Attorney General-elect Pam Bondi enlisted two losing attorney general primary candidates to her transition team, which will be chaired by former St. Petersburg mayor Rick Baker,her predecessor Attorney General Bill McCollum and former House Speaker Larry Cretul.

Bondi tapped former state Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Greenacres Democrat who lost his AG bid in the primary to former state Sen. Dan Gelber who lost to Bondi, to serve on her pill mills and prescription drug team.

And Bondi recruited former state Rep. Holly Benson, her one-time opponent in the GOP primary, as one of her Medicaid fraud advisers. Benson formerly served as secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

The former Tampa prosecutor also asked her transition team members to sign an ethics pledge that includes a one-year ban on lobbying her office.

Bondi’s full list of transition team appointees follows.

Chairs

* Rick Baker, Director, USF Innovation Partnerships; former Mayor of St. Petersburg
* Larry Cretul, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
* Bill McCollum, Attorney General

Public Safety Workgroups

Gang Reduction

* Jim Coats, Sheriff, Pinellas County
* Bennie Holder, former Tampa Police Chief
* David Morgan, Sheriff, Escambia County

Pill Mills and Prescription Drug Abuse

* Dave Aronberg, former State Senator
* Gonzalo Dorta, Founder, Gonzalo R. Dorta P.A.; member of 11th Circuit and Federal Judicial Nominating Commissions
* Al Lamberti, Sheriff, Broward County

Criminal Appeals and Statewide Prosecutor

* Angela Corey, State Attorney, Fourth Judicial Circuit
* Bernie McCabe, State Attorney, Sixth Judicial Circuit
* Willie Meggs, State Attorney, Second Judicial Circuit
* Mark Ober, State Attorney, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit

Economic Recovery Workgroups

Jobs and Business/Regulatory Climate

* Bob McClure, President and CEO, James Madison Institute
* Wilton Simpson, President, Simpson Environmental, Inc.; former chairman, Pasco Economic Development Council

Consumer Protection

* Ron Hanes, Partner, Trombley & Hanes; former Assistant State Attorney
* Jon Sale, Counsel, EpsteinBeckerGreen; former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Florida
* Robert Shimberg, Shareholder, Hill Ward Henderson; former Assistant State Attorney

Medicaid Fraud

* Alex Acosta, Dean, FIU College of Law; former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Florida
* Dr. Fred Bearison, Member, Florida Board of Medicine
* Holly Benson, former Secretary, Agency for Health Care Administration; former State Representative

Public Outreach Workgroup

* Arlene DiBenigno, Senior Advisor, Rick Scott for Governor campaign
* Kim Kirtley, Owner, Policy Points Communications; Policy and Communications Director, Pam Bondi for Attorney General campaign
* Albert Martinez, Senior Advisor, Marco Rubio for Senate campaign

Executive Director

* Carlos Muñiz, Shareholder, GrayRobinson P.A.; former Deputy General Counsel, Gov. Jeb Bush; former General Counsel, CFO Tom Gallagher; former Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel, Speakers Marco Rubio, Ray Sansom, and Larry Cretul.

Special Advisor

* Additionally, former Solicitor General Gregory Garre has agreed to serve as a Special Advisor to Attorney General-Elect Bondi during the transition.

Tags: 2010 elections, attorney general, Dave Aronberg, Holly Benson, Pam Bondi

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 8:26 pm and is filed under 2010 campaigns, Bill McCollum, Cabinet, Dara Kam, Dave Aronberg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.