TALLAHASSEE Floridas top elected officials Thursday agreed to begin considering an overhaul of the way state agency heads are hired, evaluated and fired, but they didnt immediately accept Gov. Rick Scotts suggestions for making the reforms.

Scott, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam held a Cabinet meeting in Tampa before they opened the annual Florida State Fair.

The discussion was brought on by the Dec. 16 ouster of longtime Florida Department of Law Enforcement director Gerald Bailey. As FDLE head, Bailey was in a handful of state jobs that the governor with the Cabinet must agree to replace.

They approved Baileys successor, former Capitol Police director Rick Swearingen, but did so because Scott said at Januarys Cabinet meeting that Bailey was stepping down.

Bailey since has created a firestorm by saying he was forced out, ordered by the governors staff to retire or resign.

He has also alleged, among other things, that the governors staff asked him to state falsely that acting Orange County Clerk of Court Colleen Reilly was under investigation for a high-profile prison break that embarrassed the states corrections department.

The maelstrom surrounding Scott and the Cabinet, all of them Republicans, includes a lawsuit filed by news organizations and government openness advocates that the states open meetings law was broken by Scott staff members acting as back-channel conduits.

Scott repeated his contention Thursday that there are no lifetime jobs in state government, but said that in hindsight, I could have handled it better. The buck stops here.

His public perception has not suffered, according to a Mason-Dixon poll released Thursday, showing his approval and disapproval ratings at 45-45, consistent with past poll results.

Besieged by reporters after the meeting, Scott repeated many of the same answers hes been giving, including referring to a question and answer page on his website.

Read the original post:
Scott: I could have better handled Bailey situation

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BTOpenreach has informed Internet Service Providers (ISP) that they intend to remove their Basic Install product for Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) based fibre broadband lines on 1st January 2016 and, a year after that, theyll also stop support (replacement) for consumers who suffer faulty VDSL modems.

The plan caused somewhat of a snafu when it was first proposed last year (here), not least because the original proposal suggested removing the install service only a few short months prior to stopping replacement support for faulty modems (i.e. still inside the 12 month contract period).

However, under the amended dates, Openreach has wisely adjusted the timescales so that support for swapping faulty Openreach VDSL/FTTC modems will only come to an end 12 months after the service is withdrawn (i.e. in keeping with the contract). Still, its hard luck if you have an OR modem that breaks down after 2nd Jan 2017 because youll have to buy a replacement yourself.

Openreachs Change

The amended dates from Openreach for the withdrawal of the VDSL supply and support area as below:

Removal of Basic Install with Openreach Modem variants is put back to 1st January 2016

No longer swapping Openreach modems on failure from 1st January 2017

Admittedly the market impact of this wont be significant, at least not among the biggest ISPs, because most have already swapped to the PCP-Only (Self-Installation) method, which means they supply their own VDSL modems or routers with an integrated VDSL modem and no Openreach engineer needs to enter your home. But some smaller ISPs do still offer the Basic Install service and may be less pleased.

Its worth pointing out that Openreach can still supply their own VDSL modems alongside the other Managed Install option, which could present some annoyance as this may create complications with the replacement of faulty hardware. Openreach have given a rough indication that they may eventually remove the OR modem option from this service too, although at present theyre still monitoring the feedback from ISPs.

A little more detail about the reasoning for all this can be found on Openreachs CPE Enablement page.

Excerpt from:
BT Openreach to Stop Replacing Faulty FTTC Modems from Jan 2017

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has praised the work of departing Cabinet minister Jennifer Rankine.

After two years heading up the education and child development portfolios, Ms Rankine said she would move to the backbench to allow her to spend more time with her family.

The Premier said Ms Rankine could feel proud of her career as part of the Labor Government.

"She has had a fine record of promoting the interests of children in particular, first as parliamentary secretary assisting the minister for health, introducing the home visiting scheme and doing wonderful things in both the housing and disability portfolios," he said.

Ms Rankine said public scrutiny over child abuse cases involving government agency Families SA had nothing to do with her decision.

"I think I've been able to restore a lot of confidence in parents that if something does go wrong that it'll be handled properly," she said.

"Anyone that knows my character knows that when there's something difficult to be done I don't shy away from that."

