Rick Scott is beginning yet another disingenuous, misleading campaign tour trying to dupe Florida’s voters into forgetting his record of failure. Unfortunately for Rick Scott, the facts speak louder than any campaign spin.
Rick Scott put politics over good policy when he rejected funding for high-speed rail — not to mention that his chief of staff tanked the project to enrich his former employer. Rick Scott’s record of appointing qualified individuals to transportation boards is just as dismal. Multiple appointees have been brought up on charges ranging from violating public records laws to conspiracy to commit extortion.
As always, Rick Scott’s reelection rhetoric falls far short of reality, and Floridians aren’t going to buy more empty promises from this failed governor. Here are the facts of Rick Scott’s transportation record:
FACT: Scott rejected $2.4 billion for high speed rail. The construction of a high speed rail would have created tens of thousands of jobs and strengthened Central Florida’s economy.
FACT: Scott vetoed a bill to let Dreamers earn a driver’s license. The bill, which passed the legislature almost unanimously, would have made it easier for kids who know no other home America to go to school and go to work.
FACT: Scott appointed Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño — who was arrested by the FBI in 2013 for “conspiracy to commit extortion” — to the Florida Transportation Commission. Scott called Maroño a “great mayor” and a “good friend” right up until the day he was arrested.
FACT: After Scott vetoed high speed railed, he brushed the mothballs off of a 6 year old development plan. The Tampa Bay Times panned the announcement, saying the plan “creates sprawl and environmental damage” and will “alter the character of rural Florida, and strip resources from urban transit needs.
FACT: Scott wanted to cut the Department of Transportation by almost half a billion dollars.