On the last week before the Legislature returns to Tallahassee, Gov. Rick Scott and his administration were the center of attention in the Capitol.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced he is stepping down after a months-long struggle with Scott about the regulator's future. Education Commissioner Pam Stewart won approval from the State Board of Education for test-score and school-grade standards that were too weak for the liking of allies of former Gov. Jeb Bush. And while Scott didn't exactly endorse Donald Trump, he still had a yuge amount of praise for the real estate tycoon in a headline-generating op-ed.
Meanwhile, some of the adversaries Scott has clashed with over the last year had a less-than-stellar week. The Republican Party of Florida, headed by a chairman who took out the governor's choice for the top job, faced questions after one top staffer left and another was let go. And Senate Republicans, who fought Scott fiercely over health care in the 2015 legislative session, were trying to straighten out a potential primary fight between two prominent incumbents because of a new redistricting plan.
THE LONG GOODBYE
For months, McCarty fought off a determined effort by Scott to depose or undermine the insurance commissioner. If anyone knew how to survive in government, it was McCarty, who spent almost 13 years in his position under three different governors with a variety of views on property insurance.
But on Tuesday, McCarty said he would step aside.
In a prepared statement, McCarty said he is "looking forward to exploring new opportunities." He will stay in the job until May 2 "to facilitate a smooth transition." Scott will name a potential replacement and, if he gets agreement from Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, then will take the nomination to the state Cabinet for approval.
"The privilege of serving the people of Florida as insurance commissioner has been the highlight of my professional career," McCarty said.
A high-profile job, perhaps with the National Florida Insurance Program or the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, could be McCarty's for the taking, according to industry insiders.
"(McCarty's) opportunities are endless," said Lisa Miller, who has spent nearly three decades as an insurance regulator and lobbyist. "He's a rare breed. He's funny. He's brilliant. He asks tough questions. He's no shrinking violet."
But Miller acknowledged that Scott's effort to remove McCarty from office played a role in the decision.
"I think the events of this past year have given him the realization that his work is done here," Miller said. "He can move on and leave Florida with his head held high."
The governor's response was low-key.
The decision by McCarty came a week after Florida Department of Revenue Executive Director Marshall Stranburg announced he will leave for a job in Washington.
The moves by Stranburg and McCarty came about a year after Scott called for the Cabinet to replace them and Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Drew Breakspear, who remains on the job. Breakspear spokeswoman Jamie Mongiovi said in an email Tuesday that "he does not have any plans to resign."
MAKING THE GRADE
For years, Bush's education apparatus has loomed over Florida policy when it comes to schools. Through two nonprofit foundations and the political capital he built up as a popular state official, Bush and his allies have been difficult to beat when it comes to education initiatives.
The Board of Education's decision this week to back Stewart's proposals about test scores and school grades over the objection of business groups and Bush's network might not signal an end to that influence. (For one thing, Bush is more focused right now on trying to win the Republican nomination for the presidency.) But it was notable nonetheless.
On a pair of 6-1 votes, board members set two critical benchmarks of the state's education accountability system. One involved "cut scores" that determine the levels of achievement students get based on their performances on standardized tests. The other focused on school grades tied to how well students do on those tests.
Business groups and education-reform advocates had pushed for the state to line up what is essentially considered a passing score on the state test to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a highly regarded, nationwide standardized test. That would have increased the number of students who would fall short of passing the Florida exams.
They were also disappointed in Stewart's recommendations for school grades under the new system, arguing that more students need to be required to pass the tests for schools to receive certain grades.
The system the board adopted would see 189 schools receive "F" grades for the 2014-15 school year, according to a simulation run by the department. But under one of three options proposed by the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an advocacy group founded by Bush, the number of "F" schools would have been 503.
As board members debated the proposals in the Cabinet room at the state Capitol, two of the governor's top aides sat in the audience. And after the meeting, Stewart didn't directly answer a question about how much input Scott's office had in crafting the standards or how board members, appointed by the governor, voted.
"We work closely with the governor's office on many policy issues, so this would have been like any other policy issues," she said. "Again, as I mentioned before, I have the luxury of being able to make the recommendation that I believe to be the best one, and that's what I did here."
PARTY OF SIDES
The week also brought fresh indications of some of the divisions and problems that face the state Republican Party and the national GOP. But whether any of those issues seriously threaten the GOP's firm grip on power in Tallahassee was debatable.
In Tallahassee, the state party announced that two high-ranking officials were departing: Executive Director Brad Herold, who is moving to Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis' campaign for the U.S. Senate; and longtime Chief Financial Officer Richard Swarttz.
Swarttz, who was making six figures in his job as CFO, is leaving as the party reorganizes to take on a more streamlined mission ahead of the 2016 race for the White House.
"We are making these needed adjustments now to ensure that we are in the best position possible to do just that," party Chairman Blaise Ingoglia, also a state House member, said in a statement following Swarttz's departure.
That streamlined mission has something to do with the fact that Scott is no longer raising money for the party --- Ingoglia ran against Scott's pick for party chair --- and that state Senate Republicans have moved to separate their campaign efforts from the party.
The Senate GOP had its own problems this week. A random renumbering process for the newest version of state Senate districts threatened to trigger a match-up between incumbent Republicans in Pasco County.
The potential match-up revolves around the likely future Senate presidency of Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby. Under a redistricting proposal approved by Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds, Simpson would be paired with Sen. John Legg, R-Trinity, in a district that includes most of Pasco County, along with Hernando and Citrus counties.
Before Tuesday --- when numbers were assigned to the districts, essentially deciding how long each senator could serve --- Legg suggested he would stand aside if it would clear the way for Simpson to become Senate president ahead of the 2021 legislative session. But Legg said in an interview Tuesday that he was willing to do so if it was the "only pathway" for Simpson to claim the top spot --- something that is no longer the case.
Long story short: Because of the way that the districts are numbered, Simpson could run for the state Senate in one of two districts and not be locked out of office by term limits ahead of the 2021 session. Legg basically said Simpson should run in the other district.
"Looking at the numbers now, I feel like there are other pathways for him to remain in the Senate," Legg said.
But Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said Tuesday he will run in the district Legg mentioned, in order to avoid another incumbent-vs.-incumbent battle with Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is expected to become Senate president before the 2019 session.
Regardless, Simpson said he has no intention of moving out of the district he's represented since being elected to the Senate in 2012.
"My community and my friends live in this district ... and I'm going to run in that seat," he said Tuesday. "That's where I belong, and that's where I'm going to run."
Far away from that fight, Scott nodded in the direction of the most elegant comb-over in the Republican race for the White House. In an opinion piece for USA Today, Scott praised Trump, the Republican front-runner and a part-time Florida resident.
In the piece titled "Donald Trump has America's pulse: Rick Scott," Florida's second-term governor credited the billionaire real-estate developer as someone "who speaks and tweets his mind freely."
But Scott said Trump's standing in the polls is more about Trump's ability to capture "the frustration of many Americans after seven years of President Obama's very intentional government takeover of the American economy."
"Have you tried to start a business recently? That used to be the American dream," Scott wrote. "But, after seven years of endless and tedious regulation and taxation, it is nearly unaffordable to do so. Americans are mad, and I agree with them."
STORY OF THE WEEK: After nearly 13 years on the job and having weathered months of scrutiny from Scott, longtime Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty stepped aside.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "If it's good enough to get you into a college, it ought to be good enough to graduate you from a Florida high school."--- Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, on legislation that would allow districts to use national standardized tests like the SAT and ACT to measure student learning instead of the state's exams.
