all new staff, there’s another major difference between his two gubernatorial campaigns. In his first one, Scott was viewed as being willing to take direction (or be kept away from critical decision-making as Mary Anne Carter can testify). This time it’s been widely acknowledged that Scott himself is taking the lead in which case he must also take responsibility for the blunders he has made. Yet another sign of poor judgement and it doesn't bode well for him.
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