Republican legislators are signaling Gov. Rick Scott's handpicked jobs czar could be in jeopardy of losing his job after a heated exchange over the effectiveness of the state's unemployment compensation program.
The confrontation, during a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Tourism, Transportation and Economic Development, involved Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Director Jesse Panuccio forcefully denying charges by a union lobbyist that unemployment compensation payouts are decreasing because the Scott administration has made it more difficult for Floridians to apply for and receive benefits.
"All I can tell you is we disagree. We think the statistic claims that are being made are invalid," Panuccio told the committee's chairman, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater.
Latvala, however, criticized Panuccio for his tone.
"I, frankly, don't like your attitude. I think there's an arrogance in the way you present this that's a sense of entitlement, and I just think it's wrong. We're here to serve the people," Latvala said.
The incident could hurt Panuccio's chances of winning Senate confirmation during next year's legislative session. If he fails to be confirmed, he'll lose his $141,000-a-year job.
The union lobbyist, Rich Templin of the Florida AFL-CIO, previously told the committee fewer than one in eight unemployed Floridians are receiving unemployment benefits because of a law signed by Scott cutting compensation from 26 weeks of payments to a maximum of 14 weeks. He also faulted the Department of Economic Opportunity's glitch-riddled CONNECT benefits application website.
"It's broken. It was broken by design. It's not working, and for the governor or anybody else to pretend that this broken system is somehow or a good thing or a good sign, that's the politics here," Templin said, noting that declining unemployment benefit payouts enable Scott to claim his job creation policies are working.