State: Bush takes first steps in retooling inner circle

Gov. Jeb Bush, meanwhile, reappointed directors of three agencies, including Jerry Regier, whose rocky start at the Department of Children and Families last summer soon subsided.

The resignations and reappointments were part of Bush's attempt to reshape his inner circle as he prepares for a second term. More changes are expected in the coming weeks.

Lottery Director David Griffin and Transportation Secretary Tom Barry appear headed in very different directions. While Barry seeks a job in the private sector, Griffin, a Bush favorite, is expected to snare a high-profile job in the governor's office.

Griffin, 39, is one of the administration's most prominent African-Americans. His lofty status was clear when Bush named him executive director of the second-term transition team. Griffin has been mentioned as a possible chief of staff if Kathleen Shanahan leaves.

Recruited from Ohio's state lottery office, Griffin plans to remain the head of the Florida Lottery for several more months to oversee the selection of a vendor to operate Lottery games on the Internet.

"I would like to remain at the department to oversee the bidding process of the online contract and to give ample opportunity to search for my successor," Griffin wrote in his resignation letter.

Griffin opposes the introduction of slot machines, or what some lawmakers call "video lottery." That proposal, rejected by Bush earlier this year, has resurfaced as a way to generate revenue to pay for the smaller class sizes that voters demanded with an amendment to the Florida Constitution.

Barry, one of the few holdovers from the Democratic administration of Lawton Chiles, will leave on Feb. 28 to allow time for the Florida Transportation Commission to recommend three finalists to Bush as required by law.

Barry said it is a good time to leave because his youngest daughter is in ninth grade, and he wants to move to Central Florida in time to let her attend the rest of her high school years at one school.

"This coming summer would have been a major decision point for me and my family, with the combination of my years as secretary and my girls' ages," Barry wrote to Bush.

Though Barry does not have a new job, he said leaving is his idea.

During Barry's five-plus years at the DOT, the agency has been at the forefront of privatizing the toll collection and maintenance. The DOT workforce has shrunk from about 10,000 when Barry became secretary in August 1997 to about 8,500 today, he said.

Steve Seibert, a former Pinellas County commissioner, was the first state agency head to quit after the Nov. 5 election. Seibert announced two weeks ago he was leaving the Department of Community Affairs, shortly after Bush asked for the resignations of agency heads.

Bush on Tuesday also reappointed Susan Pareigis to run the state's job-training office, the Agency for Workforce Innovation, and Dr. Rhonda Meadows as secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, which handles billions of dollars a year in federal Medicaid funds.

Regier's reappointment at DCF was expected. The furor over 6-year-old Rilya Wilson, whose disappearance went unnoticed by DCF caseworkers for 15 months, the chronic problems at the state child welfare agency and Regier's own controversial writings never threatened Bush's re-election.

Regier endured a firestorm of criticism for his links to writings that condoned spanking children and keeping women out of the workplace. Since then, Regier has been a vocal advocate for higher salaries for DCF's overburdened caseworkers.

Regier, Pareigis and Meadows all must be confirmed by the state Senate.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk