Florida has been without a lieutenant governor now for 86 days, the longest stretch the position has been vacant since it was reinstated in 1969. Gov. Rick Scott, however, is in no particular rush to fill the seat.
When Jennifer Carroll resigned form the job on March 11 amidst a scandal involving Internet cafes, Scott said he'd wait to fill the position after the end of the legislative session. It's been over a month since the session came to an end, and Scott seems no closer to making a pick.
"We're going to make the right decision at the right time," Scott's chief-of-staff told The Tampa Bay Times last week.
Scott himself refused to answer a question on the matter at a press conference on Tuesday.
Of course, it's not exactly like this is any sort of constitutional crisis. The lieutenant governor literally had no specific powers other than waiting around in case the governor dies. There's also no constitutionally mandated deadline for how long Scott had to name a replacement.
Scott is still busy going through the state's budget and signing off on legislation as well.
Though, Democrats are eager to put their own spin on the delay.
"It's frankly unsurprising that Rick Scott, with a toxic approval rating and a deeply misplaced set of priorities for Florida, can't find anyone who wants to hitch their reputation to his," said Joshua Karp, a spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald-Tribune. "It would be nice to have a member of the executive branch that hasn't been the target of a federal investigation."
The only real downside right now is that if Scott dropped dead or resigned without naming a new lieutenant governor, Attorney General Pam Bondi would then become governor, and does anyone really want that?
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