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TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush has vetoed a bill that was taken directly from his own public corruption task force.
The bill would have blocked former state employees from working for companies that have contracts they worked on at their state agencies.
"They were wrong," Bush said of task force members. "It would have a chilling effect, making it difficult to attract people to serve in public office and go back to the private sector."
The ethics bill was too ambiguous and draconian and would have made it difficult to recruit new public employees, Bush said.
Senate President Tom Lee said he was disappointed and surprised Bush vetoed the bill Wednesday because the governor expressed no concerns during the 2005 Legislature, which passed it unanimously.
The task force included Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, former House Speaker John Thrasher, former Attorney General Bob Butterworth and 20 others handpicked by the governor.
The state Ethics Commission asked lawmakers to exempt state employees who were transferred out of career service jobs to positions that allow them to be more easily terminated.
The Ethics Commission also sought passage of a provision of the bill that would prohibit state employees from taking confidential information and using it for private gain.
The request surfaced after the commission determined it could take no action against a former Department of Revenue employee who took a list of delinquent taxpayers with him when he left the job and contacted them about representing them before the agency.
The bill, a priority for Lee, also would have prohibited government employees from working in political campaigns while on duty and banned ethics commission members from lobbying.
Lee said he hopes the governor will do a better job communicating about bills he opposes next year. "There had to be a way to resolve our differences," Lee added.