Friday, February 6, 10:11 AM EST

By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

But the Cabinet will not press for an investigation into the abrupt December departure of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey, though Scott acknowledged Thursday it is clear, in hindsight, that I could have handled it better.

Scott and the Cabinet met Thursday in Tampa for the first time since a major controversy erupted last month about Baileys ouster. Cabinet members have been critical of Scott, who initially said Bailey resigned. The former commissioner adamantly refuted that explanation and made a series of potentially damaging allegations about the Scott administration to the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau.

The governors office has fought back against Baileys claims. Addressing the media after Thursdays meeting, Scott didnt elaborate about how he could have better handled the Bailey matter.

But the controversy also has led to Scott raising the possibility of replacing three agency heads who fall under the Cabinet: Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, Revenue Department chief Marshall Stranburg and Financial Regulation Commissioner Drew Breakspear.

Among the allegations raised by Bailey was that Scotts office sought to have him falsely suggest in 2013 that acting Orange County clerk of court Colleen Reilly was the target of an investigation a request Bailey said he rejected. But there was no indication Thursday that more than one Cabinet member wanted to delve into that allegation.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who wanted the Orange County clerk review, called Baileys accusation serious. Putnam added hes talked with Bailey several times and the FDLE or the states chief inspector general could still be asked to look into the claim.

I have no reason not to believe Jerry Bailey, Putnam said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said it will be up to Bailey to request an investigation.

Read the rest here:
Scott admits he could have handled Bailey ouster better

TALLAHASSEE | The abrupt resignation of the chief of Floridas crime-fighting agency prompted media and open government advocates to file a lawsuit accusing Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet of violating state Sunshine Laws.

The Florida Society of News Editors, the Associated Press, Citizens for Sunshine and a St. Petersburg lawyer teamed up Wednesday to ask a Leon County court to rule that Scotts ouster of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey subverted open meeting laws.

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, the lawsuit said.

The Times-Union has joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs, along with the Associated Press and the Florida Society of News Editors and open-government advocates, said Frank Denton, the newspapers editor and president of FSNE.

The lawsuit argues that aides for Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam acted with delegated authority to communicate on their bosses behalf knowing the matter would come up for a vote at a public Cabinet meeting. The plaintiffs asked the court not only to declare Sunshine Laws were broken but to prohibit the future practice of using Cabinet aides to act as conduits to the governors office.

One plaintiff, attorney Matthew Weidner, sent a complaint letter to Tallahassee State Attorney Willie Meggs last week asking him to investigate whether Scott and the Cabinet broke open meeting laws. Meggs declined to act, citing a lack of hard evidence.

The First Amendment Foundation of Florida took the separate action Wednesday of supporting previous statements by Bondi that transparency issues surrounding Baileys resignation deserved greater attention.

You have called for an outside investigation and expressed your own concern that this states Sunshine Laws might have been violated in the handling of the FDLE issues, foundation president Barbara Petersen wrote Wednesday. The Foundation supports the appointment of an independent state attorney from outside Leon County to investigate this matter, to consider whether criminal charges should be brought and to issue a written report with findings.

Various statements from Scott and the Cabinet members since Baileys ouster have only created additional uncertainty about what happened behind the scenes, Petersen wrote.

While the officers have stated they were blind-sided by Mr. Baileys ouster, the Governor, in one of his few media interviews on the issue, seemed to concede that the law was violated, she said.

Originally posted here:
Scott, Cabinet face lawsuit alleging Sunshine Law violations in Bailey ouster

The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, the Associated Press, a Tampa lawyer and a coalition of sunshine advocates filed a lawsuit late Tuesday alleging that Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet violated the state's open meeting laws when the governor unilaterally decided to "force the resignation" of former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Chief Gerald Bailey and they consented.

The lawsuit, filed in the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County, alleges that the Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam circumvented the requirements of the state's sunshine laws because they used conduits to coordinate and discuss the removal of Bailey and the selection of his replacement, Rick Swearingen, without advanced notice or in a public setting.

The groups refer tostatements from the governor and Cabinet officials who acknowledged they allowed their Cabinet aides, and in the governor's case his general counsel, to both confer about the decision to replace Bailey and agree to the hiring of Swearingen in violation of their constitutional duties.

Scott spokeswoman Jackie Shutz said the governor's lawyer "is reviewing it."

