Who is Don Winstead?

If you haven't heard the name Don Winstead, don't be alarmed. But, at the same time, you probably should know his name- and I hope you want to know where he comes from.

Winstead's name is in all the Florida papers today, our new 'Stimulus Czar.' (Sidebar: Yes, Charlie Crist is even adopting Barack Obama's organizational structure. Originality-1 Charlie-0)

Gov Crist has officially requested the stimulus funds. Florida will also be, under Winstead's direction, one of 16 states participating in a government program through the Government Accountability Office to monitor the spending. Ahhh, good times.

But, who is Don Winstead?  In  his State of the State, Charlie described his background like this:  a long-time public servant and deputy secretary of the Department of Children and Families. Nice. In fact, Winstead was the Welfare Reform Administrator until 2001, until he joined the Bush administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy at HHS.  Winstead eventually returned to DCF as Deputy.

But, OK, even if the Bush folks weren't the exactly fiscal watchdogs, do we really want this guy to be monitoring how we use the stimulus? I'm sure his math skills are great, but what about his agenda?

And, as for that website, which will monitor how much money is coming into the state and what it's being spent on, Charlie says it's in the works.

"We want to launch successfully as they do at the Cape."