Ohio - License Mill - Applicant

SuperTrkrE2812 said:

No, I haven't heard about this, Where was the story?
If it is true, it would be funny as he**.
And be a huge kick in the peanuts for the taxpayers of Florida, and also for Crist.
Why doesn't the people insist that the Lt.Governor man the phones. At least he would have a job then!!!:rolf

Click to expand...

I heard it on FOX 13 in tampa but when searching for an article, I found it in the Palm Beach Post

Fla. tourism hotline run by out-of-state company
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2009/02/10/0210xgrvisitflorida.html

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — The agency in charge of tourism maintains a call center that is operated outside of the Sunshine State by a company not based in Florida.

The out-of-state hotline earned the head of Visit Florida, which contracted for the call center, the wrath of GOP lawmakers scrutinizing state spending during budget meetings today.

Visit Florida is a private, nonprofit corporation that receives state and private money to promote tourism. The corporation received $35 million from the state last year and has come under the governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development for the past decade.

Lawmakers had cut Visit Florida's advertising spending by $5 million this year, but Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed that cut.

The discovery about the out-of-state contract riled budget chairmen in both the House and the Senate.

"You don't know how unhappy that makes me that I just found that out. You don't know how unhappy that makes me," Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee Chair Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, told Visit Florida President Bud Nocera, his voice rising. "We just gave you millions of dollars. The governor just vetoed cuts in your budget. And you have a call center in Kansas City using our tax dollars."

Fasano was so irate that he ordered Nocera to return tomorrow morning with a list of all the contracts Visit Florida has issued and where the vendors are.
The out-of-state vendor, however, will soon be replaced by a Florida-based business, Nocera said, because of Kansas City-based 800 USA's poor job performance.
Visit Florida sent a letter to 800 USA in June to cancel the contract by December but the state is still on a month-to-month contract until it finalizes a deal with a new vendor, Visit Florida chief of marketing Will Seccombe said.

Seccombe would not say when the new contract would begin or name the Florida business.

Lawmakers are struggling to come up with ways to create jobs in the state where unemployment is as high as 10 percent in some regions. They are also trying to lure visitors to Florida to try to boost the state's economy as they face a $5 billion deficit next year and have to cut spending by another $700 million this year.

As lawmakers cull through agency budgets looking for items to chop, budget chiefs have been displeased to learn how much the state is spending and on what.

For example, the five highest paid officials at Visit Florida earn a combined $1.3 million in salaries and benefits, not including bonuses, Fasano's House counterpart Rich Glorioso learned. Nocera earns $222,000 per year, one of two Visit Florida employees who earn more than $200,000.

"I'm disappointed with the salary ranges," said Glorioso, R-Plant City said.