TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's top cop and the state's chief environmental regulator are keeping their jobs.
Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Florida Cabinet on Wednesday voted to appoint Richard Swearingen as commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Jon Steverson as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Steverson got the nod even though several people spoke publicly against his appointment. They are opposed to a plan being developed by Steverson's agency to raise more money from state parks by opening land up to logging, hunting or cattle grazing.
Two Cabinet members told Steverson that they had problems with the proposal and urged him to change it.
The two agency spots came open this spring because the Florida Senate refused to confirm a long list of Scott appointees, including Swearingen and Steverson.
Swearingen was initially appointed as FDLE commissioner after Scott ousted former Commissioner Gerald Bailey.
