While Gov. Charlie Crist may not be running for reelection, he certainly is not acting as a lame duck and, in fact, his recent appointments will be shaping Florida for years to come.
In the last week of the 2010 session, the Senate confirmed almost 600 appointments the governor had made to various bodies in Florida.
These appointments include spots on regional planning councils, governing boards of the water management districts, port and aviation authorities, college trusteeships and professional boards such as the Board of Acupuncture and the Board of Psychology.
Most of these appointments extend into 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 -- well into the next governors term. Some of the university trustee appointments Crist made even go as far into the future as 2017.
While the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections held hearings on the bulk of the nominees, other committees voted on appointments under their jurisdiction -- the Senate Committee on Environmental Protection and Conservation held hearings on appointments to the water management district board while the Committee on Higher Education held meetings on university trustees.
But not all of the governors appointees went through committee. Almost 75 appointments were brought to the Senate floor during the last week of session without having gone through any of the committees.
According to a letter that Sen. J. D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, chairman of the Committee on Ethics and Elections, sent to Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, on April 27, the committee conducted an inquiry concerning the qualifications of the appointees.
Senate staffers said the number of appointments that did not go through committee were slightly higher than normal but insisted that this was not unprecedented. Under Florida statutes, not all nominees need to go through the committees.
Theyre not required to have a hearing, said Atwater spokeswoman Jaryn Emhoff. The requirements vary by the appointment.
Alexander sent letters to Atwater on April 27 and April 30 with reports on which nominees had gone through committee and which ones had not and requesting the Senate to vote on the nominees. The vote took place the same week -- the last one in the session, which staff members said was the norm.
It usually happens in the last week of session, said Emhoff.
While not all the nominees went through a committee, all of them were vetted said sources in the governors office and in the Senate.
No one who went through to the Senate without vetting from professional staff, said one source in the Senate, adding that this included full background checks.
The governors office said that every appointee went through a Level 2 screening from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
