Row over Pitbull payment sees Visit Florida chief step down
Visit Florida has undergone a major shake-up in a row over transparency.
Its president and CEO Will Seccombe has stepped down ‘at the request of’ Florida Governor Rick Scott amid growing controversy over a contract with Miami rapper Pitbull, who was hired in 2015 as a tourism ambassador for the state.
The row started when Seccombe refused to disclose publicly how much Pitbull was getting paid.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran filed a lawsuit, insisting taxpayers had the right to know how their money was being spent.
But the lawsuit was dropped when Pitbull made the figure – $1 million – known on Twitter.
Gov. Rick Scott asked Seccombe to step down and asked Visit Florida to start publish its spending, contracts, and other financial information.
"The notion that Visit Florida spending would not be transparent to the taxpayers is just ridiculous," he wrote in a letter to Visit Florida Chairman William Talbert III.
"We must have major reforms at Visit Florida in the weeks ahead that require new leadership."
According to local media, Seccombe stepped down just after firing two of his top executives, chief operating officer Vangie McCorvey and chief marketing officer Paul Phipps.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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