On Tuesday, the Florida Cabinet confirmed Rick Swearingen as the new commission of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), after ousting former commissioner Gerald Bailey.
Gov. Rick Scott repeatedly told reporters that Bailey had resigned.
“He resigned,” Scott told reporters after a Cabinet meeting, tampabay.com reported. “Commissioner Bailey did a great job.” After reporters pressed Scott for an explanation regarding Bailey’s removal the governor repeated his earlier statement: “I’ll say it again. Commissioner Bailey did a great job.”
Bailey called Scott’s claim a lie.
“I did not voluntarily do anything,” Bailey told the Times/Herald when told of Scott’s comments. “If he said I resigned voluntarily, that is a lie. If he said that, he’s being totally untruthful.”
Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reports that Scott’s chief of staff and general counsel orchestrated Bailey’s immediate departure from FDLE on Dec. 16. General counsel Pete Antonacci went to FDLE headquarters and delivered the message: “Retire or resign,” Bailey said Tuesday.
Bailey spent more than three decades at FDLE, and was commissioner for the past eight years.
It is not yet clear why Bailey was removed as head of the law enforcement state agency.
[…] Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey was fired from his job last month. According to reports, Bailey turned down efforts during Scott’s […]