Scott defends chief of staff who lied about college degree

Gov. Rick Scott and Chief of Staff Adam Hollingsworth

Gov. Rick Scott has another chief of staff scandal on his hands.

Last week, the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times confronted Adam Hollingsworth, the top-ranked aide in the Executive Office of the Governor, with evidence that lied for years about possessing a college degree. After learning that he’d been discovered, Hollingsworth finally admitted to what he had done.

“For many years, I publicly stated that I was a graduate of the University of Alabama, however, I did not complete my degree until 2009,’’ Hollingsworth told the Herald/Times. “I am not proud of this and I deeply apologize for this misrepresentation. I have learned from this failure in judgment and know that, over the last several years, my life and character have and will continue to grow from this.”

Scott was full of excuses when the press asked him for a comment on the issue.

“I have every confidence in Adam as my chief of staff, and my friend,’’ Scott said in a statement late Friday. “I know him to be a man of tremendous integrity and character. I know he regrets this and has learned from it.”

The governor’s previous chief of staff, Steve MacNamara, resigned last year in the wake of headlines that accused him of using state money to reward political buddies and possibly violating the state’s ethics laws.

Jennifer Carroll, Scott’s former lieutenant governor, resigned in March after federal investigators questioned her as part of a probe into an alleged $300 million, illegal gambling ring.

Scott has invested lots of time into trying to take control of the FAMU presidency. The constant merry-go-round of staff scandals in the governor’s own house shows, once again, why Rattlers must continue the fight to keep Scott from putting one of his personal cronies in Lee Hall.