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Tensions Mount In Power Struggle Between Rick Scott And Republicans

Scott and Weatherford: Conflicting Priorities In A Race To The Bottom

Things are getting interesting, and a little heated, between Rick Scott and Republicans in the legislature in a fight over priorities and power struggles. If the problems didn't pose such serious consequences for Floridians who at this point merely pawns to the ruling party, their donors and lobbyists, it would be time to get out the popcorn. Unfortunately, any celebrations will only result from lessening the damage from this year's legislative session.

There have been calls for the Governor to veto the entire budget, from Democrats over the possibility that Republicans will take a pass on Medicaid, and from others over education cuts.

Scott has claimed he prefers the Senate version of Medicaid which would take $50 billion in federal funds, but the House version uses only state funds and the coverage is inadequate and would extend to less people. The Senate passed their version, but the House has so far refused to adopt the bill, which set off a standoff in the House today when Democrats called for the use of their "nuclear option" of reading the bills in full, causing more tension in the chamber between parties.

Scott turned his forced acceptance of Medicaid expansion into a campaign issue hoping that voters would "believe" his flip-flop was genuine, which of course, hasn't worked. Voters haven't forgotten that his entire career before running involved trying to kill off ObamaCare. If the legislature does nothing about Medicaid, which appears to be the likely outcome, they will drag him down with them in defeat. Unfortunately many Floridians will still go without insurance coverage and health care as a result of what House Speaker Will Weatherford says won't be "the end of the world." While his own family benefited from Medicaid, he has denied it to others, and in doing so, it's not a stretch to say people will die without it. For them it will be the "end of the world."

Adding to the tension, Charlie Crist, the potential challenger and spoiler to Scott's reelection pipe dreams, jumped into the fray today with a critical posting on Facebook:

It is really disappointing to watch the Legislature, particularly the Florida House of Representatives put ideology over the health care needs of working uninsured Floridians. The plan the Florida Senate has designed will build on one of the best public private health care partnerships in America, KidCare, and would provide more than 1 million working uninsured Floridians access to real private health insurance.

I know one thing, if this debate had happened during my term as Governor, the Legislature and I would have spent all summer in Tallahassee until we had done the right thing by the people that we all serve.

There has also been disagreement between Republicans and Scott over his education priorities, on everything from teacher raises to tuition hikes, more campaign fodder for Scott. With those in jeopardy thanks to the GOP, Scott has threatened to veto special projects of theirs.

Today Scott issued another warning over what he claimed was an "agreement" with them over sales tax on manufacturing equipment, another priority. Accusing them of stalling on the tax cuts, he said "It would be ridiculous not to cut taxes in a year when we have a budget surplus."

"They have to explain what they meant. I know that we had an agreement, a three-year agreement."

An analysis says repeal of the tax would result in a loss of about $140 million in sales tax revenue to the state, cities and counties. The budget before lawmakers is $74.5 billion, and is about $4 billion higher than current spending.

Scott didn't stop there: He directly criticized the Legislature for writing a budget that includes a 3 percent tuition increase on in-state students. To Scott, raising tuition is the same as raising taxes, which he also called "ridiculous."

"I'm reviewing the bills. I'm going to make the right decision for 19.2 million Floridians," Scott said. "I don't look at this as politics. I look at this as, how do you take care of people in our state?"

Hanging in the balance as leverage for Scott are three GOP legislative priorities, which Scott has to act on by Wednesday, campaign finance "reform," ethics, and in a new twist on the war on women, a law that would end or restrict alimony.

As Scott and Republicans fight it out among themselves, sadly the losers in either battle will be Floridians.

 

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Florida Democrats Won't Vote For A Budget With Inadequate Medicaid Coverage

Today Florida House Democrats took a stand against Speaker Will Weatherford's budget, saying they will vote "no" until it includes the kind of Medicaid expansion they're looking for. In voting against the budget, they're also voting against funds for other priorities they support, but say their goal right now is to save lives through Medicaid expansion that covers more Floridians:

In an appeal for legislative action this session to expand health coverage for working Floridians, today House Democratic Leaders Perry Thurston (D-Fort Lauderdale) and Mia Jones (D-Jacksonville) joined numerous other Democratic Caucus members at a press conference to explain a caucus stance on a state budget proposal.

House Democratic Caucus members said that they believe an expansion of health coverage is affordable and achievable, and that it is imperative that Republican leaders respond with action and available funding as directed by the nation’s Affordable Care Act.

