Gov. Rick Scott appointed Francis Gibbs as the Department of Transportation’s chief of staff – but has yet to name who Gibbs will answer to. Scott has yet to appoint a replacement for former secretary Stephanie Kopelousos, who went to work for U.S. Rep. John Mica in Washington.

Scott also appointed Jerry Curington as DOT’s general counsel and named his own general counsel, Charles Trippe.

Trippe most recently was a partner at the Moseley, Pritchard, Parrish, Knight and Jones law firm in Jacksonville. Before that, he was a top lawyer for CSX, Inc., the Jacksonville-based transportation behemoth.

Gibbs worked for U.S. Reps. Ander Crenshaw and Connie Mack on transportation policy matters and most recently served as Mack’s chief of staff.

Curington was until now general counsel at the Department of Children and Families.

A transportation department reorg may be in the works. It was one of the agencies Scott’s transition team recommended be merged with the Departments of Environmental Protection and Community Affairs. Scott virtually eliminated DCA in his budget proposal.

A heated exchange took place in the Senate Democratic Caucus meeting this afternoon over the sweeping rail proposal that is the topic of the special session now underway.

Conspicuously absent from the meeting were representatives of the state Department of Transportation, responsible for a controversial $641 million deal with transportation giant CSX Inc.

A provision included in the bill that would allow state transportation officials to unlink union jobs from railroads has put the measure in jeopardy in the Senate.

A frustrated Sen. Tony Hill, a former longshoreman and union organizer, demanded that fellow Democrat Jeremy Ring, the bill’s Senate sponsor, fix the measure to ensure that union workers won’t lose their jobs.

“Get it right. Get it right. It’s your bill. Get it right,” Hill, D-Jacksonville, told Ring.

The bill is either all about jobs or has nothing to do with jobs, depending on who is talking and what day of the week it is.

About 138 Tri-Rail workers would get pink slips if the bill passes, union representatives say.

That’s not true, countered South Florida Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Jeff Koons, also a Palm Beach County Commissioner.

He claimed the only way Tri-Rail workers will be out of a job is if the controversial bill does not pass because the commuter rail system won’t get the extra $15 million a year included in the measure. Without that, he said, Tri-Rail won’t be able to run its full schedule.

“We are holding our nose. We are supporting this agreement,” Koons told the packed conference room.

(more…)