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Governor-Elect Rick Scott was in Pensacola and Melbourne today on the first of his five day “jobs” trip around the state. But, as Mike Vasilinda tells us, uncertainty reigns in Tallahassee where thousands of jobs are in Scott’s, and other newly elected officials’, hands.

When Bob Martinez was elected governor in 1986, Gene Adams’s job as a young lawyer for then outgoing Governor Bob Graham was on the line.

“I’m trying to think about setting up my own law firm,” Adams said then.

Opening his own law firm paid off for Adams. Today he is a successful lawyer for a large corporate law firm and says transitions have a way of making people push the envelope.

“Sometimes I think it forces you to go out and stretch your limits and do things you might not feel comfortable doing,” Adams said.

Even receptionists are subject to being replaced by new administrations.

There are almost 400 people alone who work for the governor and all of them are without job security.

Kevin Cate spent most of the last four years working for the CFO. He is one of hundreds of communications specialists whose jobs are on the line. Instead of waiting for someone to determine his fate though, Cate is branching out, just as Adams did more than two decades ago.

“A lot of us are looking for jobs right now, that is right,” Cate said. “I’m choosing to go to the private sector to start my own firm but there are a lot of folks looking to stay in government, to be a public servant. And right now that’s a tough position to be in.”

One upside of the upheaval is the real estate market, at least in Tallahassee.

“I think we will gain some,” realtor Penny Herman said. “However there are a lot of people who can’t sell their houses where they are coming from, so that might play into it.”

The Governor-elect campaigned on cutting 5 percent of the state workforce, which is adding even more uncertainty to state government.