May DeSANTIS learn that we don't want any TRUMP suck-ups in Florida government.
We need real leaders who solve real problems, rather than worshipping at the vile altar of racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, environmental piggery, oligopolistic hegemony, waste, fraud, abuse, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, flummery, dupery, nincompoopery, Trumpery and campaigns tinged with the eau d' Treason.
From the Gainesville Sun:
DeSantis administration taking shape, but vacancies remain
Florida Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis sits with President Donald Trump as the president listens to a question from a reporter during a meeting with newly elected governors in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Dec. 13. [Evan Vucci/The Associated Press/File]
By John Kennedy
GateHouse Capital Bureau
Posted Jan 2, 2019 at 11:59 AM
Updated Jan 2, 2019 at 11:11 PM
Health care and tourist agencies are among those with vacancies at the top as Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis readies for his Jan. 8 inauguration.
TALLAHASSEE — Days away from being sworn in, Republican Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis has filled a few key spots in his administration, but looks certain to begin his term still in the market for candidates to head agencies likely under the microscope this year.
Health care and tourist agencies are among those with vacancies at the top as DeSantis readies for his Jan. 8 inauguration. DeSantis ally, House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami, has already said he wants to shrink state health care spending, and tourism could draw heightened scrutiny in an economy showing signs of slowing.
“It’s more important that he get it right than he do it quickly,” Senate budget chief Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said of DeSantis’s effort at building a new administration. “I’m not concerned at all with the pace of the appointments.”
It takes most new Florida governors weeks into a term to flesh out administration posts and DeSantis has named bosses for about one-third of the roughly two dozen state agencies under his control.
Included is at least one prominent pick — former House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, who became state Education Commissioner after DeSantis’s selection of him recently was formalized by the state Board of Education.
Another notable pick coming just weeks after DeSantis’s narrow — and recounted — victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum was a new state elections official. Seminole County Elections Supervisor Michael Ertel was named last week Florida secretary of state.
DeSantis also has reached out some to Democrats, naming state Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, to head the Department of Emergency Management, and longtime legislative staffer Jim Zingale to lead the Revenue Department.
He’s also retained a few bosses who served under outgoing Gov. Rick Scott, with Barbara Palmer to continue serving as leader of the state’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Lottery Secretary Jim Poppell remaining and Visit Florida’s Ken Lawson staying on but in a new role as executive director of the Department of Economic Opportunity.
Lawson’s departure leaves a temporary void at Visit Florida, the tourism agency, which Scott had touted for its role in helping the state reach record tourist levels the past few years.
Tourist spending accounts for 13 percent of state sales tax collections — which, in turn, represents more than three-quarters of Florida’s general revenue. And any downturn in tourists would take dollars away from what the state has available for schools, health care and other government services.
While Lawson’s departure won’t immediately affect Visit Florida’s plans, there are some warning signs in sight for the agency, with a cooling economy possibly discouraging travelers from other states and a strong U.S. dollar poised to blunt the number of international tourists coming to Florida.
In December, Bradley’s Appropriations Committee was told by state economists in a report that “tourism-related revenue losses pose the greatest potential risk” to Florida’s bottom line.
Health and human services eat up 42 percent of the state’s $89 billion budget, by far the largest portion of spending. With HHS costs climbing faster than the rest of state spending, Oliva, the new House speaker, wants to take steps to rein it in.
In a routine request, DeSantis asked for and received resignation letters from all of Scott’s agency heads, effective by end-of-business on inauguration day. Among those departing are the state Surgeon General, Celeste Philip, who leads the Department of Health, and Justin Senior, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees Medicaid, a big driver of rising health costs.
They’ve not yet been replaced.
Adding to the health care uncertainty is the future of the Affordable Care Act. Florida led the nation last year with 1.7 million people enrolled in Obamacare, which was ruled unconstitutional by a Texas federal judge in December.
Outgoing Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was among the 19 Republican attorney generals and a governor who sued to have Obamacare thrown out. This week, the judge who invalidated the law said it could remain on the books while his ruling is appealed.
But with Florida expected to again lead the nation in enrollees even as the program is in limbo, health care appears set to become a central issue for the 2019 legislative session, which begins in March.
Oliva has said he wants to lift health care regulations to promote such alternatives as tele-medicine and direct primary care, reducing the role insurers play in guiding treatment.
Oliva, who was an early endorser of DeSantis, said he expects to have an ally in the incoming governor.
“If health care access and affordability is your main concern,” Oliva told House members in November, “use your power to lift the government-granted monopolies and market-restricting regulations which have led to widespread price-gouging on our citizens and placed an unsustainable burden on our state.”
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