The lawsuit comes a day before the Cabinet is to meet and discuss, this time in an open setting, the procedures for hiring and firing officials who report to them as a joint body. That meeting will be held at the grounds of the Florida State Fair during the fair. The governor rejected a request by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam to shift the venue for the meeting back to Tallahassee because of the seriousness of the debate. Scott refused.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that all meetings are subject to the sunshine law and seeks an injunction against the state's top officials conducting any future meetings out of the sunshine.

"This action seeks a declaration that the Florida Cabinet is subject to the Sunshine Law when cabinet aides seek to act for and exchange information among Cabinet members as to decisions about hiring and firing the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"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 anyminutes being taken. Because the Governor appears to justify this conduct by claiming it is part of a longstanding convention and tradition, Plaintiffs also seek injunctive relief."

It also notesthat the state's laws offer little punishment for these violations.

"Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy other than an injunction to prohibit the longstanding practice of violating the Sunshine Law by allowing Cabinet aides to engage in polling, discussions and communications about appointments required to be made by the Cabinet and relaying the results of those exchanges back to Cabinet members prior to a Cabinet meeting."

Originally posted here:
Governor and Cabinet slammed with lawsuit from media, advocate over sunshine violations

TAMPA

Trying to quell a growing scandal that is threatening to derail the start to his second term, Gov. Rick Scott apologized Thursday for how his office handled the dismissal of the states former top law enforcement officer.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott gestures during a cabinet meeting at the Florida State Fair, Thursday in Tampa, Fla. Scott said Thursday that he mishandled the ouster of Gerald Bailey, the head of Floridas main law enforcement agency. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

It is clear in hindsight that I could have handled it better, Scott said. The buck stops here and that means I take responsibility.

But the governor continued to deny allegations made by ousted Florida Department of Law Enforcement chief Gerald Bailey that he was fired, in part, for refusing to target an Orange County official in a criminal investigation.

Scottmade the unusual admission that he acted inappropriately during a Cabinet meeting at the Florida State Fair.

It came as the governor is fighting to maintain his credibility during one of the most trying episodes of his administration and to ward off a potential criminal investigation.

The three other members of the Cabinet, all prominent Republican elected officials, have been critical of the governors office during the episode. They seemed to ease up on Thursday, with only Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam calling for an investigation into Baileys most explosive allegation.

Cabinet members who share authority over certain state agencies have said they were not properly informed that Baileys dismissal was involuntary before voting on the issue and selecting a replacement.

Putnam and Scott proposed a series of new rules for appointing and reviewing agency heads that were embraced Thursday by the Cabinet, which includes the governor, Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

View original post here:
Scott apologizes over firing of FDLE chief

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."

Continued here:
Scott, Cabinet sued over FDLE scandal

Sarasota attorney Andrea Mogensen.

SARASOTA - A Sarasota attorney known for her litigation of area open government cases will take the lead in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet.

Andrea Mogensen represents the nonprofit Citizens for Sunshine in the lawsuit filed Tuesday, which claims that Scott violated the state's Sunshine Law in communicating with Cabinet members about a controversial change in leadership at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Also joining the suit were the Associated Press, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and St. Petersburg attorney Matthew Weidner, who has called for an investigation of the replacement of FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

Disagreements over how Bailey left his position in December have grown to involve other members of the state Cabinet and attracted statewide media attention. The case, filed in the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County, seeks a ruling that the Florida Cabinet is subject to the Sunshine Law and a prohibition on polling members about appointments and communicating decisions to them before meetings.

Mogensen often represents Citizens for Sunshine, which has advocated for open government across the state. Most often the group files cases in and around Sarasota and Manatee counties. Citizens for Sunshine became a plaintiff in the case because it involved citizen access to government decision-making.

That's the purpose of the group government transparency, Mogensen said. The group hoped the case would expose to the public a pervasive evasion of the Sunshine Law in the state's executive branch, she said.

Bailey resigned in December and has publicly contradicted Scott's version of events. Scott and other members of the Cabinet unanimously confirmed his replacement, Rick Swearingen, in January. Since then, Scott and Cabinet members have been criticized over the details of Bailey's ouster.

Scott said that the commissioner resigned, only to have Bailey contradict him in statements to the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau, saying I did not voluntarily do anything.

Since then, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam have voiced displeasure with how the matter was handled. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she thought Scott's staff may have acted without the governor's knowledge.

Continued here:
Sarasota attorney involved in Scott Sunshine suit

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'