RPOF: Brian Burgess Was Not Fired

"Fired" implies just what it says -- marching orders, employer to employee.

Brian Burgess apparently was not fired.

When asked specifically, the highest ranking director of the Republican Party of Florida told Sunshine State News the RPOF did not fire his communications director.

Mike Grisson, exeutive director of the party, put it in writing as a cordial parting.

"Brian Burgess will be with the RPOF until February 15th, at which point he is leaving to pursue other opportunities in the private sector with Meteoric Media. Any attempt to portray Brians departure as anything but mutually beneficial to both parties is in error."

In a Tampa Bay Times story Tuesday, senior correspondent Lucy Morgan suggested that Burgess's testy responses to her questions on an earlier story -- on the whereabouts of Gov. Rick Scott's returned rescue dog Reagan -- had been a reason Burgess was "shown the door" at RPOF.

Burgess was Scott's chief spokesperson during the first 18 months of his administration. He left to go to work for the RPOF in September 2012.