TALLAHASSEE -- Former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll says she is one of a few people who knows exactly how Gerald Bailey feels.
Like the former Florida Department of Law Enforcement commissioner, Carroll says she was taken by surprise when she was told she had to resign immediately or be fired.
The difference for Bailey, whose ouster has caused a major headache for Gov. Rick Scott's administration, is the Cabinet shares oversight of FDLE and balked at how he was treated.
"It removed the curtain from the secrecy and the shenanigans that were happening for everyone else to see," Carroll said last week.
Carroll stepped down in March 2013 after she was questioned by the FDLE about her association with Allied Veterans of the World, a charity accused of running an illegal gambling ring via Internet cafes. Carroll was never accused of any wrongdoing.
She believes the Allied Veterans issue gave the governor and his staff the excuse they needed to cut her loose.
The real reason she was forced out ahead of the launch of Scott's re-election campaign, Carroll believes, is that Scott's top aides — chief of staff Steve MacNamara and successor Adam Hollingsworth — saw in her someone who had the governor's ear that they could not control.
Bailey told the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau he believes Scott forced him out because of disagreements with the governor's staff about the outcome of certain investigations and about how much involvement he and the FDLE should have in Scott's re-election efforts.
"He was forced to resign, same as I," Carroll said. "And the narrative that was given to the press was that he elected to leave. I saw that disingenuous narrative play out with Commissioner Bailey, as well."
Bailey has declined interview requests from the Times-Union.
Since her resignation, Carroll has said the only thing she wants from Scott is an apology for how she was treated.
But she thinks Bailey's situation deserves a thorough vetting.
Carroll wants the Cabinet, which includes Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Attorney General Pam Bondi, to be held accountable for agreeing to hire a new FDLE commissioner in January before confirming with Bailey that he'd retired voluntarily.
She also thinks there should be a formal investigation of the most serious accusations Bailey made after his ouster: that Hollingsworth pressured him to implicate interim Orange County Clerk of Courts Colleen Reilly when inmates used forged documents to escape a state prison in October 2013. Bailey said he told Hollingsworth that Reilly had done nothing wrong and refused to indicate otherwise in a press release about the escape.
"To just turn a blind eye and shove it under the rug does not show strong leadership to the people we elect to statewide office," Carroll said.
Putnam said during a Feb. 5 Cabinet meeting that Bailey's allegations should be investigated, but he did not say whether he would file a complaint or use his office's resources to make sure an investigation happened.
"We continue to explore the options," Putnam spokeswoman Erin Gillespie said via email.
Hollingsworth declined all interview requests since he resigned as Scott's top aide in November and has not spoken publicly about Bailey's allegations.
There has been one change that directly related to the fallout from Bailey's resignation. Atwater announced Thursday that Cabinet aide meetings will once again be public, streamed live and archived online by The Florida Channel.
Scott is accused of using aides to act as conduits between his office and the Cabinet to allow discussion about Bailey's resignation to occur initially out of the public eye. Several Florida newspapers and television stations signed onto a lawsuit accusing Scott of violating the open meetings law.
The Florida Society of News Editors, Associated Press, Citizens for Sunshine and St. Petersburg lawyer Matthew Weidner filed the initial Sunshine Law complaint in Leon County court. They are now joined by the Times-Union, First Coast News, Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel and nearly two dozen other media organizations.
Tia Mitchell: (850) 933-1321
