Is Cabinet doing its job as a check on Gov. Rick Scott?

If the departure of Gerald Bailey as the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggests anything, its that the states government is not working as it should.

The states three cabinet members are not gubernatorial appointees but independently elected to constitutional offices. They therefore directly serve the voters -- not Gov. Rick Scott.

Yet one wouldnt know of this autonomy from how the Cabinet -- Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam -- responded to questions about why Bailey was leaving. Even though they each share authority over the hiring of the FDLE chief, all three expressed little to no interest into his sudden departure, ceding complete control to Scott.

According to Bailey, he was forced out by Scott and was told by General Counsel Pete Antonacci that he had the concurrence of all three Cabinet members.

When confronted Tuesday about Baileys allegation, Scott told reporters that Bailey had resigned. Only later in the day, after social media and blogs relayed Baileys counter narrative, did Scotts office correct the record with a vague statement that Scott actually did make the move: Gov. Scott thinks its important to frequently get new people into government positions of leadership.

Despite this confusion over the shakeup of an agency they oversee, Cabinet members repeated Scotts narrative after unanimously approving Baileys replacement during Tuesdays meeting.

When asked after the Cabinet meeting, all three Cabinet members responded in ways that even suggest they were cribbing off the same memo that Scott was using.

Echoing Scotts sentiment that Bailey did a great job, Putnam said he served Florida in an outstanding way, Atwater said he had served admirably and Bondi said he was an amazing man. He was so good, in fact, that Bondi said she and her staff were planning to honor him in some way. To further emphasize that she thought highly of Bailey, Bondi actually said I think the world of Commissioner Bailey five separate times in response to various questions during a 60-second stretch of a two-minute interview.

So if Bailey was THAT good, nobody had any questions about why he was leaving? Did anyone ask? Atwater said he didnt. Bondi didnt answer the question, responding instead, apropos of nothing, that I can tell you that Ive known Commissioner Bailey for many years.

Although Scott later acknowledged, sorta, that Bailey hadnt willingly resigned, Bondi and Atwater said that Bailey had in fact resigned.

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Is Cabinet doing its job as a check on Gov. Rick Scott?