Democratic Caucus members said that expansion of health coverage that relies on available federal resources could provide coverage to more than 1 million Floridians, is estimated to save more than 5,000 lives a year, and would create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs throughout Florida.

During their press conference, Democratic Leader Pro Tempore Mia Jones made comments concerning Florida's tax dollars, saying that we shouldn't continue to be at the top of the donor list at the same time the legislature fails to provide Medicaid coverage which is available to over a million people in the state.

Weatherford's office has planned meetings on Medicaid expansion next week. The Democrats may support the expansion then, depending on what's proposed.

For full remarks, you can watch today's House Democrats press conference here.

UPDATE: After a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott, Republican Rep. Richard Corcoran announced this afternoon that the House will unveil details on their Medicaid expansion plan on Thursday.

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Weatherford's Family Relied On Medicaid, Which He's Now Denying Floridians

Florida Democrats Respond To Rick Scott's Flip-Flop On Medicaid Expansion

Weatherford's House Medicaid Rejection Brought To You By AFP And ALEC?

GOP Is Now 0 For 3: Bad Policy, Bad Message, Bad Messengers

Finally, an honest answer from Paul Ryan on the Republican "alternative" health care plan for everyday Americans, which came to light courtesy of Jed Lewison.

While introducing his latest number shuffling budget, which would kill ObamaCare and Medicare in order to make sure the wealthy keep all those big tax cuts, (stop me if you've heard this plan before) Paul Ryan actually made an honest statement about the Republican plan for health care for the "rest of us."  

In all his brilliance, take it away Paul Ryan:

"This to us is something that we're not going to give up on, because we're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people."

 

Of course, here in Florida, we've heard Rick Scott refer to killing health care, Medicare, and Medicaid as "doing the right thing," we've heard House Speaker Will Weatherford refer to Medicaid for anyone other than his family as an infringment on "freedom," and we've heard that the Senate has another preferred phantom alternative plan to Medicaid no one has seen yet. Perhaps it's in a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow somewhere, under the watchful guard of unicorns.

No one is buying the Republican's excuses on health care anymore, but at least they did any doubters a favor by putting one of the least bright of the bunch out there to trust with their message. After the election, they said it wasn't their policies that were the party's problem, but rather their messaging?

Wrong. It's both. In fact, it's so bad, not even your so-called "brilliant and former rising star" VP candidate can pull it off.

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Weatherford's Family Relied On Medicaid, Which He's Now Denying Floridians

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Weatherford Admits Family Used Medicaid, Still Offers No Plausible Reason Why He's Rejecting It

Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford's father said his family relied on Medicaid when his family was uninsured and needed medical care for Weatherford's brother. (I added my thoughts on the story here.) At the time Speaker Weatherford said he didn't think that was the case.

Well, apparently after sifting through his "cloudy recollections" Weatherford now says that yes, his family did in fact use Medicaid, which he is now denying, and will still deny for Floridians. 

He has released a formal statement to "clearly" identify "the safety net that benefitted my family." That "clearly identified benefit" being Medicaid.

So his family used Medicaid, which he and House Republicans are denying for low income, uninsured Floridians now. In spite of the fact that he's been forced to admit this, he's still basically saying Medicaid was "fine for me, but not for thee." Nothing has changed.

Here is his full statement:

“Yesterday, I spoke about the death of my brother Peter and my family’s personal struggles. The hospital bills that accumulated from the wonderful care Peter received were insurmountable. We did not have health insurance because we couldn’t afford it.

“In speaking with my father prior to sharing this story, he believed the safety net that supported us was as a result of private and government funded charity. He did not believe that we were enrolled in Medicaid. After being questioned further by a reporter, my father recalled signing paperwork that may have resulted in Peter receiving Medicaid assistance after his surgery.

“As a result, my family worked to verify exactly what form of the safety net helped us in our time of need. Today, we learned that Peter was covered under the Medically Needy program, which is a temporary month to month form of assistance, while at All Children’s Hospital.

“It is not surprising that recollections would be cloudy surrounding a time of great sorrow and difficulty. Now that the safety net that benefitted my family has been clearly identified, I trust that the debate can return to the important question of Medicaid expansion and its impact on the economic and personal freedom of Floridians.

