Florida has been without a Lieutenant Governor for the last 8 months. Gov. Rick Scott has come up with a short list of candidates to fill the vacancy.
Steve Bousquet in the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau did some digging, and found that Scott’s wish list includes three people from the I-4 corridor between Orlando and Tampa.
“This is a decision that Rick Scott can’t avoid, and it’s not as easy as it looks", Bousquet explaind. "It’s easy to get it wrong. And with Charlie Crist as his likely opponent being from St. Pete, you can see him leaning toward Tampa Bay here.”
Scott is considering state Sen. Tom Lee and Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman – both from the Tampa area.
An education candidate also made the cut. St. Johns County Superintendent Joseph Joyner leads the school system with some of the highest standardized test scores in the state.
Rounding out the list is Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger, a leading opponent of internet cafes.
The previous lieutenant governor, Jennifer Carroll, resigned after a group she had once done public relations work for was accused of running an internet café gambling ring.