Jim Rosica
As expected, Gov. Rick Scott is interested in Glenn Sutphin becoming the next director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
A Scott spokeswoman Wednesday confirmed Sutphin, now the acting head, is Scott’s top pick. Cabinet aides had had a brief conversation about the opening at their meeting earlier in the day.
Scott and the Florida Cabinet — Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam — will interview candidates and make the final pick.
The governor and cabinet next meet Aug. 2.
Sutphin, now interim executive director of the department, had applied for the permanent position along with more than 300 others.
He had been chief of staff and legislative affairs director of the state’s Department of Military Affairs since 1999, according to his bio. That department includes the Florida Army National Guard and Air National Guard.
Sutphin was a National Guardsman for over 30 years, awarded more than “50 medals including the Legion of Merit and the Florida Cross, the highest award in Florida, for exceptional performance in outstanding service and achievement,” the bio says.
The department’s last head, Mike Prendergast, stepped down to run for Citrus County Sheriff as a Republican. He was Scott’s first chief of staff.
