Scott, Cabinet sued over FDLE scandal

TALLAHASSEE News media organizations and open-government advocates are upping the pressure on Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet by filing a lawsuit that alleges the handling of the forced resignation of the state's top law-enforcement officer violated the Sunshine Law and calling for an independent investigation.

The two separate moves came ahead of a meeting today in Tampa, where Scott, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi are set to discuss new steps for hiring and reviewing agency heads.

Filed by the Associated Press, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, Citizens for Sunshine and St. Petersburg attorney Matthew Weidner, the lawsuit focuses on conversations between Scott's staff and aides for other Cabinet members concerning the ouster in December of former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey. The staff discussions were a way for Scott to work around the state's open-meetings laws, the suit contends.

"The governor violated the Sunshine Law by using conduits to engage in polling, discussions, communications and other exchanges with other members of the Cabinet regarding his unilateral decision to force the resignation of the FDLE commissioner and appoint a replacement without any notice to the public, without any opportunity for the public to attend, and without any minutes being taken," says the lawsuit, filed late Tuesday.

In a "frequently asked questions" document sent to the news media and a series of follow-ups, the Scott administration has outlined some of the discussions between the governor's staff and the offices of the other Cabinet members. Scott's office has denied that the discussions about Bailey violated state law.

"It has been a longstanding convention for governor's staff to provide information to Cabinet staff," said one answer. "This was the same process the Cabinet staff followed in respect to Gerald Bailey."

The groups suing Scott and the Cabinet say those kinds of statements show the need for the courts to also issue an injunction barring similar conversations in the future.

"Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable injury if defendants continue the longstanding practice of violating the Sunshine Law by allowing Cabinet aides to engage in polling, discussions and communications about appointments,'' the lawsuit says.

Meanwhile, the Tallahassee-based First Amendment Foundation wrote a letter to Bondi asking for a special prosecutor to look into whether the Sunshine Law was violated.

"Only a prosecutor with the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents can adequately investigate this matter," wrote Barbara Petersen, the foundation's president, in a letter dated Wednesday. "However, that prosecutor must be perceived as entirely objective. A prosecutor outside of Leon County one who does not reside and work in the same town as those under investigation should be appointed. Otherwise, public confidence in the investigation itself will be compromised."

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Scott, Cabinet sued over FDLE scandal