Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff apologized for misleading people about when he graduated frin college. (Photo via Flgov.com)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, admitted this week that he told people he had a college degree when he actually didn’t.
According to the Associated Press, Hollingsworth “issued a statement to The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times where he acknowledged that he did not receive a degree from the University of Alabama until 2009 [and] he acknowledged that for years he had said he was a graduate.”
According to the AP, he apologized for what he called a “misrepresentation.” Since then, The Tampa Bay Times/ Miami Herald have been looking in all of Hollingsworth’s applications to state jobs.
According to the Times/Herald—which broke the story—Hollingsworth misrepresented his graduation date in an application dated May 2011 for a position at Enterprise Florida, which is the state’s public-private economic development agency. The Times/Herald reported:
The governor’s official state questionnaire asked for college “dates attended” and Hollingsworth answered “1986-1990.” In answer to the next question, “degrees received,” he wrote, “BA, Communications.”
He did not note when he graduated and Scott’s office noted that the form did not ask that question.
“The (Enterprise Florida) application, which Adam completed after 2009, did not request a graduation date so one was not provided,” said Scott’s spokeswoman, Melissa Sellers. “Reading anything else into that completely ignores the two other state applications, also filled out after 2009, which include information about the 2009 degree.”
On those two other slightly different state job applications for full-time employment, which Hollingsworth filled out in May and June of 2012, he was asked to list “dates of attendance” at colleges.
On both, he answered “from 8/86 to 5/90, 2009,” and listed “B.A., Communications, 12/09” on his application to be Scott’s chief of staff.
Scott has stood by Hollingsworth, who has been Scott’s chief of staff since last May, since reports have surfaced about Hollingsworth’s misleading applications. According to The Palm Beach Post, Scott said Hollingsworth is “going to continue to do a good job.”
“I’m just glad that Adam has a college degree. I’m proud of him for doing that,” Scott said Tuesday in his first public comments on the matter. “He’s admitted he made a mistake. He’s doing a great job. He’s a good friend.” …
Several close to Scott also have said Hollingsworth has brought solid organization and a no-nonsense approach to the executive branch. When Scott dismissed Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll earlier this year, for having worked for the internet cafe industry that was subject of a criminal investigation, Hollingsworth was the hatchet man who delivered the news.
But Scott said he didn’t see that action as creating a double standard that would preclude Hollingsworth from staying on.
This has been a tough year for Scott appointees. Three agency heads Scott appointed resigned amid controversy.
This past July, David Wilkins, the head of the Department of Children and Families, resigned. His departure followed controversy surrounding the deaths of multiple children who were under the agency’s watch.
Just a few weeks after, Education Commissioner Tony Bennett resigned after the Associated Press reported he had changed his grading policies when he was head of schools in Indiana to accommodate a charter school founded by a wealthy political donor.
And in August, Jim Crochet, Florida’s long-term care ombudsman, turned in his resignation papers in the midst of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing. Crochet headed a program meant to protect elderly people placed in nursing homes and assisted living facilities and was heavily criticized for protecting the interests of the companies he was tasked with regulating.