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said Ms Rankine was stepping down because she did not want to find out what a Royal Commission into child protection determined.

"Forgive me for being cynical," he said.

Mr Weatherill said Ms Rankine had been one of his Government's best communicators and those skills would be missed in Cabinet.

Read more:
Jennifer Rankine Cabinet resignation: SA Premier praises minister's 'fine record'

John Key.

The Finance Minister has been a vital and much-needed driving force in the backrooms of the Beehive where ministers and departmental officials thrash out the policy detail so that National's reforms actually work in the way intended.

In particular, Mr English pushed hard for meaningful welfare reform.

His other major target is state housing.

The latter is a fundamental component of what remains of last century's welfare state.

It is a safety net.

It is a Labour Party icon that has somehow survived National's attempts to dismantle it.

Mr English has long wanted to replace it with a more market-oriented system which, in theory, should be more responsive, more flexible and thus more cost-efficient when it comes to meeting the needs of both tenants and landlords than the current provider, Housing New Zealand, which enjoys a state-sanctioned near monopoly.

But constructing such a market seems to be proving to be far more difficult than envisaged.

It has taken four years to reach the point where the Prime Minister could release broad details of the plan.

Continue reading here:
Housing reform Cabinet papers embarrassingly candid

When was the last time you took a good look inside the cabinets under your kitchen sink?

Its not an area of the kitchen that gets a lot of attention, since its usually out of sight and out of mind. That was the case for us for several years since we moved into our house.

Have you ever had a leak in your garbage disposal or in the pvc pipes?

If you have, then you probably know what that does to the bottom board of the cabinet. It gets all nasty and warped and just generally gross looking.

It was always one of those things where we said, yeah, we need to replace that board someday! But it just seemed like it would be more effort than it was worth.

Turns out thats not true.

It was really a pretty simple job to fix it, and it was such a breath of fresh air to be able to put our cleaning products under the sink without having them fall all over each other (thats how bad ours was warped).

So if your kitchen is in the need for some TLC under the sink, youre in luck. Ill show you how I fixed ours up.

I know my wife was awful grateful to have a clean and functional under sink cabinet again.

Heres what youll need:

Go here to see the original:
How to Replace Water Damaged Cabinet Bottom | The Domestic ...

Posted January 29, 2015 08:35 am | Op-Ed

By Martin Dyckman

Is the Florida Cabinet worth its keep, or is it simply worthless? That venerable question has been brought front and center again by the Gerald Bailey kerfuffle.

In the aftermath of his resignation as commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Cabinet Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam resembled to a remarkable degree the three monkeys who see, speak and hear no evil.

When Gov. Rick Scott told them Bailey had retired voluntarily as commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, they didnt seem the least bit curious about why he left without a days notice or even a goodbye.

Then they were shocked shocked! when Bailey told the media that Scott had put a gun to his head by claiming he had the Cabinets votes to fire him. Bailey got only a couple of hours to clean out his desk. All that was missing from his summary humiliation was an armed guard marching him to the door.

But if Scott is telling the truth for once, we have a clue about why the Cabinet may have been so incurious and so quiet.

Scott claims his aide informed their aides that he wanted Bailey out.

If so, and they didnt pass the word on, there are three aides who should be looking for new jobs.

If the aides did tell their bosses, that makes Atwater, Bondi and Putnam silent partners in what smells like a rotten deal.

More here:
C omments ( to add a comment go here )

Gov. Rick Scott has proposed a series of changes in handling of appointments and job reviews of Cabinet-level agency heads in the wake of the fiasco last month in which his office forced the ouster of a top state police executive without the advance knowledge of the three Cabinet members. Scott's office maintains that all three Cabinet members' staff members knew of Scott's desire for changes at FDLE and that staffers "raised no objection."

Scott's proposal essentially is a reworked version of a plan put forward last week by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. It will be discussed at the next Cabinet meeting set for Feb. 5 at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. The governor's office confirmed Wednesday that the meeting will be held in Tampa as scheduled.

Scott's one-page proposal would reduce the job security of those officials by creating a new "annual Cabinet leadership review" that would allow for an agency head's "removal for any reason by an appropriate vote."

Under the Scott proposal, he or any Cabinet member could annually make a motion for "affirmation or removal" of Cabinet agency heads, which include the commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, state insurance commissioner, banking regulator, tax collector and executive director of highway safety, among others.

