‘We’re going to follow the law’

Broward elections chief Pete Antonacci discusses his new duties, responsibilities

Pete Antonacci didn’t come riding in wearing a white hat to save the day when Gov. Rick Scott appointed him to replace suspended Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes and clean up the county’s elections office. But he could have.

There’s a white Stetson in his office given him in 1997 by his former colleagues at the state Attorney General’s Office, where he served as the top deputy to Bob Butterworth, meant to signify him as one of the “good guys.”

The hat is one of the few items Antonacci has had time to display in his mostly barren office in the county governmental center since arriving two weeks ago.

“It’s symbolic. You ever seen a John Wayne movie?” Antonacci asks. “I’m very proud of that.”

Antonacci, 70, has been a handyman of sorts for Scott in recent years. The governor appointed him to fill in as state attorney in Palm Beach County in 2012, made him his general counsel for the next two years, appointed him to head the South Florida Water Management District in 2015 and then Enterprise Florida in 2017. Antonacci said it wasn’t because of any close connection to Scott.

“I didn’t know Rick Scott from Adam’s house cat in 2012,” he said, describing Scott as “my former client.”

Antonacci has been living out of Holiday Inn Express, waiting for final condo board clearance to rent a unit near downtown Fort Lauderdale. He’ll be away from his wife, a practicing attorney in Tallahassee, and his two daughters and granddaughters who also live in the city.

His salary of $178,865 will be more than Antonacci earned in any of his other positions, outside of his years in private practice, he said. But that’s due in part to Antonacci asking to keep the same $165,000 salary he was earning at the water management district when he switched to Enterprise Florida — and then abolishing the bonuses his predecessors had been receiving.

He switched parties in 2010, changing from a Democrat to a Republican. He declined to say why, though he said he didn’t