Gov. Scott Rejects Revised Florida High-Speed Rail Plan

This carpetbagger promises jobs then kills a job-creating program. Typical liar. Ed.

Feb. 7: Florida Gov. Rick Scott announces his new budget during a Tea Party event in Eustis, Fla.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Despite assurances from the federal government that Florida would not be at financial or legal peril, Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday rejected a revised $2.4 billion offer to build a high-speed rail system between Tampa and Orlando. 

Scott said Thursday that he worries ridership studies for the bullet train are overly optimistic and combined with likely cost overruns, the state's taxpayers still would be on the hook to cover any losses. 

Last week, the Republican governor canceled plans for a state-managed project for those reasons and said he would return the $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money. Federal officials then came up with a plan to turn the project over to local governments, but it still needed state approval. 

"We have repeatedly and clearly told Gov. Scott and his staff that Florida would not bear financial or legal liabilities," said Olivia Alair, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation. "There is strong private sector interest in taking on the risk associated with building and operating high-speed rail in the state."

Gov. Rick Scott exceeds constitutional authority

By Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) - 02/25/11 11:38 AM ET 

 

In one of his most challenging moments, President John F. Kennedy was honest and straightforward in conceding he had erred. When speaking to reporters after the Bay of Pigs, he shared a wise man’s quote.
“An error does not become a mistake - until you refuse to correct it.”

Last Wednesday, Gov. Rick Scott made an error in rejecting high-speed rail. Now, it looks like he’s making a monumental mistake, saying he remains unconvinced there’s no risk to taxpayers. And, I think, the governor in rejecting the project may even be exceeding his constitutional authority.

I am disappointed and – quite frankly – think it pitiful that Scott would turn down $2.4 billion in allocated funding for high-speed rail in the nation’s fourth largest state. Such a decision will cost Florida 24,000 new jobs and will obstruct economic growth along the I-4 corridor, and eventually all the way from Orlando to Miami.

For the past week, Scott has cited so-called economic realities that led him to first turn down the money. He claimed Florida taxpayers would be on the hook for possible cost overruns. He claimed that ridership and revenue projections were overly optimistic. He claimed the state would have to repay the federal government all of the $2.4 billion, if the project faltered.

His claims were hasty and ill-informed when he first announced his decision a week ago.  Today, they’re untrue.

Train wreck of a governor

 Thursday, February 17, 2011

Gov. Rick Scott rashly acted in his own political interests and sacrificed the best interests of Florida Wednesday by rejecting federal money for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. It is a reckless, devastating decision that has nothing to do with the merits of rail and everything to do with Scott's obsession with courting the tea party movement and fighting the Obama administration. Florida's state legislators and members of Congress should explore every option in salvaging a project that holds so much promise for the state's economy and Tampa Bay's future.

The consequences of Scott's grandstanding are clear. More than $2.4 billion from Washington? Gone. Five thousand construction jobs? Gone. A modern transportation link between two of the largest cities in the fourth-largest state? Gone. Thousands of additional jobs serving the line; billions of dollars more in private-sector investment; and the chance for an ever bigger bang by extending the system from Orlando to Miami? Gone, gone, gone.

After barely a month in office and no serious review, Scott killed an effort that a bipartisan group of the state's political and business leaders pursued for decades. He consigned motorists and commercial carriers along the Interstate 4 corridor to bigger traffic jams. He put taxpayers on the hook for expensive highway projects as the only way to improve moving people and goods between Tampa Bay and the theme park capital of the world. And he sent a message to the global business community that Florida lacks the vision and courage to invest in its future.


Read More: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/train-wreck-of-a-governor/1152035

Florida's Governor Can't Count, Even When Shafting State Employees

In a private video conference, billionaire Rick Scott tells employees it's time to tighten belts...with extremely fuzzy math.

By Adam Weinstein on Tue. January 18, 2011 3:22 PM PDT

For several weeks now, since billionaire Rick Scott was inaugurated as governor of Florida, I've been wanting to spotlight some of the Sunshine State's political insanity. We here at MoJo are busy putting together the next print issue, however, so you'll have to wait just a bit longer for in-depth reporting on sketchy political appointments, criminal investigations of Republicans, misadventures in deregulation, and gruesome soft-money trails. In the meantime, though, one tipster told MoJo today of a new low in Scott's tenure: his inability to appear marginally competent, even when bringing the hurt to state employees.

According to the source, Scott held a video conference with selected state employees today, including career law-enforcement officers. Its purpose: Scott wanted to personally inform state workers that they'd have to cut back to 13 paid holidays per year. This news was apparently met with total silence from the state employees. The reason? They currently only take nine paid holidays, a fact that's easily discernible from the state's own website. After the conference, state employees reportedly emailed and called each other furiously, laughing over the miscalculation: "Did he really say that? Does he really not know?"

