Rick Scott Needs to Come Clean About His “Plotted Political Win” On Drilling 

One day after an explosive report from Politico reveals Scott and the Trump administration deceived Floridians with a fake victory lap on drilling off of Florida’s shores, Scott is trying to mislead Floridians about his environmental record. He can’t escape the facts.

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Sebastian Kitchen released the following statement questioning why Rick Scott deceived the people of Florida in what has turned out to be nothing but a choreographed PR stunt:

“This report highlights Rick Scott’s willingness to mislead the people of Florida with this well-scripted charade. Despite this political theater, report after report the last two months has proven that, no matter what Rick Scott says, drilling near Florida’s shores and beaches is not off the table. Scott has a dreadful environmental record, including his support for drilling off of Florida’s shores and beaches, even after the disastrous BP oil spill contaminated Florida waters. Rick Scott is not trustworthy and this episode shows just how far he will go to deceive people to try to win an election.”

Here are questions Rick Scott should answer:

If this “deal” was actually real and not just purely meant for political theater, why not save the federal government resources including the time of Secretary Zinke and his staff that was already on the ground in Florida and send out a statement? Why was this stunt necessary? Why not just be clear and let the people know that Florida was off the table?

 Is Rick Scott, a long-time backer of drilling offshore drilling, actually trying to stop drilling off of Florida’s shore or is this yet another election-year stunt to cover up his real record? Does he know the Trump administration will move forward with its original plans to allow drilling after the November election?

If Rick Scott was actually fighting to stop offshore drilling, why was Florida the only coastal state that took no position on the Trump Administration’s drilling proposal? Was the real reason for this stunt to cover up months of inaction, where Scott said nothing as the plan moved forward? 

 Was it Rick Scott or the Trump administration that concocted the January plot to try to gain Scott cheap political points? Did Scott work directly with President Trump on this, just like he did to craft the Republican health care agenda? 

Why is Rick Scott more worried about securing a cheap win for his 2018 Senate campaign than truly trying to safeguard Florida’s shores and beaches from offshore drilling? Why won’t he answer directly when asked about all the reports that say drilling near Florida is not actually off the table? 

PolitiFact agrees Rick Scott’s switch to opposing offshore drilling is a flip flop. Why has Rick Scott conveniently become opposed to offshore drilling in an election year? How is this any different than his 2014 Medicaid expansion “ruse”?