With hurricane season on the way, exactly when the end is coming for Florida’s current insurance commissioner has become a storm of its own.
Amid a tense feud over naming his successor, Florida insurance commissioner Kevin McCarty said Thursday he intends to show up for work May 3, though Gov. Rick Scott’s office has taken the position he is done the day before.
“I intend to fulfill my obligation,” McCarty told The Palm Beach Post after addressing an industry conference in Tampa on Thursday.
By that he means staying until 45 days after an appointment for the job is named, as expressed in a letter he sent Scott after a new pick was delayed, he said.
Scott’s general counsel wants to hold McCarty to an original May 2 resignation notice, arguing that is what the Cabinet has approved and relied upon. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater differs with the governor’s office on that point, as well as on a choice for a replacement.
Atwater and Scott must be part of a majority in the four-member Cabinet to name a new insurance chief.
A phone meeting of Cabinet members is set for today on the issue as hurricane season starts June 1.
McCarty spoke at a conference sponsored by the Florida Association for Insurance Reform, a group that includes representatives of Florida-based insurers.
Source: St. Augustine Record