Credit: Polk County / Screengrab by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
A longtime workforce development leader in Central Florida was fired this week, at the request of two state oversight staffers picked by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
CareerSource Polk CEO Stacy Campbell-Domineck was terminated by the Polk County Commission last Tuesday, Oct. 6 after 20 years in the role. The commission voted 3–2 to fire her with cause, before also terminating CareerSource Polk’s entire board.
The 30-year-old program is responsible for connecting job-seekers with employers in the county and is funded largely by federal tax dollars and donations.
In August, CareerSource Florida CEO Adrienne Johnston and FloridaCommerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly sent a letter to Polk County commissioners asking them to fire Campbell-Domineck for alleged mismanagement.
Kelly was deputy chief of staff for Gov. Ron DeSantis before DeSantis appointed him to this role.
The letter says under Campbell-Domineck’s leadership, CareerSource Polk violated a performance improvement plan, ended contracts with CDL providers without notice and barred children from the facility.
The letter also alleges Campbell-Domineck held a “woke” fundraiser.
“By attendee accounts, [the event was] laden with, and many of the awards were based on, diversity, equity, and inclusion principles,” the letter reads. “Florida is a free state for free people who are not beholden to woke ideologies that incentivize a race to the bottom by favoring one group over another.”
The letter sent to the commission said that DeSantis could remove commissioners from office if the commission didn’t consider firing Campbell-Domineck.
CareerSource Florida is responsible for grading county CareerSource programs across the state. It rated Polk’s program as “exceeding expectations” until Johnston—who was recommended for the role by DeSantis—became CareerSource Florida’s CEO in 2023.
An Oct. 6 meeting included 2024 and 2025 reviews of CareerSource Polk; the evaluations of the organization painted it as one of the lowest-performing programs in the state. Campbell-Domenick made a salary of $225,217.05, plus $10,000 in bonuses in her role as president and CEO.
A third-party investigation paid for by the county said some of the claims in Johnston and Kelly’s letter were legitimate, while others were not substantiated. The report didn’t say whether or not the commission should fire Campbell-Domenick.
The same report said that evidence showed a need for “immediate corrective action and enhanced oversight,” but said that investigators were unable to fully attribute the problems to one person or recommend any personnel changes.
Commissioner Bill Braswell, who voted against the firing, said at Tuesday’s meeting he felt the state was trying to discreetly pressure the commission.
“What I’m gathering from this whole thing is the state of Florida has determined that they don’t have confidence in CareerSource Polk,” Braswell told the commission. “That’s the way I see it. They haven’t come out and said that, but they certainly were the spearhead on this entire deal.”
After several hours of argument from Campbell-Domineck and her attorney, the commission ultimately decided to clear house, firing her and the entire X-person board.
Braswell voted against Campbell-Domineck’s termination, but supported an overhaul of the organization.
“I don’t see any other way because right now, the state … wants change,” Braswell told the commission. “And my experience with that is there’s going to be change whether we do it or whether we don’t.”
Campbell-Domenick’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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This article appears in Oct. 08 – 14, 2026.