“As I stated yesterday, I believe in the safety net. My family benefitted from the safety net. Children living in poverty today are offered coverage under Medicaid or Kidcare in Florida. Expanding Medicaid will not extend coverage to a single low-income child under 18 in Florida because they are already covered, just like Peter was.

“The inflexible law that has been pushed down to states like Florida does not allow us to target populations that are vulnerable, but requires us to provide full coverage to populations that we have never covered before.

There is no dispute that private insurance is better for the health, welfare, and true needs of Floridians. I look forward to continuing to work with the Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to investigate options that may be better for our state.”

Yes........so, what's your point?

Let's "clearly identify" a few of them here.

First, he says "Expanding Medicaid will not extend coverage to a single low-income child under 18 in Florida because they are already covered" just like his brother was. So by his logic, he's saying anyone over 18 who is uninsured, as Weatherford's family was, who would benefit from Medicaid.....I'm sorry, who would benefit from a "safety net," just doesn't count as far as he is concerned. If that happens to be you, well, too bad. Perhaps you could hold a bake sale or rely on a generous neighbor should you ever happen to need any kind of health care, but hey, what are the chances of that, am I right? 

Second, he says "Now that the safety net that benefitted my family has been clearly identified... In spite of the 345 words he used to explain his way around the situation, the fact still remains that the "safety net" he "identified" was clearly Medicaid. 

Next he says "I trust that the debate can return to the important question of Medicaid expansion and its impact on the economic and personal freedom of Floridians." Again, 345 words later, the debate hasn't changed. He actually makes a good case for accepting Medicaid by showing that there are families and people out there struggling, as his family was, who are uninsured, as his family was, and who are faced with catastrophic illnesses, as his family was. He claims he "believes in the safety net." Yes, he believes in a "safety net" for his family, but not for yours. And by the way, who exactly is "debating the question of Medicaid expansion?" There was no debate. Weatherford announced there would be no Medicaid expansion before the Legislature was even in session.

What exactly is the impact of Medicaid expansion "on the economic and personal freedom of Floridians?" How exactly does a program that will benefit the sick, poor, and uninsured, which the federal government will cover 100% now and $.90 on the dollar later, interfere with a Floridian's economic and personal freedom? Freedom for the sick and uninsured to die that much quicker?  Or are we concerned with Will Weatherford's political freedom and freedom for health insurance companies?

Which brings me to his next point. "There is no dispute that private insurance is better for the health, welfare, and true needs of Floridians." Oh, there are plenty of disputes on that subject, which is how we came to need the Affordable Care Act in the first place. If there were no disputes, it wouldn't have taken decades to get a health care law like the ACA. The health insurance companies weren't fighting against it tooth and nail out of the goodness of their hearts or to see who could be the king of quality health care. Those high costs and huge profits are one of the reasons we need Medicaid. What good is private health insurance to people with a low income who will never be able to afford it? 

So not once, but twice in two days, Will Weatherford has made the case for why we need Medicaid in Florida. 

And once again, he's telling Floridans that if he gets his way, they won't be benefitting from Medicaid as his parents did.

For no good reason whatsoever.

Weatherford's House Medicaid Rejection Brought To You By AFP And ALEC?

Will Weatherford (R-ALEC) New Man For The Job?

Americans For Prosperity, the Koch funded so-called "grassroots" Tea Party group may have lost Rick Scott on the Medicaid expansion issue last week, but they still had plenty of cards to play in the Florida legislature. By "cards," I of course mean members who have ties to ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, also funded in part by the Koch brothers. ALEC is the group that writes legislation that it passes on to lawmakers in cookie cutter form, which is basically copied, pasted, and passed into law in whatever state it goes to.

Yesterday, AFP got part of their wish when the Florida House Select Committee on PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), led by House Speaker Will Weatherford (R-ALEC), voted to reject the Medicaid expansion before today's legislative session began.

Of the reasons given for the rejection, some sounded extremely familiar in comparison to AFP's objections to Medicaid, as shown on their website. They even penned a press release commending Weatherford and the committee for seeing it their way. In that release, entitled "The Florida House Got It Right: Reject Medicaid Expansion, AFP wrote this:

Today, the Florida House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act voted to reject Medicaid expansion.

Americans for Prosperity’s Florida State Director Slade O’Brien commented:

“I applaud the Florida House’s decision to reject Medicaid expansion and urge the Florida Senate to follow their lead. The majority of House members agreed that expanding the costly and broken Medicaid system is not the correct way to provide quality healthcare for Floridians, and that the financial risks associated with expansion are far too great to force on the taxpayers.”]

