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Corrections Boss Quits, Deputy FDLE Leader Takes Over Prison System

Citing increasingly apparent “differences in philosophy and management styles” with the administration, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss resigned abruptly on Wednesday, after less than eight months on the job.

Buss, who was lauded as one of the top prison administrators in the country when Gov. Rick Scott stole him away from Indiana in December, had sent subtle signals that he was wary of the degree to which the governor’s office was driving policy, from a very broad move to privatize prisons to personnel and contracting decisions in the agency.

Scott accepted Buss’ resignation – the second of the first term governor’s agency heads to leave – and quickly appointed deputy Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Ken Tucker to take over the agency, which while in the middle of a move to shed prisons remains the third largest in the country.

Buss’ Corrections Department ran afoul of Scott and others in the governor’s office at least twice in the last several days – and was also blindsided by bad publicity over an unexpected $25 million cost to planned prison privatization that was heavily criticized by a couple of lawmakers.

Sen. Mike Fasano said recently he would hold hearings on recent revelations that the privatization of 29 prison facilities in the southern part of the state would come with $25 million in costs related to the departure of agency employees, such as unused vacation and sick time.

Fasano said he should have been made aware of the cost – since he’s chairman of the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee.

Also, the agency this week terminated a contract with a woman brought to the agency by Buss to oversee the planned privatization of prisoner health care. Scott’s office reportedly pushed for the woman, Elizabeth Gondles, to be fired over concerns about a conflict of interest. Gondles was hired for $180,000 to work for 10 months overseeing bids to privatize medical services for prisoners. But her husband is the director of the only organization in the nation that accredits state prison medical services. Gondles was let go Monday.

Then, in another public disagreement between Buss and Scott, the secretary approved a contract to let a production company film part of the MSNBC series “Lockup” at a Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton, in the Panhandle. Buss had reportedly allowed the production company to film when he ran the Indiana prisons, but Scott canceled the contract, saying not only did he not approve it, he wasn’t aware of it.

Sources at the Department of Corrections told the St. Petersburg Times Buzz Blog earlier this week, however, that they did let officials in Scott’s office know about it, and named names of staffers who received information about it, likely further widening the wedge between the agency and the governor’s office.

“It was a combination of several things,” said Fasano, R-New Port Richey. “I believe this is not all Secretary Buss’ fault. I think it also has to do with the direction he was getting from his boss, the governor.”

Fasano threw his support behind Tucker, Buss’s replacement. “He is a very fine gentleman who is capable of taking over the reins and will do excellent.”

But Buss had sent signs even earlier that he was wary of the push for massive prison privatization, which while driven by the Legislature was clearly also being pushed by Scott, who signed the legislation approving the move.

Buss told the News Service earlier this year that the amount of privatization sought by lawmakers was enough – and that it needed to be evaluated to see if it was successful before more privatization was approved, questioning the generally accepted wisdom in Republican circles in Tallahassee that it would naturally be successful and more privatization would be the natural next step.

Buss met with Scott Wednesday afternoon and tendered his resignation.

Tucker, a 34-year law enforcement veteran, comes to Corrections from a job overseeing the FDLE’s seven Regional Operations Centers, Investigations and Forensic Sciences Program Office, Forensic Services, and Field Services. He joined FDLE in 1983 and has supervised agents in several offices in the agency. He’s also a former Daytona Beach police officer and a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

In a statement, Scott’s office said of Buss’ resignation that “differences in philosophy and management styles arose which made the separation in the best interests of the state.”

By David Royse
The News Service of Florida