Senators give thumbs up to Scott's jobs chief

BY THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Cissy Proctor, Gov. Rick Scott's new jobs chief, cleared her first Senate confirmation hearing Thursday after getting advice to remain humble from one of her predecessor's strongest critics. Proctor, appointed by the governor to replace Jesse Panuccio as executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, received unanimous support from the Senate Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

"I get that you have the right attitude, you don't think you know everything, and that is real important to me," Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, said. "I just hope you keep it." Panuccio, who submitted his resignation in December, clashed with Latvala and some other lawmakers about issues such as the handling of economic incentives and a website for people applying for unemployment benefits. Latvala described the former jobs chief during an October hearing on the unemployment website as displaying "arrogance" and "a sense of entitlement."

On Thursday, Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, advised Proctor to give more flexibility to her employees. "What I would be looking for is a more business-like approach, where you allow your subordinates to do their jobs, which I don't think they were allowed to do in the past," Detert said. "They certainly weren't allowed to speak to us. So for you to have a functioning department and for us to have good government, we need information, communications. Your department heads should come to us when they see flaws in the system that we wrote and they have to labor under." Proctor's confirmation has also been sent to the Commerce and Tourism and Ethics and Elections committees.