Back when FAMU trustees handed Chuck Badger the chairman’s gavel in 2011, it looked like the board had finally started to understand that spineless individuals like Bill Jennings are not cut out for leadership positions. But little-by-little, Badger has turned into a push-over for Gov. Rick Scott in the same way that Jennings was a push-over for former Gov. Jeb Bush.During the years 2001 through 2005, Jennings was the top sidekick of Jeb crony Jim Corbin as he attacked former President Frederick S. Humphries. Badger is now placating Scott by giving more power to his top crony, Rufus Montgomery. Rufus has shown that his number one goal is to help Scott get control of Lee Hall and bring in a new president who is more to his liking.
Badger recently appointed Rufus to chair the board’s budget and finance committee. The position gives Rufus a new bully pulpit to use in his ongoing attempts to make it look like FAMU can’t manage its affairs on its own. That simply helps Scott as he continues to try and find excuses to boss around FAMU’s administration.
The chairman was not thinking about what was best for FAMU when he gave Rufus that appointment. He is also foolhardy if he believes that Scott will now have more respect for him. Rufus is the only FAMU trustee who the governor really trusts. Badger is just being used.
If Badger is trying to get on the governor’s good side in order to make progress on some personal goal, he has a lot to learn about politics. The appointment he gave to Rufus won’t win any loyalty from Scott and won’t help his reputation with FAMUans, either.
Badger could learn a thing or two from Torey Alston. Torey generally does what Scott wants, but is smart enough to draw the line when it comes to things that would hurt him personally.
For example, Torey is running for the Broward County School Board and doesn’t want to turn the local FAMU alumni voters against him. That’s why he offered a compromise when Rufus tried to make Scott happy by leading an attempt to get rid of FAMU President James H. Ammons. Torey’s motion to reprimand Ammons gave Rufus and Scott the partial victory of creating negative headlines for the FAMU administration while helping Torey avoid an angry response from the Rattler alumni voters in Broward County.
Badger didn’t help himself with either the governor’s office or FAMUans by giving more power to Rufus. He is just setting himself to end up like Jennings, who Jeb used for years and then ignored.