[Mr. O’Brien continued, “Floridians demand opposition to the expansion of the broken Medicaid program and the Florida House of Representatives has agreed.  Expanding this costly program would increase costs for everyone and force a million people into a failing system that provides subpar healthcare services. I can’t believe that the Florida Senate would be willing to expand Medicaid now despite the huge financial burden it will create for future generations of Floridians.  This is not a decision that can be made in a vacuum — the future costs of expanding Medicaid today will have a devastating impact on the welfare of our state, our children and our grandchildren.” 

Weatherford echoed that sentiment in his statement on the rejection, saying:

“I am proud of the thoughtful, thorough and deliberative approach that our Select Committee took on the important issues related to Medicaid expansion and health exchanges. I received their recommendations and agree that expanding Medicaid and setting up a state exchange is not in the best interest of our state. We simply cannot count on the federal government to pay 100 percent of the cost for expansion. The facts show that healthcare costs will go up for many Floridians, while access to and quality of healthcare will go down. The 'all or nothing' approach that the Obama administration is offering will not work for our state. I know there will be continued discussion about this matter, and I look forward to exploring better policies for our state.” 

Weatherford cites that "the facts show" their reasons for the rejection are correct, but he doesn't say what those facts are, nor where he got them. When the actual legislation comes out, those "facts" will probably look very similar to the ones on this list from the AFP website: The Top Ten Reasons Florida Should Reject Medicaid Expansion. We've already heard several from the Capitol already when Rick Scott and others recited them. AFP also makes the claims that they speak for Floridians who feel the same way, and cite polls from like minded think tanks that show this. They also have ready made letters to send legislators and "facts" to convince followers that accepting Medicaid would be the ultimate power grab, disaster, and things of that nature, because that's what AFP does. You, "grassroots" and all.

Below is the Florida House Select Committee on PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) members who voted on the rejection. The members that we know of with ties to ALEC  are in bold:

Corcoran, Richard [R]   Chair                                 
Hudson, Matt [R]   Vice Chair                                   
Schwartz, Elaine J. [D]   Democratic Ranking Member    
Cummings, W. Travis [R]                                                     
Dudley, Dwight Richard [D]   
Harrell, Gayle B. [R]   
Jones, Mia L. [D]   
Magar, MaryLynn "ML" [R]   
Nelson, Bryan [R]                                
Passidomo, Kathleen C. [R]   
Pigman, Cary [R]   
Roberson, Kenneth L. "Ken" [R]   
Rodríguez, José Javier [D]   
Stark, Richard [D]   
Thurston, Jr., Perry E. [D]   
Trujillo, Carlos [R]                      
Wood, John [R]                         

Will Weatherford also has ties to ALEC. 

ALEC is well known for working to undercut health care reform as well as AFP, as seen in this report.

As fast as Republicans moved to vote against the expansion, you can almost bet the bills against it will be written up just as quickly, because after all, for those legislatures that work with ALEC, we know the legislators who push them have little to do with the paperwork beyond cutting and pasting the minor details. Sometimes, if they're lucky, they even remember to remove "American Legislative Exchange Council" before presenting them.

New Website Educates Floridians On Health Care Coverage Under The ACA

From Progress Florida:

Progress Florida and Florida CHAIN have launched Health Care for Florida Now to educate Floridians about new health coverage opportunities and to engage public support to protect, implement, and support the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The newly unveiled website is at www.healthcareforflorida.org and acts as a clearinghouse for information on ACA implementation and Medicaid expansion in Florida.

One of the key elements of the ACA is the extension of the Medicaid program, which will address Florida's high rate of uninsured residents. Over a million people will become eligible for coverage - many of whom have jobs but still cannot afford health insurance. Accepting the funds will also help to spur Florida's still stagnant economy. Failure to expand Medicaid will make it much more expensive for the uninsured to obtain coverage and will have a negative impact on local hospitals and nursing homes, which are essential to maintaining strong local economies.

"If Florida rejects the federal Medicaid dollars that have already been put aside for this purpose, hard-working families that can't afford insurance will continue to crowd emergency rooms, straining local economies," said Laura Goodhue, executive director of Florida CHAIN. "Meanwhile, our federal tax dollars will go to other states, pushing Florida health programs to do more with less. Gov. Scott should seize this vital opportunity and we remain hopeful he will do the right thing," added Goodhue.

