Rick Scott was set for a strong start to his second term only a month ago but now Floridas governor is increasingly looking like a lame duck -- and he has, in part, his staff to blame.
With a strong Republican majority in the House and a solid one in the Senate, Scott was set to run the table in the Legislature. Hell still be able to get much of his program through, including tax cuts on cellphones and cable TV.
But Scott has stumbled badly in recent days. The RPOF rejected his efforts to keep Leslie Dougher in charge, handing the chairmanship off to Blaise Ingoglia. Questions continue to rise over how Gerald Bailey was removed from FDLE and what role Scotts staff played. Even if the Bailey affair proves to be much ado about nothing, between it and Doughers defeat, Scott is in a considerably weaker position than he was only a few weeks ago.
Fingers are starting to point at Melissa Sellers, Scotts chief of staff. A close ally of Dougher during her efforts on Scotts campaign, Sellers proved an easy punching bag for the governors critics within the GOP. There were questions about her connections to Bobby Jindal and her bosss ties with Rick Perry -- not exactly minor matters as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio look at 2016.
Things arent much better on the Bailey front. The usual suspects in the mainstream media are looking to nail Scott on this one but they will be hard-pressed to find a smoking gun. Still, Bailey was poorly handled and Scotts team should have offered a quicker response -- something Sellers, with her experience including her old role as Scotts press secretary, should have realized.
However, there are some factors outside of Sellers control. One of the reasons she is an easy target has been Scotts history with chiefs of staff.
During his four years in Tallahassee, Scotts chiefs of staff have often led to one headache after another. When he took office, Scott chose defeated congressional candidate Mike Prendergast, an outsider to Tallahassee, as his chief of staff. But Prendergast wasnt up to the job. Only six months after being named chief of staff, Prendergast was shuttled off to lead the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs. Next up was Steve MacNamara who had ties to the likes of John Thrasher and Mike Haridopolos, both of whom had backed Bill McCollum against Scott. Nine months later, after a series of questions about his management and his role handling contracts, MacNamara was done, replaced by Adam Hollingsworth, an old John Peyton aide. Hollingsworth quickly stumbled after being caught lying in official state applications about his education credentials.
With Scott going through three chiefs of staff over his first four years, more than a few observers are naturally wondering if he will be making more changes in the future. Sellers is safe, for the moment, but she cant afford for Scott to keep having these kinds of bad weeks.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
