Rick Scott, who spent $73 million of his own fortune, and was CEO of the disgraced for profit hospital chain, Columbia-HCA, which was fined the largest fine ever for Medicare fraud, became Governor of Florida this week, and the state faces a true disaster with his coming into leadership of state government! 🙁
Scott, with no political experience, and attacking the GOP establishment in the state, ended up winning by the smallest margin in Florida history, about 50,000 votes, way behind the other state Republican election victory margins. He proceeded to have a lavish inauguration and has cozied up to all the GOP establishment that he condemned during his campaign.
Scott has made it clear that he wants to run Florida as a business, and is out to destroy public education as quickly as he can!
He has pledged to create 700,000 private sector jobs in seven years, a very tall order, hard to imagine being accomplished.
He and the heavily GOP legislature must figure out a way to cut $3 billion from the state budget, in order to balance the budget, and has made it clear that he wants to promote corporate interests, while destroying labor unions, the Medicaid program, and the whole pension system for state workers, along with cutting the work force of state government, despite the constantly growing population.
Scott is hobnobbing with business interests and lobbyists, and has made it clear that he wants to streamline government regulations. He also wants to slash $1 billion from the state prison system, which sounds unrealistic considering the large number of prisoners Florida has, as compared to most states.
Discussion of cutting business income taxes and property taxes sounds impossible, as they are already low, and as more taxes are cut, the state budgetary situation will be more desperate, and social services, already far from adequate, will be harmed further.
He has found it difficult to staff his administration due to the notoriously low pay scale in Florida government employment, even though there have been constant attacks on state workers as somehow being overpaid, which is preposterous.
Scott also is the kind of leader who has demonstrated unwillingness to be open and accessible to the news media, as during his campaign, he refused to have many contacts with journalists, showing a high level of arrogance.
Florida is in for a true disaster in the making, as Scott should not be Governor, but instead should be in prison for his financial irregularities which have put others, far less abusive, in state and federal prison.
Will Florida be better off with this man as Governor? To believe that is to believe in the tooth fairy, and it will only add to Florida’s reputation as a state which is moving backward, rather than forward! 🙁
Agreed! Well said, as always.