If you ever want to know where Bill Jennings stands on a FAMU issue, the best place to ask is the Florida Governor’s Office. In his nearly 12 years on the FAMU Board of Trustees Jennings has always done exactly what the incumbent governor wanted him to do without regard for how it might harm his own alma mater.Back in 2001, Jennings was the top sidekick of Jeb Bush crony Jim Corbin as he attacked former President Frederick S. Humphries. In 2012, Jennings is now working side-by-side with Rick Scott crony Rufus Montgomery to fulfill the governor’s goal of seating a new FAMU president who is more to his liking.
Humphries was appointed president in 1985 during the governorship of Democrat Bob Graham. He became a rising star in the Democratic Party during the two terms of Gov. Lawton Chiles. The Clinton White House loved Humphries. In July 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton asked Humphries to run for Florida education commissioner (which was still an elected position at that time), but Humphries respectfully declined.
The Jeb Bush Years
Jeb Bush was not happy about Humphries’ cozy relationship with the Democratic Party or the Clintons. In January 2002, he put Jim Corbin, one of his big campaign donors, on FAMU’s newly created Board of Trustees to change the direction of the school.
Jennings went along with everything that Corbin did until Jeb left office in 2006. He worked hard during the 2002 and 2005 presidential searches to help Corbin's cronies gain control of the university. Jennings also stood by Corbin and former Athletic Director J.R.E. Lee, III in pushing the poorly planned D-IA move that made FAMU a laughingstock in the national media.
Jennings’ support for Corbin remained strong as Corbin and his other followers like Challis Lowe and Castell Bryant accused Humphries of leaving FAMU in a financial mess. Those charges came despite the fact that all the Florida auditor general audits of FAMU's annual financial statements were spotless during the Humphries years.
The Charlie Crist Years
Once Charlie Crist became governor in 2007, Jennings separated himself from Corbin’s group. He voted to hire Ammons, Humphries’ former provost, as president that year. Crist was not the type of GOP partisan that Jeb was and had no personal problem with Humphries or Ammons.
Jennings did little to pick fights with Ammons while Crist was in office.
The Rick Scott Years
Jennings turned against Ammons in 2010 shortly before Rick Scott was inaugurated in January, 2011. Jennings’ ego was apparently bruised because he was seemingly getting the “lame duck” treatment as he headed toward the end of his term as board chairman (August 4, 2011) and the final year of his appointment (which is set to expire on January 6, 2013). At that point Jennings launched an unsuccessful attempt to remove the super-majority clause from Ammons’ contract.
Ammons’ sour relationship with Scott provided a new opportunity for Jennings to seek revenge. Scott has never liked the fact that Ammons is a big supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama. Rattler Nation learned that there was likely some unhappiness with the membership composition of anti-hazing task force Ammons appointed in late 2011. Apparently, the group had too many Democrats and even, worse, too many Crist supporters.
FAMU’s task force lacked any of Scott’s big supporters. A number of the members were well-known “Crist Democrats.” Co-Chair Bob Butterworth was Crist’s former secretary of the Department of Children and Families. Co-Chair Walter McNeil served as Crist’s secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice and, later, Crist’s secretary of the Department of Corrections. Former state Sen. Alfred “Al” Lawson endorsed Crist for the U.S. Senate. Attorney Daryl Parks supported Crist’s gubernatorial campaign.
The governor’s office seemed to take FAMU’s task force appointments very personally. The Florida Democratic Party is openly flirting with the idea of recruiting Crist to challenge Scott in 2014.
Jennings was one of only two trustees who verbally supported Rufus Montgomery’s proposal to place Ammons on administrative leave at the Dec. 8, 2011 board meeting. Shortly afterward, Scott went public to show that he was real leader behind the push to suspend Ammons.
For nearly 12 years, Jennings has shown that his main goals on FAMU’s board are to obtain titles that make him feel important and follow the agenda of the Florida Governor’s Office without question. He has never had a sincere dedication to looking out for FAMU.