TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A former Marine officer is approaching his job as head of a new state agency created to promote economic development with military fervor.
The Department of Economic Opportunity becomes official Saturday under Doug Darling.
He most recently served as Gov. Rick Scott’s deputy chief of staff and Cabinet affairs director.
Darling recently told a state Senate Committee that Florida is in an economic development “war” with other states and countries.
Scott pushed for the new department to help him keep his campaign pledge to create 700,000 new jobs in seven years by attracting new businesses to the state.
The Republican governor has since backed off from his original promise those 700,000 would be in addition to about 1 million jobs Florida is forecast to add over that span anyway.
Source: Associated Press
