Randall Hunt, the Seminole County fitness-club owner whom Gov. Ron DeSantis picked to lead the Florida Lottery, gave up the $142,000-a-year job after a background check turned up an allegation of domestic violence, according to records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
Hunt abruptly resigned as Lottery secretary last week, about two months after DeSantis appointed him to the post – and about a week after the Florida Senate, which was vetting Hunt in preparation for public confirmation hearings, alerted DeSantis’ office to the results of its background check.
Hunt, who was never charged with a crime, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis declined to say whether the incident uncovered by the background check played any role in Hunt’s departure.
“In his letter of resignation, Mr. Hunt acknowledges his decision is based on what is in the best interest of his growing family, and business opportunities. His resignation was accepted,” DeSantis spokesman Helen Ferre said.
A gym owner, athletic trainer and golf pro who moved to Florida from Texas in 2015, Hunt was largely unknown in Florida politics before DeSantis elevated him. Hunt’s supporters included U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Panhandle Republican who has been a close political adviser to DeSantis, and former Republican state Reps. Chris Dorworth, a Republican from Lake Mary who is now a lobbyist, and Jason Brodeur, a Republican from Sanford who is now running for a Seminole County-based seat in the Florida Senate.
DeSantis gave Hunt the Lottery job on Nov. 15, putting him in charge of a state agency with more than 400 employees and annual revenue of nearly $7 billion. But the appointment was subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate, which commissions comprehensive background checks on all of the governor’s agency heads – a process that includes a criminal-history screening by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
That FDLE screening turned up a January 2017 incident in which the Sanford Police Department had investigated Hunt for domestic-violence battery following a dispute with his wife. According to the FDLE report, Hunt’s wife said he threw her to the ground during an argument at his office. The Sanford police officer who handled the case “determined the Applicant [Hunt] to be at fault” and “the primary aggressor” in the incident. But prosecutors decided there wasn’t enough evidence and said Hunt’s wife didn’t appear at two scheduled appointments, so they did not charge him with a crime. Neither police nor prosecutors interviewed Hunt during the investigation, according to the FDLE report.
Hunt had answered “no” when asked by the Senate whether he had been the subject of or a suspect in any criminal investigations within the past seven years, according to the FDLE report. The agency noted that Hunt was never actually contacted by police or prosecutors, according to the records obtained by the Sentinel.
Katie Betta, a spokeswoman for Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the president’s office received the results of the background check on Jan. 9. Galvano’s chief of staff then provided a copy of the report to DeSantis’ office sometime in the next few days. Betta said it is standard practice for the Senate to share the results of background investigations with the Governor’s Office when they contain “an item that could cause concern.”
The Governor’s Office notified the Senate that Hunt had stepped down on Jan. 21 and announced the resignation publicly the next day.
“After much consideration, reflection and discussion with my wife, we’ve made the determination that it is in our best interest to focus on our growing family and pursue business opportunities that are currently presenting themselves,” Hunt wrote in his resignation letter.
The Florida Lottery appointment was the second high-profile assignment DeSantis had given to Hunt. Last year, the governor put Hunt on the board of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, the agency that runs Orlando International Airport and oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in annual spending.
DeSantis appointed Hunt to the airport board even though Hunt was at the time still paying off a federal tax lien for owing more than $115,000 to the IRS. Hunt stepped down from the airport board, an unpaid position, in order to take the Lottery job.
Hunt resigned even as the DeSantis administration battles to get another controversial appointee through the Florida Senate: Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, whose confirmation process has been slowed by revelations that he was the subject of a 2014 sexual harassment investigation at the University of Florida, where he is a department chair.
jgarcia@orlandosentinel.com; 407-540-5996; @Jason_Garcia
