Gov.-elect Rick Scott has established a one-year lobbying ban for any member of his transition team and designated the state’s current Sunshine Laws guru to serve as his open government coordinator.

Scott’s ethics code, released today, bars any member of his transition team for lobbying on behalf of any state entity for one year after leaving the team.

The code also requires team members to pledge “to act solely in the best interest of the people of the State of Florida, and to abide by all relevant laws. I further agree to perform only those activities that I have been directed to perform by an appropriate transition official and will use any information obtained in the course of those activities only for authorized purposes.”

Pat Gleason, currently Gov. Charlie Crist’s director of Cabinet Affairs and the special counsel for Crist’s Office of Open Government, will advise Scott, who’s never held office before, about the state’s broad public records and government-in-the-sunshine meetings laws.

Scott also tapped Chris Kise as his chief lawyer during the transition. Kise, a partner in the Foley & Lardner law firm, previously served as Crist’s general counsel and as solicitor general for the state.

Scott assumes office on Jan. 3.

A bill that’s one of House Speaker Larry Cretul’s priorities that would make 911 call tapes secret is on the fast-track in his chamber but lacks a Senate sponsor.

Cretul is pushing the measure on behalf of Florida Farm Bureau President John Hoblick, whose 16-year-old son died from a lethal combination of alcohol and illegal prescription drugs. Hoblick, out of town when his son Jake died, heard his older son John’s 911 call on the news.

House staff and the bill sponsor Rep. Rob Schenk, R-Spring Hill, kept the Speaker’s blessing of the bill hush-hush until this week when Cretul told a St. Petersburg Times reporter that Hoblick asked him to do something about the 911 calls.

Cretul used a seldom-used procedural maneuver today to guarantee that the measure (PCB GAP 10-03) passed. He temporarily assigned one of his lieutenants, House Speaker Pro Tem Ron Reagan, R-Bradenton, to the committee. Cretul didn’t need the insurance, however; the Government Policy Accountability Council approved it with an 8-5 vote.

Despite the Speaker’s clout in the House, the bill lacks a Senate sponsor.

Sen. Garrett Richter had originally agreed to run a companion for Schenk. But an open government shell bill he had sponsored that could have been used for Schenk’s bill was designated to be heard in the Banking and Insurance Committee, which has nothing to do with the 911 calls, he said. Richter backed off the bill even before controversy surrounding it – some victims and First Amendment lawyers staunchly oppose it – began this week. The Naples Republican said he won’t sponsor the measure.

Gov. Charlie Crist said today he may veto a measure that would create a new public records exemption for 911 calls.

First Amendment advocates and some victims vigorously oppose the legislation, the brainchild of House Speaker Larry Cretul and other unidentified House GOP “leaders,” according to Cretul’s spokeswoman Jill Chamberlain.

Cretul believes the calls should be made secret to spare victims from reliving traumatic events when tapes of the emergency calls are broadcast.

But some victims, including the family of one of the most notorious 911-calls-gone wrong kidnap and murder victim Denise Amber Lee, want the calls to remain public to keep dispatchers and law enforcement officials accountable when they err.

Crist, whose first act after becoming governor in 2007 was to create the “Office of Open Government,” said he prefers greater openness and transparency.

“What we can learn after the fact many times with these 911 recordings can be beneficial to make sure that it’s done better in the future because you can discover mistakes or maybe better management practices that can be utilized in the application of 911,” Crist said this morning.

“It’s been a great thing for the people, a great thing for safety and it has saved a lot of lives. But if we keep those secret going forward, we might not be able to continue to learn from those experiences as to what might help people in the future,” he said.

The House Government Policy Accountability Council is slated to take up the measure (PCB GAP 10-3, PCB GAP 10-3A) tomorrow morning.

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would make tapes of all 911 calls secret.

Opponents of the measure, including First Amendment watchdogs, say that the tapes are rarely requested but when they are released often reveal errors by 911 dispatchers that resulted in the deaths of callers seeking help.

Gov. Charlie Crist doesn’t think creating a new exemption for the emergency calls from the state’s broad open records laws is a good idea.

“No, I favor transparency why would they be taken off,” Crist said. “It’s always better when you shed light on any situation, whether it’s a 911 call, whether it’s public expenditures. No matter what it might be, transparency is always the right call.”

First Amendment Foundation President Barbara Petersen gave examples of 911 calls released to the public that revealed errors by 911 operators that resulted in the deaths of callers seeking help.

_ In Tampa, a 911 dispatcher didn’t follow procedure and as a result, the caller died.
- In Detroit, a 911 dispatcher chastised a small boy for “playing on the phone” while his mother was unconscious. When the police arrived, the mother was dead.

A Memphis 911 dispatcher fell asleep after asking “What’s your emergency?”

Supporters of the measure argue that victims may avoid getting aid through 911 because they are afraid recordings of the call may end up on the 6 p.m. news.

A House committee this morning delayed taking a vote on the measure (PCB 10-3).

State Sen. Dan Gelber is pushing a constitutional amendment aimed at cracking down on the kind of secret budget deals that got former House Speaker Ray Sansom in trouble.

Gelber, who is running against Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres in a Democratic primary for state attorney general, and Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, want lawmakers to put the constitutional amendment on next year’s November ballot.

The amendment would require that appropriations bills be written in plain language and that all budget conference meetings between two or more lawmakers be conducted in a publicly noticed meeting.

The state budget is usually crafted in a much different manner, going through a series of conference committees until the Senate President and the House Speaker ultimately resolve their differences behind closed doors.

In Sansom’s case, he was the House budget chairman when he slipped in a $6 million item to build an airport at a college where he later became a high-paid executive on the day he was annointed Speaker.

Sansom, Okaloosa County developer Jay Odom and former Northwest Florida State College President Bob Richburg have been indicted on official misconduct charges regarding the airport.

Sansom and Richburg each face an additional perjury charge for allegedly lying to a Leon County grand jury. They are scheduled to stand trial at the end of this month. (more…)