Gov Elect Rick Scott Announces Transition Team
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - Rick Scott held his first news conference Thursday as Governor-elect. With Lt. Gov.-elect Jennifer Carroll standing by his side, Scott announced his transition team and put a call out for anyone interested in joining his team.
The theme of Thursday morning's news conference at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina remained the same as his campaign slogan, "Let's Get to Work" and that's exactly what he's doing just one day after officially winning the gubernatorial race against Democrat Alex Sink.
Scott announced the head of his transition team is his trusted adviser Enu Mainigi, a lawyer who has represented Scott in civil cases. A 1994 Harvard law school graduate, Mainigi is a partner in the Washington-based Williams & Connolly firm specializing in health care litigation.
The rest of his transition advisory board includes Mary Anne Carter, who'll head the board as Executive Director. Also appointed to the board is Kathleen Shanahan, who served as chief of staff to former Gov. Jeb Bush and assisted Scott on debate preparations.
The rest of the board includes state Sen. Paula Dockery, former Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, state Rep. Mike Weinstein, state Rep. Bill Galvano, U.S. Senator George Lemieux, Sally Bradshaw (a top policy adviser to Bush), Sweetwater Mayor Manny Marono, and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre. Ferre is the only Democrat on the transition team.
The governor-elect and his team have also set up a transition website at www.scotttransition.com and are calling for anyone who wants to join his efforts and take a position in the Scott administration to sign up.
Scott explained the first step of his transition is to hire the best people.
He's looking for people who like to work hard, are committed to the goal of more private sector jobs and less government, they have to be optimistic and have a lot of energy. "We're looking at Republicans, Democrats, Independents, we want all of Florida to be involved", said Scott. He said they must have high integrity and a passion to serving the state. "Our state has a lot of issues and the way we are going to solve those issues is with great people."
Scott has two months to hire staff members, appoint leaders of more than two dozen state agencies and learn the basics of operating the nation's fourth-largest state, from open records laws to issuing executive orders in emergencies.
He also said he wants ideas from everyone in Florida.
"We're asking everyone for their ideas. We need ideas on how we can improve the service that comes out of government, how to reduce the cost of government, just basically how we can run government better than we have in the past."
His number one priority right now is job hunting for the state of Florida. "My whole job is to go around the state, country and the world and say 'we want you do to business in Florida, we want you to expand in Florida, open your business in Florida, move your business to Florida'."
Scott has said he will not accept the $130,273 yearly salary and that he and his wife Ann will live in the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee instead of their multi-million dollar home in Naples.
