In March, Jennifer Carroll resigned as Rick Scott's lieutenant governor after becoming, as the New York Times put it, "an embarrassment to the man who chose her for the job" during a tenure "marred by scandal and poor judgment."
Farther north, Scott Brown, a rare Republican in liberal Massachusetts, relinquished his seat in the Senate in January after being beaten in an election by consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren.
But both are finding themselves wanted by a Palm Beach-based arms dealer, GDSI.
GDSI's chairman and CEO, Richard J. Sullivan, formerly held the same titles at Applied Digital Solutions, a company that made various technologies, including microchips. He was also involved in a company called Digital Angel, which also worked on Verichip, a controversial microchip that could be implanted in people.
Sullivan once suggested the market for this technology would "exceed $70 billion." The company's chief scientist predicted the technology would be as common as cell phones -- "a connection from yourself to the electronic world. It will be your guardian, protector. It will bring good things to you. We will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence and our own soul." Instead, Verichip was discontinued in 2010.
Global Digital Solutions Inc., according to a statement, "is positioning itself as a leader in providing small arms manufacturing, complementary security and technology solutions and knowledge-based, cyber-related, culturally attuned social consulting in unsettled areas."
GDSI is in the midst of acquiring Airtronic USA, a (woman-owned) company that, according to its website, "provides small arms and small arms spare parts to the U.S. Department of Defense, foreign militaries and law enforcement." It recently went through bankruptcy proceedings in Illinois. Products shown on Airtronic's website include grenade launchers, machine guns, and ammunition.
GDSI is also poised to acquire Cool Sound Industries Inc., a company that is supposedly pioneering the use of sound waves to "eliminate the use of dangerous ozone-depleting and global-warming chemicals used in air-conditioning systems."
Brown served in the Army National Guard, and Carroll was a jet mechanic and later a lieutenant commander in the navy. Carroll is described on the GDSI's website as "Future President and Chief Operating Officer," and Brown will join the company's advisory board.
Sullivan did not immediately respond to a call for comment Monday.
There is little information about the company or its principals in the financial media, except for news releases from the company. GDSI is publicly traded, not on the NASDAQ or the NYSE but rather on the over-the-counter markets. One analysis from June raised some "red flags" about the company for investors.
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