Gov. Rick Scott has jumped into the headlines to lead what is becoming a bitter political tug-of-war with FAMU’s independent hazing task force. His chief of staff says the inspector generals of the governor’s office and Florida Board of Governors (BOG) should be running the show.“In my opinion, we don't need duplication and dueling tasks forces and the Inspector Generals are much better suited to review this matter than the group assembled,” Scott Chief of Staff Stephen MacNamara wrote in a Tuesday email to the BOG.
On November 23, FAMU President James H. Ammons appointed a citizen task force “to review issues related to the death of Marching 100 band member Robert Champion.” It will independently review documents related to the problem of hazing and question university students and staffers.
Even though the governor’s office is saying that “duplication” is its primary concern, Rattler Nation has learned that there is likely some unhappiness with the FAMU task force’s membership composition. Apparently, the group has too many Democrats and even, worse, too many Charlie Crist supporters.
The public fallout from Champion’s death, which has a suspected link to hazing, has become a top national news story. It is being discussed every day on networks such as CNN, FOX News, CBS, NBC, and ABC. Governors often use these types of media frenzies to promote their administrations to a national audience.
FAMU’s task force lacks any of Scott’s big supporters. A number of the members are well-known “Crist Democrats.” Co-Chair Bob Butterworth is 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 appears to be taking 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.
If FAMU were to abandon its independent task force and let the inspector generals of the Florida Governor’s Office and BOG take over, it could result in a one-sided investigation that would block a full disclosure of the facts. In a November 29 letter, BOG Chairwoman Ava Parker said that her board’s investigation will focus on “whether university administration took appropriate action to address the hazing activities referenced by [former Director of Bands Julian E. White] and any hazing activities in the student population at large.”
Parker’s letter did not express any interest in investigating Ammons’ claim that White failed to exercise competence in reporting alleged hazing within the band.