Mind you, Mother Jones' source for this information—who deigned to work yesterday, a federal and Florida state holiday—is no big-government-loving pinko. "Rick Scott is such a fumbling idiot," the source said. "He thinks he's running the federal government!"

We don't know about that, but we do know this isn't the first time Scott's had no idea what he was talking about as the state's chief executive. (Direct quote from a press conference: "It has to go through the Legislature, is my understanding...That's not my understanding. I'm not sure. I have to check into that, but that's not my understanding. It's not my understanding right now.") And he also has plans to slash more benefits for state employees, including a retirement pension system that was already pared down by then-governor Jeb Bush.

Perhaps that's why he's limited media access to government officials in an unprecedented manner, in a state that has one of the nation's most expansive sunshine laws. Be that as it may, rest assured, dear reader, MJ will bring much, much more on the sordid state of affairs in this politically vital appendage of the union.

From: http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/floridas-governor-cant-count-even-when-shafting-state-employees

Fixing Problems for Governor Rick Scott. By Geniusofdespair

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Governor Rick Scott has been taking heat for both trying to repeal the Florida law that would monitor pill mills and for stripping funds from homeless programs. Well I have a solution for you Rick.

It said in the Miami Herald Tuesday that people are coming here from Kentucky to buy pills. Let's include a couple of homeless people with each pill purchase and require that the buyers take the homeless back to Kentucky with them -- or no pills. Do we really care if we supply druggies as long as they go back out of State?

Stupid? Not as stupid as Rick Scott's governing. 

From: http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2011/02/fixing-problems-for-governor-rick-scott.html

Christian Family Coalition Asks Rick Scott to Stop Selling Pornography to Latinos

By Kyle Munzenrieder, Thu., Nov. 18 2010 @ 10:19AM

The Christian Family Coalition, a Miami-based group that hems way to the right on social issues, is calling Gov-elect Rick Scott to stop selling pornography to Latinos. So when reviewing Scott's business past they weren't, like every other sane person, so much concerned that he ran a company that was responsible for the biggest Medicare fraud case in American history, as they were that he owns a stake in a social networking site aimed at Latinos that has a business partnership with Playboy Mexico.

Scott owns shares in QuePasa.com, a sort of MySpace-like site aimed at Latinos. The site has a deal with Playboy Mexico, and users are asked to vote for the magazine's "Cyber Girl of the Month." Bill McCollum's campaign tried unsuccessfully to make an issue of the connection in the primary, and in the general election Scott highlighted his investment in Quepasa.com to show his ties to the Hispanic community. 

Now CFC is dredging up the issue again.

"We cannot have a governor in the state of Florida that invests in companies that sell pornography," Rev. Mark D. Boykin said, a Boca Raton minister associated with the group, tells Naked Politics. "We are asking that before he takes the oath of office, Gov.-elect Scott gets rid of his stocks from QuePasa Corporation. The governor of the state of Florida should not be benefiting or have an interest in pornography. It goes against our family values."

This isn't the first time CFC has tried to make an issue of the site. They posted this release on their site during the campaign:

According to this Politifact.com report Rick Scott, his family partnership and a trust in his wife's name own 2 million shares in a company called Quepasa Corporation.

According to this Network Solutions report Quepasa Corp. owns the web site Quepasa.com which according to this May 26, 2010 Market Wire report recruits latino women to be porn models for Quepasa Playboy Mexico. Certainly, the hundreds of wom! en who are not selected by Playboy have a heightened interest in making money from porn and are subsequently more likely to be recruit subjects for other hedonistic venues.

Additionally, Quepasa.com includes a section for homosexual sex partner relationship networking.

This is the CURRENT business investment practices of Rick Scott, his family partnership and a trust in his wife's name and not something that happened ten years ago. Some political sites have attempted to dilute the issue of Scott's investment in Quepasa.com by stating that most of the stock is in his family partnership or wife's trust. However, according to this July 2, 2010 FloridaIndependent.com report the trust of Rick Scott's wife gave his campaign $2 million.

Therefore, with his wife's trust spending millions on his campaign their combined stock holdings of Quepasa Corp. is very relevant.

How can Rick Scott call himself "an across-the-board conservative" when he, his family partnership and his wife's trust profit from a web site that recruits young women into the porn industry?

How can Rick Scott claim with any integrity "I ... support traditional marriage" when he, his family partnership and his wife's trust profit from a web site that encourages homosexual relationships?

Leaders of the group plan to hold a press conference in front of QuePasa.com's West Palm Beach headquarters today.
 
From: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/11/christian_family_coalition_ask.php