Facing a lawsuit over allegations that they violated Florida’s open-meeting laws, Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet on Tuesday began advancing a plan to formalize the public process for the hiring and firing of agency heads under their joint control. The controversy began with the forced resignation in December of Gerald Bailey, the former head […]
Gov. Rick Scott and Cabinet agree to public process in firing agency heads – Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet agreed Tuesday that the firing of a Cabinet-level state agency head can only be done in public — a step they avoided in the hotly disputed removal of a state police official three months ago. The four powerful statewide elected officials, all Republicans, also agreed to take a two-hour […]
Eroded
What’s that you hear? It might be the sound of mice in your walls. Or maybe it’s just the Florida Legislature, slowly gnawing away at the idea of open government. In the recently ended regular session, legislators passed 22 new open-government exemptions, according to Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. If you’re keeping […]
