The scandal caused by Rick Scott's firing of the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Gerald Bailey, now called
Bailey Gate is reaching new levels of bungled bumper car antics. The governor and his cabinet are running around in circles trying to get their stories straight. I wrote about it
here.
Scott singlehandedly fired Gerald Bailey the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) without consulting Cabinet members. The irony is that the FDLE is the agency that investigates corruption in Florida government.
The Florida Constitution says the FDLE reports to the governor and Cabinet, and so do several other state agencies. It takes a vote of the governor and Cabinet to hire and fire their leaders. That shared power is especially important at the FDLE, because it ensures that no single powerful politician can manipulate the state's top law enforcement agency.
Let's try to follow this convoluted web of intentional deceit. First Bailey is fired. Then Governor Scott says Bailey resigned. Bailey disputes that says he was fired because he refused to do all Scott's bidding. Florida cabinet members say that they were not consulted and
were misled about the firing . Then one cabinet member says,
without evidence, that Scott had nothing to do with the firing it was his staff. Then Scott says his staff is doing a great job.
As calls for investigation are escalating. State prosecutor, Willie Meggs, says he will not investigate because "it doesn't ring my bell".
This is Florida folks, where we have a governor who was involved in the largest Medicare fraud in US history. Where the corruption in state government is so thick you have to wear wading boots.
Sign on to letter to US Attorney Pamela Marsh urging an independent investigation into “Baileygate”.