Self-Serving Scott’s Week in Review: Rick Scott Refuses to Accept Responsibility in Tragedies, Cannot Do Whatever He Wants and Is Busted Acting Concerned About Drilling

Florida leaders call out Rick Scott for passing the blame during tragedies. Meanwhile, Scott and Ryan Zinke’s show appears to be a one-act play since Florida did not get an exemption from offshore drilling and a judge, in a scathing opinion, deemed Scott and fellow Republicans handling of restoring voting rights unconstitutional.

“Democrats portraying Rick Scott as unaccountable in tragedies” U.S. Rep. Darren Soto and state Sen. Gary Farmer call out Scott for “avoiding responsibility in the Hollywood Hills, Parkland, and Florida International University tragedies,” Florida Politics reports.

• “Scott, they maintained, not only did nothing, or oversaw agencies that did nothing to respond to the early warnings, but later blamed others outside his administration while not acknowledging the prospects that his own administration may have played a role.”
• “This is not leadership,” Farmer said. “This is not the accountability we need.”
• “There is a stark contrast in how each man takes responsibility for his actions: accountability on the end of [Democratic] Sen. [Bill] Nelson, and the blame-game on the end of Gov. Scott. We need leaders who take responsibility for their actions. Because inaction has cost us lives here in the state of Florida.” — U.S. Rep. Darren Soto

Scott Led Florida in Managing to “Out-Jim Crow the Entire South” A judge, Florida lawmakers and political commentators skewered Rick Scott and fellow Republicans for maintaining the “fatally flawed” and arbitrary system for restoring voting rights. Federal Judge Mark Walker chastised Scott and fellow Cabinet members in his ruling and ordered them to dismantle the system to restore felon voting rights and replace it by April 26.  

From the Miami Herald:

• “In a decision laced with criticism of Scott and his colleagues for defending the current system, Walker wrote: ‘Defendants essentially repackage the current scheme into proposed remedies permitting the governor and the board to do, as the governor described, ‘whatever we want’ in denying voting rights to hundreds of thousands of their constituents.’”
• “There are problems of potential abuse — especially when members of the board, who are elected on a statewide basis and who may be running for re-election or another office, have a personal stake in shaping the electorate to their perceived benefit,” the judge wrote.

Florida showed up “as a national punch line” yet again

• “No state comes close to matching Florida’s cruelty on this subject,” columnist John Romano wrote
• “Florida’s estimated 1.5 million disenfranchised voters, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, is more than Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee combined. When you’ve managed to out-Jim Crow the entire South, it’s time to do some soul searching.”
• “One of his first acts as governor was to impose a five-year waiting period for felons to even apply to have their rights restored, along with adding all sorts of bureaucratic hoops to navigate. But that was just a warmup for the main attack. Scott and the Cabinet simply ignore most of the requests.”
• “It’s mostly a way to limit a voting group that Republicans assume will be left-leaning.”
• “It’s shocking. And it’s embarrassing,” U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg.

Rick Scott’s Failed “Plotted Political Win” Rick Scott and his friends in the Trump Administration carefully orchestrated a political win for Scott – a stunt to make it look like he swayed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to switch course on drilling plans and take Florida “off of the table.” They had what appeared to be a hastily-called press conference. Turns out, as reported by Politico, this had been orchestrated as a political win for Scott in an election year. Also turns out, Zinke misled his friend and never took Florida off of the table and the state and one of its greatest resources could still see drilling that threatens its water, beaches, livelihoods and recreation.

This also reiterated how Rick Scott suddenly decided in an election year that he opposed offshore drilling. Interesting, considering Scott supported drilling for years, even after the BP oil spill contaminated much of the Gulf.

• “Indeed, this is the same governor who has viewed climate change as little more than a passing fad akin to pet rocks, Nehru jackets and mood rings,” according to Tampa Bay Times

###