Jim Rosica
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet Thursday began moving on replacing two high-profile state positions by agreeing on salary ranges and interview dates.
Marshall Stranburg, executive director of the state’s Department of Revenue, and Kevin McCarty, the state’s insurance commissioner, both quit in the past two months.
Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam agreed to advertise the jobs from Monday through March 11.
On March 23, Cabinet aides will select applicants for interviews for both positions, with public interviews to be held during the March 29 Cabinet meeting. Scott and the others will individually interview candidates before that, the governor said.
Saying “we deserve an extraordinary talent” as insurance commissioner, Atwater suggested creating a new salary range of McCarty’s salary of $134,000 a year to $200,000. The motion passed.
“I don’t know there is an insurance market in the country as dynamic as Florida,” Atwater said, adding that hurricane season starts June 1.
A salary range for the Revenue Department post was set at Stranburg’s present salary of $129,000 a year up to $150,000.
Stranburg and McCarty had long been targeted for removal by Scott, who wanted new leadership in those key offices.
Scott reportedly favors former state Rep. Tom Grady, a friend of his and a fellow resident of Naples, for the Office of Insurance Regulation top job.
Grady is a former interim president of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and Commissioner of Financial Regulation, the state’s top banking regulator.
Others in the running, according to reports, include GOP state Rep. Bill Hager of Delray Beach, a former Iowa Insurance Commissioner and current vice chair of the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee.
