In Florida, who’s in charge of this Confederate monument?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Who’s responsible for the 135-year-old Confederate monument in front of Florida’s Old Capitol? It depends on who you ask.

Amid a national debate over Confederate statues and memorials, state officials are in a disagreement over who is charge of the memorial to local Confederate soldiers that was placed on the Capitol grounds in 1882.

Republican Gov. Rick Scott said this week said that it’s up to the Florida Legislature to decide whether or not to remove the monument. The Scott administration maintains that the monument is an exhibit attached to a museum inside the Old Capitol run by the Legislature.

But Katie Betta, a spokeswoman for Senate President Joe Negron, said Wednesday the museum has no ownership papers for the monument and it is not one of the museum’s exhibits.