Rick Scott announced State Rep. Jennifer Carroll as his running mate this morning during a news conference outside Jacksonville Naval Air Station and said she can help him get Florida's economy moving again.

Scott stressed Carroll's background, which includes 20 years in the Navy and experience as a businesswoman.

"We are going to have a lieutenant governor who goes out and talks to busineses every day to ask, 'What can we do for you?’ ’’ Scott said.

Scott would not answer if he started talking with Carroll, a supporter of Scott's primary opponent, Bill McCollum, before last week's primary.

"We aren't going to talk about everything we did," Scott said.

At a Tuesday night campaign stop, Scott said he had selected his running mate and it was someone he had vetted for a long time.

Many politicians from around the area say that politically, the 51-year-old Republican lawmaker makes sense as Scott’s running mate.

“I just really think she adds a lot to the ticket. She is African-American, she is a female, and she is really sharp,” said state Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville.

Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, said her background working the halls of the Legislature makes her a good pick.

“The governor runs the executive [branch], but it would be a great advantage if the lieutenant governor knows the Legislature,” he said.

Carroll served as the deputy majority leader in 2003 and as the House majority whip, or the party’s chief vote counter, from 2004 to 2006.

Carroll served as chair of the African-Americans for McCollum steering committee and was in attendance at a recent McCollum rally in Jacksonville.

After a brutal primary, Scott could send a message that no bad blood remains by adding a McCollum supporter to his ticket.

“It can’t hurt. I mean, it seems that fences are mended at the top of the party. That may not be the case at the bottom,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.

Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff did not wait for a formal announcement to question how Carroll could join the Scott campaign.

“How can a veteran like Jennifer Carroll join with a disgraced executive whose company stole from our nation’s courageous veterans — because as CEO of Columbia/HCA, Rick Scott oversaw systematic, massive TriCare fraud, the military retiree health system?” he asked.

Democrat state Rep. Audrey Gibson, chair of the Duval County legislative delegation, said that as a delegation member she is “delighted” that Carroll might be getting a promotion but stands firmly behind Democratic nominee Alex Sink, who selected Rod Smith, a former state senator from Alachua County, as her running mate.

Matt Corrigan, a professor of political science at the University of North Florida, said selecting a woman holds some strategic importance for Scott.

“It increases diversity, especially with a woman on the top of the other ticket,” he said.

Leslie Dougher, chairwoman of the Clay County Republican Party, said that because Scott is from South Florida, selecting a running mate from the Jacksonville area would be a smart choice.

Jewett, however, said that because Scott had a good primary showing in Northeast Florida, a better choice may be someone from another part of the state.

“It does provide balance to the ticket … but South Florida is also where he did the worst in the primary,” said Jewett, who thinks a running mate from that area would bolster Scott’s numbers.

Dougher and Weinstein both stressed that Carroll’s military background could also make her a good selection. She retired as a lieutenant commander after 20 years in the Navy that included stops at Jacksonville NAS as first an enlisted jet mechanic and later as the top aide to Adm. Kevin Delaney. She also was executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs under Gov. Jeb Bush.

Tony Sleiman, owner of The Jacksonville Landing and one of Scott’s strongest local backers, said he got several calls from people Wednesday telling him about the Carroll selection but had not heard from Scott himself.

Reached on his cell phone in Montana, Sleiman said Carroll would be a great choice, calling her a “conservative straight shooter.”

Weinstein said that because she already went through a thorough vetting process when Gov. Charlie Crist considered appointing her to the U.S. Senate in 2009, a Carroll pick would make a lot of sense.

“She is used to being sought after and used to being special,” he said. “She is quite capable, and I would not at all be surprised if that’s who it is.”

Legislatively, one of Carroll’s biggest accomplishments was passing 2004 legislation that authorized sheriff’s offices and police departments to establish neighborhood crime watch programs.

Shortly after she was elected, Carroll faced questions about a master’s degree in business administration from Kensington University. A CBS News report found that the university was a “diploma mill,” where students paid to get a degree online or through the mail for little work.

Carroll told the Times-Union at the time that it was “a lot of time, effort and money poured into a university I thought was a viable program.”

Carroll received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree in business administration from St. Leo College.

After today’s announcement, Scott and Carroll headed to the Duval County Republican Party headquarters for an 11 a.m. event before leaving for Central Florida.

Times-Union reporter Matt Galnor contributed to this report.

abel.harding@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4184

matt.dixon@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4174

link: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2010-09-01/story/scott-carroll...