Lacking any hires and facing criticism, FL Gov.-elect Rick Scott asks Crist team to stay on longer

[seafan]

What a cluster****.

The ex-Columbia/HCA CEO defrauder of Medicare can't seem to find anyone to work for him, after he spent so many of his own millions buying the Florida Governor's office.


He's begging Governor Crist's team to stay in place.



Lacking any hires and facing criticism, Gov.-elect Rick Scott asks Crist team to stay on longer

By Michael C. Bender and Marc Caputo
December 18, 2010

TALLAHASSEE — Lacking a single hire to staff Florida's government, incoming Gov. Rick Scott on Friday asked most of Gov. Charlie Crist's administration to rescind their resignations and stay on board for up to three months.
The about-face leaves in place agency heads and mid-level staffers from an administration Scott repeatedly criticized from the campaign trail as unresponsive to private business and ill-equipped to foster job growth. Scott's transition team initially asked for hundreds of resignations, more than Crist did when he succeeded former Gov. Jeb Bush.

And it's the first public indication from Scott's secretive team of a transition clogged under the leadership of Enu Mainigi, his personal attorney and most important hire to date.
The insiders, lobbyists, business owners and former government officials who make up the transition team say time is running out and they fret the slowdown is hurting Scott.

Mainigi, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate defense lawyer, disputes there is any clog and challenges accusations that she is being overly protective of Scott. She writes off the criticism as backbiting inherent in the sport of Tallahassee politics.
"It is a game," Mainigi said. "One of the reasons we've primarily run the transition outside of Tallahassee is because we don't really want to be distracted by the rumors and the buzz."

Friendly and exceedingly bright, Mainigi also inspires fear. Despite discontent among transition committee members and staff, all declined to speak on the record for fear of retribution.
Mainigi, 40, advised Scott on the campaign and was quickly hired to run his transition.
She acknowledges Scott's administration is well behind the pace set by the previous two governors. She has heard complaints that she's the de facto gatekeeper to Scott and that "we don't know what we don't know."

.....

"We're dealing with an individual who has very little government experience, state government experience or relationships with people throughout state government," said Dominic Calabro, head of Florida TaxWatch, a business-backed nonprofit. "You can consider this good and bad."
Mainigi said Floridians care about Scott's agenda, not the date his administration is put into place. "Four months from now, five months from now, no one is going to remember, she said. "No one is going to care.

Oh, we care, Ms. Mainigi. That you feel this is "a game" is abominable.



We care that Mr. Scott has chosen Watergate felon Charles Colson to deliver the keynote speech at Scott's inaugural prayer breakfast.


We care that Mr. Scott and the myriad of Jeb Bush operatives are already hinting at a statewide school voucher program.


We also care that Mr. Scott has an aversion to high-speed rail for Florida, just as Jeb Bush always despised. This, in the face of $2.6 billion of federal funding already steered into Florida's high-speed rail program, and an additional $342 million in funding from Ohio and Wisconsin, after their incoming Republican governors refused the funds.



We care that Florida, in a time of immense crises, has entered a very dark period with the ascendancy of a rich defrauder of the US Government into the governorship.



Maybe Jeb can take over for Mr. Scott. It wouldn't be the first time.



Charlie Crist's Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs Tom Pelham says "I would not have worked for Scott a single day, even if I had been asked to stay,''


Sorry, Mr. Scott. It's difficult to support a crook who, with the collaboration of Jeb Bush, intends to destroy Florida's economy, education and livelihoods.

[cbayer]

1. seafan

please be aware that our posting rules require that you limit copyrighted material to 4 paragraphs or less with a link.

Thanks,

cbayer
DU Moderator

[remember2000forever]

2. I Miss Charlie Crist Already

He managed to give Floridians much support after the hurricanes and was instrumental in "Our Florida Safe Homes". That was a potential for every Floridian to save $5,000 for Home Improvement for Windstorm. I personally put in impact windows and did, indeed, get this benefit. Even if you just got storm shutters, this helped. You have to understand Guys, we Floridians usually never get anything from Tallahassee.

[FLAprogressive]

3. this guy has to be the biggest tool this state has elected and that's saying something

because this state has elected some tools.

[stevenleser]

4. Yeah, all these Tea Party backed candidates are toolbags. Poor Florida

[gratuitous]

5. Who wants to work for an ill-tempered martinet?

The stress associated with working for a chaotic boss will shorten your life expectancy by a significant percentage. Yes, four or five months from now, Mr. Scott might have enough folks in place to run his administration, but until then, the business of the State of Florida must continue on. It's not as if people are going to quit renewing driver's licenses or transacting other deals with the state just because Scott doesn't have his act together. And after months of being bad-mouthed by Scott's campaign, you think the mid-level functionaries are going to be gung-ho to overcome his incompetence and make him look good?

It's very telling to me that nobody wants to speak out for attribution even though Ms. Mainigi is way off in Washington DC.