Another key feature of the ACA is the creation of a health insurance marketplace in 2014 that will allow millions of Florida families to have affordable health care coverage. By providing a competitive health care marketplace, consumers will have more control, higher quality choices and better protections when buying insurance. It brings real competition and greater transparency to the insurance industry. The marketplace will help low and middle-income Floridians qualify for ACA tax credits that will ensure that good coverage is also affordable coverage.

The new website will help Floridians learn how these health care law changes will benefit Florida families and businesses.

(Graphic: Health Care for Florida Now)

Scott, Lawmakers Living High On The Hog And "Saving Taxpayers" Right Into The Poorhouse

Rick Scott Went To Britain, But All You Got Was The Bill, And This "Postcard" 

Rick Scott just joined several other governors to request more control over how the Affordable Care Act is implemented in the state, along with a request that Florida still receive full federal funding, and allow Scott control over that too. As always, he claims he's "concerned about the costs to taxpayers."

Funny how that works. His concern over all those costs only seems to come up when it involves something that is desperately needed and wanted by those taxpayers, and is something that would improve their lives in some way. Like getting by from day to day. Being able to afford things of the basic American dream.

Things like health care, and education, for example. 

Yet those are the very things he and the legislature will cut to the bone without a moment's hesitation. And they did it with education. Cut it one year, then threw a small bone back this year to appear as if they care about education. Scott "cares so much" about education, in fact, that he's now proposed that state colleges offer bargain basement degrees at $10,000 a pop. As a good education and competitive careers go, I guess he's never heard the phrase "you get what you pay for," nor has he ever been forced to live it.

Now Scott wants to "save taxpayer dollars" as he seeks to control federal funding for Medicaid. As it is now, a family of three with an income of only $11,000 a year makes too much to qualify in Florida. Just try getting an affordable health insurance plan on that kind of money.

$11,000. 

Well, this "save money for thee, but not for me" attitude came to light again this week in a painful way, not once but twice.

When it comes to saving the taxpayer, Scott and the legislature have their priorities, and many who can't afford good health care or an education are still paying a high price for things that have no benefit to them whatsoever. They have to go without so that Scott, his cronies, and lawmakers can have more of what they don't need, and dare I say, don't earn:

Florida’s new legislative leaders handed out hefty raises and salaries to many of their top staff members and newly hired talent even as thousands of state workers went for a sixth year without a bump in pay.

Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford, who were sworn in last month, immediately hired new chiefs of staff and paid them more than taxpayers pay state Cabinet officials. They are paying 62 top policy advisors and staff directors more than $100,000 a year. And they gave salary increases totaling $252,000 to their 17 highest-paid employees.

Giving the most in raises was Gaetz, R-Niceville, who promoted 10 people who were already making more than $100,000 a year in state jobs. The biggest promotion went to his top aide, Chris Clark, whose salary jumped from $77,000 as an aide in Gaetz’s legislative office to $150,000 as the Senate president’s chief of staff. Clark started in the Legislature in 1994, making $12,771 a year. Gaetz said Clark’s salary is commensurate with those of previous chiefs of staff.]

[State workers, by contrast, have not seen a pay raise in six years. Last year, the Legislature also tapped into their take-home pay by deducting 3percent to pay the annual contribution to the Florida Retirement System. The result is a 15 percent drop in earning power for most state workers, labor unions say.

Nice work if you can get it, right? But you can't.

Speaking of jobs, recall that last week Scott went on yet another "trade mission," this time to Colombia, promising jobs, jobs, jobs, and an economic boom for Florida, just as he did on all the other trade missions to Panama, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Spain and Britain. This one to Colombia was by far the largest one yet, and while Scott wants to "save taxpayers" the burden of the high costs that would allow for funding education, health care, and basic necessities that used to be a given for people in the free world, he's not so concerned when it comes to traveling the world in the name of job and economic nirvana:

All told, those trips cost taxpayers more than $332,000, with some travel and lodging donated by hotels and airlines.]

[Security alone for the trip to Brazil totaled $77,000. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement declined to say how many agents are guarding Scott and first lady Ann Scott in Colombia. Also accompanying the governor's party are his traveling press secretary, a travel aide and Mrs. Scott's chief of staff.