The proposal states in part: "Prior to the end of each fiscal year, the performance and tenure of each executive director, director or commissioner appointed and serving under the direction and supervision of the governor and Cabinet shall be reviewed." The proposal also would give Scott the authority to appoint an interim replacement at the head of an agency "in the event of a vacancy," which Scott did last month when he alone selected FDLE's Capitol police director, Rick Swearingen, as an interim replacement for the ousted FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

Scott also is proposing a nationwide search for qualified candidates for those offices. Earlier this month, Scott's office solicited a resume from a Louisiana state official, Ron Henderson, as a potential replacement for Kevin McCarty, who has headed the Office of Insurance Regulation since 2003.

Read the original here:
Gov. Scott proposes Cabinet changes in wake of FDLE fiasco

TALLAHASSEE

The raging controversy over Gov. Rick Scott's removal of a respected law enforcement official escalated Wednesday as Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said he was "misled" by Scott's office and a St. Petersburg lawyer formally accused top state officials of Sunshine Law violations.

In addition, Attorney General Pam Bondi surprisingly said that she believed Scott's staff members orchestrated the ouster of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey without the governor's knowledge.

"We all knew there were going to be changes in the coming months," Bondi told an Associated Press gathering of state reporters. "But did I know that Jerry Bailey was going to be told he was fired and have his things packed up, his entire life as a career law enforcement officer in a cardboard box, and be told to be out of the office before the end of the day? Absolutely not. Nor do I believe the governor knew it."

Scott faces intense criticism from all directions over his removal of Bailey, who served as FDLE commissioner for eight years until he was forced out Dec. 16 with no public discussion of his performance. Bailey was one of several state agency heads who report not only to the governor but also to the three elected Cabinet members.

Bailey has called Scott a liar for saying that he resigned, and he has accused Scott's office of repeated political interference charges Scott again denied Wednesday.

The three Republican members of the Cabinet, who have been harshly criticized for acquiescing to what they now view as a heavy-handed, back-room political maneuver, have become increasingly critical of Scott's actions.

The harshest criticism came from Putnam, who is seen as a leading candidate for governor in 2018. Putnam, who met with Bailey on Wednesday, all but accused Scott's office of lying in the way it orchestrated the dismissal, by sending messages through staff members that Scott wanted "new leadership" at FDLE.

"We were misled as to the timing and the process of how that would be handled," Putnam said. "It has revealed poor treatment of a good man."

Asked whether he believed Scott's version of the truth or Bailey's, Putnam paused and said: "Jerry Bailey's a fine man. He served our state very well. The way he was treated at the end of his distinguished career was shabby."

Read the rest here:
Cabinet members step up attacks on Gov. Rick Scott over FDLE firing

Arthenia Joyner, the Senates top Democrat, kicked off the annual Associated Press legislative planning session with a bang Wednesday, hammering Gov. Rick Scott for a miserable lesson in bad government.

Joyner, of Tampa, was teeing-off on Scott for forcing out longtime Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey and calling for leadership changes at three other agencies overseen by his office and the three-person Cabinet.

Scott elbowed-out Bailey and has actively sought leadership at another Cabinet-level agency without informing Cabinet members.

Only arrogance can explain being less than honest with the public about official actions, Joyner said.

Her comments came to a room full of reporters and editors gathered in Tallahassee for an annual pre-legislative session meeting hosted by the Associated Press.

The state constitution requires the entire Cabinet to vote on the removal of certain officials, including the FDLE chief. Baileys resignation was forced without consulting Cabinet members.

The perception is that the constitution has been violated and the people want to know, she said. In an era of transparency, we have to make sure it is transparent.

In addition, Scott had already been quietly seeking replacement for Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, a post also overseen by the Cabinet. He reached out to Ron Henderson, a Louisiana insurance official, earlier this month about the potential of an opening in Florida.

Joyner also noted the well-worn path from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindals administration to Scotts office. Several top officials, including chief-of-staff Melissa Sellers, have done stints in Louisiana.

Scott seems to be getting Bobby Jindals hand me downs, Joyner said of Henderson.

See the rest here:
Joyner hammers Scott's 'arrogance' over FDLE ouster