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By DARA KAM
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA©2017 The News Service of Florida. All rights reserved. Posting or forwarding this material without permission is prohibited. You can view the Terms of Use on our website.

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 3, 2017......... Gov. Rick Scott on Friday named 14 people --- nearly all of them loyalists who have served the governor or been appointed by him in other capacities --- to the state Constitution Revision Commission.

Scott's selections included a number of Republican political allies, including influential insurance lobbyist Fred Karlinsky, a major Scott political fundraiser, and Brecht Heuchan, a Tallahassee GOP consultant who has been a key player with the governor's "Let's Get to Work" political committee.

In a statement accompanying Friday's announcement, Scott said the picks "stood out as exemplary choices" whose "diverse backgrounds and experience in education, business and policy will ensure we continue to champion policies that make Florida the best place for families for generations to come."

Scott's appointees included his former general counsel Tim Cerio; state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart; and utility regulator Jimmy Patronis, a former Republican lawmaker from the Panhandle appointed by Scott to the Public Service Commission more than two years ago.

The governor also named Darlene Jordan, a Palm Beach Republican who served as state finance chair of Scott's 2014 re-election campaign and was appointed last year by Scott to the state university system's Board of Governors; Florida Board of Education Chairwoman Marva Johnson; and Nicole Washington, a onetime Scott aide who serves on the board of Florida A&M University.

And Scott picked Belinda Keiser, vice chancellor of Keiser University; Gary Lester, a vice president of The Villages; Frank Kruppenbacher, an Orlando attorney and chairman of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority; Jose "Pepe" Armas, a Miami doctor appointed by the governor to serve as a trustee for Florida International University; Lisa Carlton, a former GOP lawmaker from Sarasota; and Emery Gainey, an official in the Attorney General's Office who was tapped last year by Scott to temporarily serve as Marion County sheriff.

"The group of people the governor selected are as diverse as any group, geographically, ethnically, just in terms of their backgrounds and their experiences," said Heuchan, who served as a top aide to former state House Speaker Daniel Webster, now a congressman.

Heuchan coordinated Webster's picks to the 1997 Constitution Revision Commission and monitored the panel's work, "giving him a deep understanding and familiarity of the CRC process," Scott said in a statement.