So Florida Governor-Elect Rick Scott named his transition team, which was stocked with former Jeb Bush staffers, hard-core state Republicans, and even our own U.S. Sen. George "The Maestro" LeMieux.
The transition team doesn't necessarily do all that much; often the appointees are named as a political favor. It's nice to put on the résumé. But one of the names on the list that isn't so familiar is that of a future high-ranking administration staffer named Enu Mainigi.
Scott tapped Mainigi to lead the entire transition team. Mainigi has been named in a few reports as one of Scott's closest friends and advisers as well as his civil attorney. The Sentinel reported that she would have a "senior, though someone [sic] vague role" in the administration.
So who is Mainigi? Well, she's a Washington, D.C., attorney who represented Scott after he left his hospital company, Columbia HCA, among allegations of fraud and mismanagement. When numerous state pensions sued Scott and other Columbia executives alleging that they misled shareholders amid the fraud, the future Florida governor tapped Mainigi to defend him.
And Mainigi isn't exactly what you'd call a woman of the people. She's a defender of, well, people like Scott -- corporate raiders and the like. She defends big pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and accused white-collar criminals.
Here's how she describes it on the website for Williams & Connolly, her D.C. law firm:
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For the last several years, the focus of Ms. Mainigi's practice has been in the healthcare and pharmaceutical areas. Ms. Mainigi has defended numerous pharmaceutical companies, PBMs, hospitals, medical device companies, insurance
companies, healthcare companies and individuals in a variety of civil and criminal government investigations, including multi-state and concurrent state and federal investigations. Ms. Mainigi has also defended these corporations in commercial disputes involving civil fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. She also frequently advises corporations on internal investigations and compliance issues.
A particular area of experience for Ms. Mainigi is the False Claims Act and she has represented a number of corporations at all stages of False Claims Act/Qui Tam proceedings.
Ms. Mainigi has also litigated a wide variety of other matters involving allegations of securities fraud, professional malpractice, antitrust violations, media issues, money laundering, mail and wire fraud, and false statements.
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Do you get it? Mainigi is all about corporate interests -- insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, no less -- and she's a master in defending corporate types accused of fraud. Don't get me wrong. I'm not personally attacking Mainigi -- there will always be people doing what she's doing, and they will always be well-compensated for it, and I don't begrudge them that. But when a corporate attorney like Mainigi is perhaps the most trusted aide to the governor of Florida... well, that's another thing.
Mainigi has gotten very little publicity in Washington. In fact, I couldn't find a single article in the Washington Post about her other than some home buys she did with her husband. She was mentioned in an American Observer article about a physical trainer in Chevy Chase a few years ago.
His next client, Enu Mainigi, is a trial lawyer and mother of two who came to the sports club in desperation to shed post-pregnancy weight. Mainigi requested someone who wouldn't let her get away with her negotiation skills as a lawyer.
"I'm an impatient person," Mainigi tells Owusu about how it's taking longer to shed weight than it did after her first pregnancy.
While she only has been training for two weeks, Mainigi is satisfied with her body's subtle transformations.
Impatient, huh? Well, I have a feeling she won't have any problems in Tallahassee right now. With what has been called the most conservative Florida legislature in history, Scott and the team should hit the ground running. Who's going to check them? Franklin Sands? Nan Rich?
Funny thought. Here's the rest of the Scott team, for the record:
Mary Anne Carter; Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, former Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings; Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland; U.S. Sen. George LeMieux; Kathleen Shanahan of the Department of Education; Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Orange Park; Mayor Manny Morono of Sweetwater; and Sally Bradshaw; former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre, the only Democrat on the committee.
(By the way, what kind of animal is Ferre? He ran as a Democrat for U.S. Senate and then came out to endorse Rick Scott? I'm thinking he better enjoy whatever he can get from Scott because he will be taken even less seriously now than before.)
-- In other news, Democratic lawyer and lobbyist Michael Moskowitz has filed suit on behalf of Ashbritt against the School Board of Broward County seeking relief from reimbursements the board is seeking after auditors found that the board overpaid the company $765,000 for work done after Hurricane Wilma.
You'll remember the company was given a million-dollar work order on the spot when lobbyist Ron Book, working for Ashbritt, paid a visit to school construction officials.
Moskowitz, just to remind you, is a leader in Broward County's troubled and dysfunctional Democratic Party. He also has worked as Russ Klenet's attorney and is a longtime close associate of Klenet and his wife, Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter. The Moskowitzes have made much hay with Ashbritt apparently -- his son, Parkland Commissioner Jared Moskowitz, claimed recently that he was Ashbritt's "in-house general counsel."
