DeSantis picks Republican insiders to lead transition.

Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis picked four Republican insiders to guide his transition into office.

DeSantis served three terms in Congress until resigning in September. He doesn’t have experience in state government or running a large enterprise.

But the people he picked to lead his transition team do have that kind of experience, both inside state government and lobbying from the outside.

Broward’s George LeMieux is among the four.

When Charlie Crist was a Republican, LeMieux was his deputy state attorney general, then his 2006 campaign for governor. The success of that effort led Crist to dub him “the maestro.” He became Crist’s first gubernatorial chief of staff.

Later, Crist appointed him to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. When Crist left the Republican Party — he’s now a Democratic congressman from St. Petersburg — and ran for governor in his new party, LeMieux became an outspoken critic.

He’s currently chairman of the board of directors of Gunster, the big Florida-based law firm.

The other three chairmen of the transition team are similarly plugged in to the ways of Tallahassee.

They are U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Panhandle Republican, former member of the Florida Legislature and son of a former Senate president; outgoing Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who had considered running for governor himself and ended up endorsing DeSantis’ rival in the Republican primary for governor; and Toni Jennings, a former Senate president who was a lieutenant governor under former Gov. Jeb Bush.

The executive director is Susie Wiles, a lobbyist who led President Donald Trump’s campaign in Florida. DeSantis brought her in as campaign chairwoman for the six weeks of the campaign leading up to Tuesday’s victory. The deputy executive director is DeSantis’ former chief of staff, Scott Parkinson.

LeMieux