Matt Dixon of The Florida Times Union is reporting that the Republican Party of Florida recently made a request to Rick Scott's office for a list of his racial minority appointees, and they did it without going through the normal Open Government public records procedures. The list of over 200 appointees, not all of which were later confirmed, included information about their name, race, city and political affiliation.
An email between Scott's office and the RPOF concerning the information request and the list has been posted here.
“This is the most information I can give you without pulling each application and sending it through Open Government,” wrote Virginia Haworth, Scott’s director of appointments, in the May 7 email to the RPOF email account of Brian Swensen, the party’s political director.
Haworth’s email, which referred to Swensen as “Swens,” carried Scott’s ubiquitous “What’s Working Today” logo, which was developed to help brand positive economic news.
Adam Hollingsworth, Scott’s chief of staff, said Wednesday in a written statement that the office decided to change their policy regarding records requests from any political organization. The decision came after the Times-Union asked about the appointees list.
“We have instituted a new policy to route any records requests and responses to the Republican and Democrat Parties or any partisan group through our Open Government Office to ensure the information provided is appropriately vetted through the legal department,” said Hollingsworth, who stressed “anyone can request public records.”
The newspaper requested a copy of Swensen’s records request, but Scott spokeswoman Melissa Sellers said none exists because “it was made verbally.”
This isn't the first time that Scott's office and the RPOF have been involved in questionable transparency practices. Recall the emails that were "mistakenly deleted" after Scott's transition team closed up shop following his election in 2010.
Other question remains as to why the RPOF was requesting the information, what it would be used for, and why they tried to make the request "under the radar" so to speak.
The Florida Democratic Party is also asking questions, and released this statement:
Indeed we are.In a rejection of public record procedure that all citizens and journalists must follow, the Republican Party of Florida used shady back-channel methods to find out the race and political affiliation of more than 200 minority appointees made by Rick Scott, reported the Florida Times–Union.
“Rick Scott’s summer keeps getting worse,” said FDP Executive Director Scott Areceneaux. “In the latest scandal, Rick Scott’s Republican Party of Florida has been caught getting information on the Governor’s minority appointees through back-channel methods reporters and ordinary citizens would not have access to. As a result of media inquiry, Rick Scott’s office was forced to change their records request policy. Voters are tired of the never-ending scandals from Rick Scott and Florida Republicans. This governor isn’t looking out for regular Floridians — he’s busy saying or doing anything that will help him win reelection.”
The RPOF’s explanation that they were merely helping a third party group obtain the information raises more questions than it answers: Has the RPOF used their back-channel methods that skirt public records procedure to obtain information for other third party groups? What other requests have they used this method for? Why do they feel the need to skirt around public records request procedure?
Floridians are waiting for answers.
