Legislative Democrats Call For Investigation Into FDLE Bailey Ouster
By Lynn Hatter
Originally published on Wed January 21, 2015 8:52 am
Gov. Rick Scott has rejected a request from Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater to consider a search for a new head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Scott wants the cabinet to consider changes at the departments of insurance regulation, financial regulation, and revenue. The exchange comes as Democratic lawmakers call for an investigation into the ouster of former FDLE head Gerald Bailey.
The Florida cabinet is made up of Governor Rick Scott, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. But it’s Scott who has the power to appoint agency heads. That’s what he did back in December when he named Rick Swearingen as the new Secretary of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The problem though—is how the previous agency head—Gerald Bailey--- departed. Bailey says he was forced to resign. And that’s not sitting well with top state officials. Tuesday House Minority Leader Mark Pafford called for the Florida cabinet to reconsider Bailey’s ouster.
http://news.wjct.org/post/legislative-democrats-call-investigation-fdle-bailey-ousterOusted FDLE chief raises new allegations about meddling by Gov. Rick Scott, aides
TALLAHASSEE — Ousted Florida Department of Law Enforcement commissioner Gerald Bailey claims he resisted repeated efforts by Gov. Rick Scott and his top advisers to falsely name someone a target in a criminal case, hire political allies for state jobs and intercede in an outside investigation of a prospective Scott appointee.
In a new series of allegations, Bailey says former Scott chief of staff Adam Hollingsworth pressured him to claim that the acting clerk of court in Orange County, Colleen Reilly, was the target of an FDLE criminal inquiry after two prison inmates used forged papers from the clerk's office to plot an escape from the Franklin Correctional Institution. The 2013 case embarrassed the prison system under Scott's control.
But there was one problem, Bailey said. It wasn't true, and he told Hollingsworth that.
"The most shocking thing was being ordered to target another individual without any justification," Bailey said. "I don't know why this woman was in the cross hairs."
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/ousted-fdle-chief-raises-new-allegations-about-meddling-by-gov-rick-scott/2214084In Tampa, Rick Scott feels the heat as the Gerald Bailey controversy grows
By Mitch Perry on January 21, 2015
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As more calls for an independent investigation regarding the sacking of former FDLE chief Gerald Bailey grow, Rick Scott tried to stay on message today during an appearance in Tampa.
After making an announcement regarding new funding for STEM education at Chromalloy, a global technology company located in Tampa’s Sabal Park just east from the Florida Fairgrounds, the governor was besieged by reporters anxious to delve deeper into the Bailey saga, perhaps the biggest scandal in Scott’s four-plus years in Tallahassee.
Bailey was the FDLE chief who suddenly resigned last month. But it wasn’t until Scott and the rest of the Florida Cabinet named Rick Swearingen to replace him last month that Bailey went public, denying that he had quit, and alleged that Scott’s staffers repeatedly asked him to cross the line and contribute to the governor’s re-election campaign, to participate in a discussion of Scott’s agenda, use state cars to ferry workers and delete questionable emails.
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