Today, Gary Fineout of the Associated Press is reporting Gov. Rick Scott has lost public records off a new device, for a third time, in the nine short months since taking office. After blaming everyone from Rackspace to a state IT staffer – perhaps Steve Jobs is next –  it’s time for Scott to take responsibility for his office’s colossal failure to follow Florida Public Records Laws.

OCTOBER 5, 2011
Emails on Scott’s Blackberry may have been lost [Fineout, Associated Press]  “Newly released public records are showing that emails sent to a smartphone used by Gov. Rick Scott may have been lost. Emails obtained by a media advocacy group on Tuesday show state law enforcement agents tried in April to see if they could access emails stored on a Blackberry used by the governor shortly before he took office. Law enforcement agents turned to the Blackberry after it was discovered that emails on the governor’s iPad had been accidentally deleted by a state employee. But the effort wasn’t entirely successful, according to an email released to attorneys working with the First Amendment Foundation.”
Scott’s office blames: Blackberry

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011
FAF: Scott’s office deleted email, too [Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel] “Gov. Rick Scott’s office has admitted that email to and from the governor contained on his iPad was ‘accidentally’ deleted — a potential violation of the law, according to attorneys for the First Amendment Foundation. In a meeting between FAF and Scott’s lawyers on Thursday, attorney Chris Kise said Scott had handed over his iPad to an IT technician last March or April in order to print the governor’s email to and from the transition team he set up immediately after his November election. The emails had been requested by the Orlando Sentinel and other media in January.”
Scott’s office blames: IT staffer

AUGUST 19, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott’s original transition e-mails accidentally deleted, state now says [Bender, Times-Herald] “The e-mail accounts of Rick Scott and most of the governor-elect’s transition team were deleted soon after he took office, potentially erasing public records that state law requires be kept. Scott’s team acknowledged for the first time this week that the private company providing e-mail service deleted the records as early as mid January, about the time the Times/Herald first sought transition e-mails. Unable to gather records from the server, as is typical to comply with public records requests, Scott officials attempted to recover the governor-elect’s e-mails from personal accounts of his top-level staff.”
Scott’s office blames: Rackspace