The Colombia trip is costing the taxpayers $197,650.

...the governor’s security alone on his six previous international trips costs Florida citizens more than a quarter of a million dollars. That includes almost $77,000 in security for his trip to Brazil, almost $72,000 for the United Kingdom and tens of thousands more for Panama, Canada, Israel and Spain. 

For all he's spent, and all that it's costing the rest of us, one would think that jobs will fall from the sky any day now. I wouldn't recommend holding your breath.

So here we are in Florida which is under the control of a governor and a group of Republicans who are the party of "Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps," where everyone who expects the basic living necessities that they earned to be there, are considered to be asking for a handout. It's no wonder we can't afford things that used to be there for anyone who worked for it.

Floridians are too busy paying for Rick Scott's boots, and there's nothing left over for straps of their their own.

 

"Just Trust Him?" Scott Wants More Control Of ACA And Where The Money Goes

Rick Scott, the guy that ran the company with the largest Medicare fraud fine in history now tells President Obama that he wants more "flexibility" in implementing the Medicaid part of the Affordable Care Act he worked so hard to destroy before and after he became Governor. Since he's been forced to go along with the law, it appears he still wants to determine how it's set up, but still wants full federal funding regardless. 

Sure, Floridians should "just trust him" on that. 

Eleven Republican governors, including Florida’s Rick Scott, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Arizona’s Jan Brewer want to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss the federal health overhaul, including ways to make expanding the Medicaid rolls and setting up online health exchanges more affordable for states with tight budgets.

The letter requesting the meeting comes after the Obama administration said Monday that states can do a partial Medicaid expansion but that they wouldn’t get the three years of 100 percent federal funding provided under the law. Scott had previously requested to meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss his concerns that the law could burden state taxpayers.]

[The governors made several suggestions that included asking that states be allowed to determine their own Medicaid eligibility levels and still receive all the federal funds. They also raised the possibility of imposing “reasonable and enforceable-cost sharing requirements” and worried that the process for determining newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries could become an “overly difficult audit procedure at the end of the year” potentially jeopardizing billions of dollars in payments to the states.

The governors also said they want to be able to leverage their private health insurance markets to reduce dependency on entitlement programs.

As always, Scott continues to say he's "concerned about the potential cost to taxpayers." Right.

I would imagine that Floridians would be nervous about Scott taking charge of how the law is implemented, and where the money goes, given his past history in the health care business and how he's managed to make a mess of just about everything he's touched since he took the helm in Tallahassee.

I would also hope that watchdogs follow the money closely.

 

Florida Senate Launches Affordable Care Act Website

The Florida Senate has launched a website that will seek public input on implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Press release from Senate President Don Gaetz:

“In the coming months, members of the public, health care providers, representatives from Florida’s insurance industry, and countless other stakeholders will provide valuable feedback as members of the PPACA select committee discuss, evaluate and debate Florida’s policy options under one of the most complex and far-reaching federal laws in the history of our nation. The new portion of the Senate website was created to serve as a centralized location for interested parties to watch meetings, read bills and share their viewpoints with the committee.”

The link for the website is here.

Investigate Thyself: Rick Scott's Vicious Circle Of Incompetence

It's just another week in Florida where every day dawns with a new disaster, thanks to Rick Scott. Lately we've been hit with more than our share, which makes it hard to keep up.

(Photo by DonkeyHotey)

First, let's start with a short review on how Scott began his quest to destroy Florida, shall we? 

The man who thought he was running against Obama rather than other gubernatorial candidates immediately launched his War On The President, and subsequently his War on Floridians who want health care, which he began while privately fighting against the health care act negotiations and continued long after he was elected and the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare" was passed and signed into law. He claims he's willing to comply with the law now that he has little choice, (big of him) while political hack Attorney General Pam Bondi pretends that Supreme Court decisions she once crowed about mean nothing if she loses them. (Apparently law, and her job description confuses her.)

While losing the health care battle, Scott turned away stimulus money that Florida was due to get for it's planned high speed rail project, like every other modern metropolitan area in the world, because OBAMA! The faux-fiscal Scott claimed it would cost Floridians way too much money, when in fact, after the money went elsewhere, studies showed it would have made a nice profit. Killing a plan that was years in the making also cost the state lots of jobs, which the "Jobs Governor" ignored, also because, again OBAMA! Nope. Governor Koch Scott chose to let Floridians choke on gas fumes while spending the better part of their days in gridlock, while planning to charge them for their trouble in the future by turning them into toll roads. You're welcome.

