This just in from Paul Flemming of our Gannett News Service Capital Bureau in Tallahassee:TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist has asked for an inspector general's inquiry to see if the director of a new space-tourism medical program at the Andrews Institute got his job after setting up the $500,000 in state grants to create it.
Project Odyssey is funded with $250,000 from the governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development and $250,000 from Space Florida, the state's public-private board to encourage aerospace industry.
Brice Harris, who oversees Project Odyssey for the Gulf Breeze institute, formerly oversaw those funds from OTTED. State ethics laws restrict state workers from going to work for companies on contracts they negotiate.
The Project Odyssey grant aims to get potential space tourists ready to handle the physical demands of launching into orbit. Andrews is a sports medicine center, which has ventured into cutting-edge space programs.
Nikki Troxclair, marketing manager for Andrews, said Harris works under contract to run the program, with the title of director of defense and aerospace programs.
She said Harris was recommended by OTTED and Space Florida, and he signed his contract after he resigned from the governor's economic-development staff.
"After the awarding of the grant, Space Florida and OTTED were asked for a recommendation as to who would be the best candidate to run this program," Troxclair wrote in an e-mail. "Both organizations pointed us to Mr. Harris."
Odyssey kicked off in December with appearances by Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and Space Florida President Steve Kohler.
The Orlando Sentinel reported in a story Saturday that e-mails showed Harris was instrumental in getting Project Odyssey to Andrews before he quit his state job in July to take on running the new program.
Sterling Ivey, press secretary for Gov. Charlie Crist, said the governor asked Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel to look into questions raised by the Sentinel's story.
Crist "asked our Chief Inspector General to review Mr. Harris' role and responsibilities in OTTED and report back to the governor and his chief ethics officer," Ivey wrote in an e-mail.
Brice, 31, a Pensacola native, was chief operating officer at Ceryph, a company that sold software developed by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola before he went to work for OTTED.
Odyssey is still taking shape.
"Once (health and flight) standards are approved, the program will be set up utilizing various medical departments, physicians and local entities," Troxclair said. "Efforts will be ongoing to work with several public organizations as well as the military."
Deb Spicer, vice president of communications for Space Florida, said the inquiry sought by the governor limits what she can say.
"Once that review began, and until it's complete, we're required to not react to it at all," Spicer said. "Doing a review process does not necessarily mean it's a negative situation. It just means it's being looked into."
The Space Florida board unanimously approved its $250,000 grant to the program at its June 2007 meeting after a committee reviewed the contract.
Dr. Joe Story, president of the Andrews Institute, a part of Baptist Health Care, made the presentation, Spicer said.
1 comment:
This is what is important: "Once that review began, and until it's complete, we're required to not react to it at all," Spicer said. "Doing a review process does not necessarily mean it's a negative situation. It just means it's being looked into."
The Governor should ask for the inquiry, especially in light of House Speaker Ray Sansome's recent ethics problems.
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