Florida Gov. admits he mishandled ouster of state’s top cop

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Florida Gov. Rick Scott, in a rare moment of contrition, acknowledged Thursday that he mishandled the way he forced out the head of the state’s law enforcement agency.

Scott made the remarks at a public meeting with the three-member Cabinet. The members, all Republicans, in recent weeks have suggested they were misled and unaware that Scott had forced the resignation of Gerald Bailey. Bailey reported to Scott and the Cabinet.

Scott, however, stopped short of saying what he did was wrong in forcing out the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“While I wanted to bring in new leadership at FDLE as we transitioned into a second term in office, it is clear, in hindsight, that I could have handled it better,” said Scott, who won a second term last November.

After his forced resignation Bailey has made a series of allegations that he refused questionable and unethical requests from the Scott administration and the governor’s re-election campaign. Scott has denied most of the allegations, including one that Bailey was asked to falsely name a county court clerk as the target of an investigation.

The three Cabinet members say they knew Scott wanted a change at the agency, but said they did not give permission to the governor’s office to force Bailey to resign. The whole episode has resulted in a lawsuit that contends that the governor and Cabinet violated the state’s open meetings law, which requires Cabinet actions to be done in public.

During an hour-long discussion the governor and Cabinet agreed to move ahead with a new process for how future agency heads are both hired and fired. Scott made it clear he still wants to replace three additional top state officials, including the state’s insurance commissioner, but he agreed to put that request on hold for at least another month.

Cabinet member Jeff Atwater, who is also the state’s chief financial officer, said he was concerned there was a “perception” that there was favoritism in the selection of Rick Swearingen to replace Bailey. The Cabinet confirmed his appointment at its January meeting. Atwater suggested doing a new search for the head of the agency, but there wasn’t any support for the move.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had talked to Bailey recently and that he told her that Swearingen was the right person for his old job. She said Bailey told her he had no interest in returning to the job he had held since 2006.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said he was concerned about some of Bailey’s allegations, but there none of the other officials suggested undertaking any type of investigation into them. State Attorney Willie Meggs has declined to investigate Bailey’s allegations.