Those were just the beginning, and a warm up for the future. While the Captain of the Titanic has managed to nick a few smaller icebergs, he's still able to maintain on course aiming for the big one that says 2014 on it. He still has two years to go, and Floridians being unable to impeach him, it's anyone's guess what will be left of Florida by then.

Which brings us to November of this year when Scott and his fellow Republicans did their level best to keep people from voting in the 2012 election, because that was their only feeble chance to help defeat President Obama. Like everything else, Scott failed at this too, but not without mucking up the election process and making the pregnant, hanging, and other various chad species from the 2000 election debacle seem minor by comparison. Unfortunately for Scott and the GOP, voters were so determined to thwart a stolen election that they stayed in line for hours and voted even long after the election was called for Obama. Scott has well earned his spot on the Worst Governors In History list and Floridians showed him those polls aren’t “skewed.”

Scott immediately feigned surprise when the election proved disastrous and pretended he had no clue as to why it did. After officials finally finished counting the votes days later, Scott said he would “sit down with” his Secretary Of State “to look at how we can improve.”

That went down about as well as Scott’s implied ignorance when SOS Ken Detzner doubled down on Scott’s laughable excuse and added several of his own, which you can see here. Under the pretense that Scott will have Detzner “investigate” himself to search for the mysteries behind the voting mess, which everyone already knows to be anything BUT a mystery. It was in fact HB 1355, the 2011 election law Republicans in the legislature pushed through that paved the way for voter suppression. After Democrats and advocates didn't wait around as Scott and Detzner were "pondering" what could have possibly gone wrong, they called for a investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Meanwhile, Keystone Election Cop Detzner has now "dispatched a team of experts" to Miami-Dade to "investigate" which will probably result in pointing the finger at local election officials rather than directly back at himself, Scott, and the responsible lawmakers.

You see, that's how it works here in Florida. It's a pattern.

1. The legislature takes something that's fixed, pens and passes a law to break it.

2. It breaks as expected, causing a mess that falls like dominoes.

3. Scott pretends he's shocked at the result, stomps his feet and demands to know what caused it.

4. Scott appoints a task force composed of the likely suspects to investigate themselves.

5. Investigation shows nothing went wrong, and that he and his GOP buddies are just plain awesome.  

6. Taxpayers pay the price of the bad law, while also footing the bill for the "task force."

Sound familiar? Well, it should. It happened with a Scott appointed Stand Your Ground task force, which just weeks ago found little "wrong" with the law and reaffirmed it to be a great law, and "fine as it is." On that task force was the man who wrote the law, with lots of help from ALEC, Dennis Baxley. (Baxley also has his hands in the election law cookie jar, among others, as well.)

Recall also when a task force was appointed to investigate abuse, neglect and deaths in Florida's assisted living facilities in 2011? That investigation, conducted by some who were in the ALF industry themselves found that in spite of "burns, beatings and deaths" in ALF's, what was really needed was less transparency and regulation. In a quote from an advocate on the task force's findings:

“[Providers] are probably doing cartwheels right now,” said Brian Lee, a resident advocate and director of Families for Better Care.

Those are merely recent examples. Even when there's no task force involved, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to spot blatant incompetence resulting from policies and actions from Scott. He works on the behalf of business and special interests, and often appoints to key positions, and then loses, individuals who never should have gotten the job in the first place. Down here we just call that "Tuesday."

No kidding.

Today the most recent example of this? Scott's "jobs czar," the executive director of Scott's Department of Economic Opportunity was forced to resign after only eight months on the job. (The second one to resign amid contention.) The reason for the resignation of Hunting Deutsch, whose agency also distributes unemployment benefits to the jobless in Florida? Well, it seems he was himself collecting unemployment benefits for 91 weeks over a two-year period from 2009 to 2011 when he was traveling in Europe with his wife. 

Like I said, it's Tuesday.

Of course, as is often the case, when controversy erupts it's often hard to find the Governor. He either won't comment, or he's not around. So today, on the day when the director of his Department of Economic Opportunity resigns, where is Scott? He's MIA on a so-called three-day "trade mission" to Colombia to bolster economic development with Latin America.

Of course. Where else would he be?

And the vicious circle continues......