rick_scott_7.jpgTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ Gov. Rick Scott's chief spokesman, Brian Burgess, is leaving to take a similar position with the Florida Republican Party.

 

The governor's office on Tuesday also announced that Burgess will be replaced as communications director by Melissa Sellers. She once performed the same function for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Burgess was a consultant with a public relations firm that Scott, a former hospital chain CEO, hired to spearhead media strategy for his campaign against President Barack Obama's national health care overhaul. He then worked in Scott's gubernatorial campaign. Burgess will start his GOP job on Sept. 17.

Sellers most recently had been regional media director for the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Before that, she was Jindal's communications director in his campaign for governor and during his first term.