Rick Scott avoided SYG protesters and the capitol as long as he could last week, only to meet with the Dream Defenders to tell them he favors the shoot-to-kill Stand Your Ground law and won't lift a finger to change it by calling a special session.
Then he told everyone to "just pray."
Then yesterday, he sent his juvenile justice secretary, Wansley Walters, to meet with the protesters to basically tell them the same thing, along with a few other things that have nothing to do with SYG.
Sadly for Scott, the Dream Defenders are still there, and they're not going anywhere. So Scott has fallen back on his original plan:
Four hundred miles from sit-in protesters at his office in Tallahassee, Gov. Rick Scott met with some mayors and Palm Beach County commissioners here today and said he’s not planning to return to his office in the capitol this week.
“I mean, I cover the state, I travel the state. I’m there (in Tallahassee) more during the session,” Scott said outside the Palm Beach Cafe after a meeting with Mayors Jeri Muoio of West Palm Beach, Bert Premuroso of Palm Beach Gardens and Pam Triolo of Lake Worth and Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie of Boca Raton.
Asked when he expects to be back in his Tallahassee office, Scott said, “Probably next week sometime.”
"Probably" being the operative word.
He's not the only one going AWOL. People all over the country are planning to boycott Florida, it's orange juice and other products, and it's theme parks, because of not just the shoot-your-witness-and-get-away-with-murder SYG law, but because of the state's lax gun regulations and high numbers of guns in the state, period.
Add to the impending absence of tourists to the state, entertainers now say they will no longer play here until the law is changed. It began with Stevie Wonder, who said he would stay away not just from Florida, but all states that have SYG laws. Now many more may be joining him in the boycott:
"Sources close to the Stevie Wonder camp," tell American Urban Radio Networks that a bunch of other A-list artists are supporting Wonder's call to repeal the "Stand Your Ground" law that played a role in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, though it's not clear from the report whether they also intend to boycott Fla venues until the law is changed.
The performers: Mary Mary, Eddie Levert, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Usher, Pattie Labelle, Kanye West, Mary J. Trey Songz, Jay Z, Rolling Stones, Justin Timberlake, R. Kelly, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Joe, Will I AM, Keyshia Cole, Young Jeezy, Erykah Badu, Wale, Frankie Beverly, and Parliament.
Protests took place all over the state this past weekend, with more in the works, and the Dream Defenders at the Capitol are gaining allies and adding to their numbers.
Yet Rick Scott's only plan so far has been to ignore it all, and blow it all off by merely saying this:
“What people ought to address is that we lost a 17-year-old young man in this state. That’s a tragedy,” Scott said. “I mean, think about his parents. I’ve got daughters, I have a grandson, I have more on the way. I would hate to lose one of them…What we ought to be thinking about is we ought to mourn Travyon Martin’s loss, we ought to bring our state back together and help people get back to work and get a great education.”
Floridians agree, and they've expressed how they want to do that. Get rid of the law that allowed Trayvon Martin's killer to walk away without consequences.
Unless he plans to "govern" from his private plane for the remainder of his term, Scott's going to have to answer the call of voters and others around the country and get rid of Stand Your Ground.
