Conditions in Florida CFO’s office raise questions about Jimmy Patronis
A troubling chain of events casts an ominous shadow over Florida’s chief financial officer. The shadow won’t magically go away with the expected and overdue dismissal of the state’s top financial regulator.
The man at the top, CFO Jimmy Patronis, is perilously close to squandering the trust of his constituents. He owes Floridians some answers, fast.
Allegations of heavy-handed lobbyist influence, a malodorous $25,000 campaign contribution, and inappropriate and sexist comments in the workplace have thrust the CFO’s office into its worst crisis since voters created the office two decades ago. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is reviewing whether Patronis violated state law by releasing details of a female employee’s sexual harassment complaint.
The sad irony here is that the CFO promotes himself as a consumer watchdog, on the lookout for scams that victimize taxpayers. If we’ve learned anything from this fiasco, it’s that the watchdog needs watching.
The crux of the case is this: Patronis has demanded the resignation of Ronald Rubin, the $166,000-a-year commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation, who oversees banks, credit unions and securities. After three months on the job, Rubin was put on paid leave in May after several subordinate employees complained of inappropriate behavior, including using crude language and discussing his parents’ fertility. A 66-page inspector general’s report accuses Rubin of repeatedly violating agency policies on sexual harassment and discrimination, and a backup “proof analysis” provides greater detail.
The governor and Cabinet meet July 25 to discuss the findings. The CFO, with the governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner, hire and fire the top insurance and banking regulators.
Rubin has denied nearly all of the allegations, and his attorney has called the report “completely unfair.” The Orlando Sentinel has reported that Rubin ran up $7,000 in travel expenses in three months, and that he took an unusually personal interest in a credit union bid by a Republican political player, Bernie Navarro of Miami.
Rubin was hired in February. On paper he looked impressive, but it was obvious he was poorly vetted by Patronis’ people, and red flags weren’t hard to find. Despite being an attorney with SEC experience and an MBA from the University of Chicago, he was recently unemployed and has been a freelance writer since 2015. Bloomberg Law reported in May that a dozen former employees accused Rubin of inappropriate workplace behavior, including remarks about the appearance of women colleagues. Rubin’s attorney, Michael Tein, said no complaints were ever filed against Rubin as a result. But in this #MeToo era, how did he get hired?
Patronis owes us an explanation. He should also explain explosive allegations that Rubin’s predecessor, Drew Breakspear, told the Tampa Bay Times: that he was pressured to drop his office’s pursuit of a Miami financial adviser who had contributed $25,000 to Patronis’ 2018 campaign. A spokesman said Patronis was neutral on the matter. Breakspear was forced out last year with almost no explanation.
Patronis, who has led a charmed political life since he bonded with Rick Scott nearly a decade ago, appears to be in over his head. He has a political science degree from FSU but no real expertise in finance. As CFO, he is paid $128,972 a year. He got the job through political connections, plain and simple, before he defeated Democrat Jeremy Ring and won a four-year term last November.
A member of a prominent Panama City family that owns Captain Anderson’s seafood restaurant, Patronis was an early avid backer of Scott’s first run for governor in 2010. The eatery was the site of Scott’s 2017 anointing of Patronis as CFO to replace Jeff Atwater, who left to take a top-level post near his West Palm Beach home at Florida Atlantic University. Scott also appointed Patronis to the Public Service Commission that regulates utilities, and to the Constitution Revision Commission.
Ron Rubin never should have been hired. At his only public appearance, the day he got the job at a Feb. 26 Cabinet meeting, it was Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried who spoke prophetically about what was to come.
“This is obviously such an important position to get right,” Fried said. Obviously they got it wrong, but now they have a chance to learn from their mistakes. As the Cabinet’s only Democrat, it will be Fried’s job to ask the toughest questions Thursday.
Floridians deserve a professionally run agency that’s supposed to be above grubby politics and tawdry office behavior. But it’s obvious that more oversight is needed.
The Legislature should require that the state’s top insurance and banking regulators be confirmed by the Senate, and the buck stops with Patronis.