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The Real Rick Returns

A Desperate Governor Reverts Back to his Tea Party Ways

Tallahassee, FL – Well, that didn’t last long. Ahead of the 2013 legislative session Governor Scott underwent a major about-face on a series of issues key to Florida voters. Suddenly, the Governor that slashed $1.3 billion from education was a friend of teachers and students. Suddenly, the man who spent $5 million of his personal fortune to fight the President’s Affordable Care Act supported its expansion. Suddenly, the Tea Party ideologue was portraying himself as a moderate pragmatist willing to engage in bipartisan compromise. But now, suddenly, the old Rick Scott is back.

Instead of offering leadership or original ideas, the Governor has reverted back to using, as the Tampa Bay Times put it, “tortured logic” to blame the President for all of Florida’s problems. Just last week the Governor yet again reversed his stance on the Affordable Care Act. After saying that he could not, “in good conscience,” deny care, he now calls it a “disaster“. After the Florida legislature nearly unanimously passed a non-controversial bill to provide Dreamers with driver’s licenses, Rick Scott, in a move that “ignores reality and common sense,” decided to start a “political brawl.” He chose to veto the bill, offering the paltry excuse that it was somehow President Obama’s fault. Finally, in a particularly desperate move, Governor Scott used a natural disaster to try and score political points against the President.

“Rick Scott knows he’s in trouble,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant. “It doesn’t matter how much money he spends on rebranding or spin — Floridians are all too familiar with Scott’s toxic brand and failed leadership, and his anemic poll numbers reflect that reality.”

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BACKGROUND:

Editorial: A partisan Scott veto on licenses [Tampa Bay Times, 6/5/13] “Once again, Gov. Rick Scott has refused to accept public policy established by the Obama administration that benefits Florida. And once again, the state will suffer because of his partisan gamesmanship. The Republican governor’s veto of legislation that would have allowed undocumented immigrants with a new temporary status to obtain a driver’s license ignores reality and common sense.”

Driver’s license veto a big step backward [Sun Sentinel, 6/10/13] “Gov. Scott missed an opportunity here. Signing HB 235 into law would have sent a signal of tolerance and, more importantly, a willingness to address the nation’s ongoing immigration problems. Instead, the governor settled for a political brawl and a big step backward.”

Gov. Scott calls federal health law a disaster [AP, 6/5/13] “It sounds like Republican Gov. Rick Scott is reverting back to his old talking points criticizing the federal health law, after he told a Pensacola radio station Wednesday the law is a “disaster.” His comments come a month after the state Legislative session ended without expanding Medicaid — a move Scott pushed for. ‘The president’s health care law is a disaster. It’s going to be bad for patients, it’s going to be bad for businesses, it’s going to be bad for providers. There’s nobody that wins in that bill,’ Scott said during an interview on News Radio 1620.”

Scott uses Tropical Storm Andrea to take a shot at Obama over furloughs [Orlando Sentinel, 6/6/13] “Gov. Rick Scott used the first named storm of the hurricane season Thursday to take a shot at President Barack Obama over the federal sequestration that has led to the furloughing this summer of some National Guard soldiers. Tropical Storm Andrea is expected to make landfall along the Big Bend of the Florida Panhandle later tonight, and has already spawned tornadoes across South Florida with projected storm surge along most of the gulf coast.”

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