Hunting Deutsch, a 30-year banking executive who oversees unemployment benefits in Florida as head of the Department of Economic Opportunity, abruptly resigned Tuesday, less than a month after it was reported he picked up jobless benefits prior to landing the state gig.
"I find the current media focus on my personal matters a distraction to the agency and your administration and believe it best for me to leave," Deutsch wrote in the resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Governors Office claimed that Scott didnt know about the unemployment benefits when appointing Deutsch.
Hunt did the right thing by resigning from DEO," Scott stated in a release. "It is important that nothing interfere with our mission to create more jobs and opportunities for Florida families.
Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, told reports Deutsch made the correct decision.
I think it was bad form for him to seek unemployment while he was off on a trip to Europe,'' Gaetz said. "We've got people in Florida who are really hurting, for whom unemployment checks make the difference between staying in their home and having groceries on their table or not.
"I think those of us in public life should have a higher standard in performance. I think Mr. Deutsch made the right decision for himself; the right decision for the governor."
The Florida Current reported that Deutsch, named to the $140,000 a year job with the state agency by Gov. Rick Scott in April 2012, received claims after leaving BankUnited in 2009.
So actually it gave me an extraordinary perspective of what it takes to go through the unemployment, or what we now call the re-employment, process and the job certification requirements," Deutsch told the Current.
Before working at BankUnited, Deutsch was the executive vice president of AmSouth Bank in Birmingham, Ala., from 2003 to 2006 and managing director at Citigroup Private Bank in Miami from 2001 to 2002. Deutsch also spent 20 years at SunTrust Banks Inc. in Orlando, serving in various management positions, including president and chief executive officer of private client and retirement services, and president and chief executive officer of trust and investment services.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
