GOP politician is now lone candidate for FSU job

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A top Republican state senator has emerged as the leading - and right now the only - candidate to become the next president of Florida State University.

In an unusual move, a FSU search committee voted Wednesday to interview John Thrasher, who also chairs Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election campaign, and then decide whether to offer him the job. FSU has been without a permanent president since Eric Barron left to lead Penn State University.

The vote came after search committee members heard that FSU was having trouble attracting quality candidates because of the perception that Thrasher was going to get the job due to ongoing media reports.

Bill Funk, the search consultant hired by FSU, said Thrasher’s interest in the job was casting a “long shadow” over the process and he recommended that the search committee interview Thrasher now to determine if he is right for the job. The final determination will be up to the FSU board and the statewide Board of Governors.

“I am honored and humbled to be singled out like that,” said Thrasher, who was not present at the search committee meeting.

But the vote generated opposition from students and faculty members who questioned Thrasher’s lack of management experience and his nonacademic background.

Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, is a former House speaker with longstanding ties to FSU. When he was speaker he helped get FSU a medical school. He is also an attorney and was a lobbyist between his stints in the House and Senate.

The FSU faculty union said in a written statement that it had “lost confidence” in the search. Some union members questioned Thrasher’s willingness to work with them since he pushed bills to limit tenure for public school teachers.

Thrasher still hasn’t officially applied for the job although he has been nominated for the position by several people, including former FSU President Sandy D’Alemberte. Funk, however, told the search committee that Thrasher told him he is interested in the position.

Ned Stuckey-French, an FSU English professor, complained to the search committee that Thrasher is trying to get the job by going through the “back door.”

“He’s hijacked this process and I think the committee needs to stand up to that,” Stuckey-French said.

Thrasher said he is not taking it for granted that he will get the job and called it one more step in the “overall process.” He said he still plans to run for his state Senate seat and will remain with the Scott re-election campaign.

Several Florida politicians have made the jump to university president in the last two decades. And some search committee members, including former politicians or those with political ties, defended the decision to interview Thrasher now.

Allan Bense chairs the FSU Board of Trustees and is a former House speaker. He said the school will need the Legislature’s support if it wants more money.

“Whether we like it or not politics is very important,” Bense said.

___

Follow Gary Fineout on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fineout