Beach Peanuts

Rick Scott And Rick Snyder, Birds Of A Feather

What do Republican Governors Rick Scott of Florida and Rick Snyder of Michigan have in common? Turns out quite a lot.

They both despise local control and transparency. They both swear by running the government like a business through privatization, and they do, to the detriment of their state's and the people who live there, among other things.

But Rick Scott has an added "bonus." He has a blind trust. 

While it may be "blind" to his constituents, for the most part, some information about his investments have still found their way into the news. He was known before to have investment ties to a natural gas pipeline in the planning for Florida that was unanimously approved by the Florida Public Service Commission, whose members Scott appointed. 

Now, the Florida Bulldog has uncovered another previously unnoticed investment tie Scott has to an oncology company that just happened to win an unprecedented no-bid contract with one of the states largest taxpayer supported health care systems. That no-bid contract is for an eyebrow-raising 25 years:

An oncology company financially connected to Gov. Rick Scott got a no-bid contract four years ago from taxpayer-supported Broward Health for as long as 25 years – an unprecedented term.

Scott was an investor in a private equity firm that owns 21st Century Oncology, state records show. The Fort Myers-based cancer care company got the contract in 2012 to supply radiation oncology services to Broward’s biggest public health system.

The value and language of the contract with 21st Century Oncology are not known. The hospital system’s lawyers denied a public records request by FloridaBulldog.org for a copy of the contract.

The North Broward Hospital District, Broward Health’s legal name, is and was at the time run by an all-Republican board of commissioners appointed by the governor. Gov. Scott, who took office in January 2011, is a Republican. He was re-elected in 2014.

“This is news to me,” said Commission Chairman David Di Pietro, who seemed stunned last week when told of the governor’s indirect ownership interest in 21st Century Oncology, a contract he voted to approve. “In 2012 I was unaware of that, and I have no further comment at this time.”

Broward Health awarded the contract, with an initial term of 10 years and three separate five-year renewal options, to 21st Century Oncology after deciding to outsource its day-to-day business of providing radiation treatment services for cancer patients.

“In all my years I’ve never heard of a contract for that duration, especially at a tax-supported system like Broward Health,” said Florida International University healthcare professor Sal Barbera, a former hospital CEO who blew the whistle on Medicare fraud by Tenet Healthcare Corp. in 1997.

Naturally, Scott denies any knowledge of this, while the hospital system refuses to make public a copy of that contract, citing an exemption in Florida’s public records law that protects some hospital records from competitors.

How convenient it is to run government like a business, especially with state laws that can turn out to be profitable when you're "blindly" invested.

This brings us to another thing Rick Scott shares in common with Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder:

Less than transparent no-bid contracts.

Snyder, as it's well known by now, installed emergency managers in his state to block local control, and then those emergency managers in Flint switched water systems to save money and subsequently poisoned a majority of the citizens there with lead. And while Snyder has famously been doing little about it so far, he does have a few plans in the works for the future.

From Eclectablog:

Transparency was something Gov. Rick Snyder crowed about during his first election campaign. He issued a white paper titled “Create A Culture Of Ethics In Michigan’s Government” in which he said, “As Governor, I will ensure that government is open, fair, and accountable to the citizens by making Michigan a national leader in transparency and ethics.” All of that sounds good, of course, but he has been a demonstrable failure when it comes to transparency in his administration.

The latest blow to transparency comes, once again, in relation to the Flint water crisis. The Snyder administration has hired the firm Rowe Professional Services “to study Flint’s water distribution system and replace 30 lead service lines as a pilot project.” The contract was awarded to Rowe as a no-bid contract; no other companies were given the opportunity to bid on it.

Deceiving the public while claiming to be all about transparency is, of course, so much easier to do when you dodge questions from the media and the public, something else both Scott and Snyder have mastered down to an art form.

 

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Florida House Gives Green Light To Government Officials Who Intentionally Violate Public Records Laws

The ability for government officials to INTENTIONALLY violate Florida's Sunshine Laws just became that much easier, courtesy of lawmakers in the House:

A House committee unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would remove the requirement that government officials who intentionally violate the state's public records law pay attorneys fees when citizens take them to court.

The measure, HB 1021 by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, would give judges the discretion to determine if government agencies will pay the legal fees of a lawsuit when they are found in violation of the law. It also requires that the a person who intends to file a lawsuit give the public agency notice at least five business days in advance.

So that gives a head's up to any agency that seeks to hide something, and potentially sticks the taxpayer they're hiding from with the bill. Because that's how Sunshine is filtered in Florida.

Public records advocates say this will be tantamount to "gutting" Florida's public records laws by removing any penalty for abusing them. 

Rich Templin, lobbyist for the AFL-CIO and a member of the coalition, acknowledged the abuses but said the measure went too far in its attempt to correct them.

"This legislation is basically an atomic bomb to solve a cockroach problem,'' he said. "If we don't want to pay attorneys fees, then don't violate the law, don't keep things secret. The only time attorneys fees are awarded is when the law has been broken."

Republicans in Florida have already weakened our Sunshine Laws, and what a coincidence, since just about every elected official from the governor, to the attorney general, right on down to the legislators making the rules, frequently abuse them.

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Rick Scott's Turning Florida Into A Taxpayer Funded Sinkhole

Almost a year ago, Rick Scott went to California to see a lawyer about some emails, because those emails may have proven what many in Florida already expected: That Scott was violating public records laws, or what we aptly call Sunshine Laws. He was especially hasty in doing so because he was running for reelection. His trip was a success at the time, because it kept the emails out of the public eye, or at least long enough to keep them secret prior to the election. That all changed in May of this year, or so we'd hoped, when a judge ordered that his private email data be released. Finally some justice for Floridians who are routinely kept in the dark by Scott, right?

Wrong.

Earlier this month, Scott agreed to settle the lawsuit that started this whole thing and may have finally shone a light on Scott's secrecy. This came as he and his cabinet, including Attorney General Pam Bondi (yes, the Attorney General) settled over another Sunshine Law violation. 

By settling, Scott and Bondi claimed they settled "to avoid litigation costs."

Here's what else that settlement allows them to do: say that they never broke the law.

Convenient, no?

And if you aren't already outraged enough by that, pause here for a moment and take a nice deep breath. 

Judge Orders Rick Scott's Private Email Data To Be Released

Last week, while the Florida GOP was busy walking out on their jobs early without passing a budget and sticking it to the working poor on Medicaid expansion, Rick Scott suffered another defeat from a judge.

During his reelection campaign last September, Scott went to a California court in an attempt to keep his private emails from going public. He wanted to quash a request by attorney Steven R. Andrews to determine if Scott was using private email for state business, something prohibited by Florida public records laws.

While all eyes were on the GOP meltdown in the legislature last week, the judge ordered Google to turn over the data on Scott's private email account going back to January 2011:

Rick Scott Finds Yet Another Way To Block Access To Public Records

He hides his investments from Floridians in a "blind trust."

He deleted transition emails that should have been public records even before he was sworn into office.

He put up a farce of a transparency website called Project Sunburst. 

He made FOIA requests cost and time prohibitive.

Now Rick Scott has found yet another way to make it even harder for Floridians to gain access to public records they have every right to see:

Florida GOP Skirted Public Records Procedures For Info On Scott's Minority Appointees

Matt Dixon of The Florida Times Union is reporting that the Republican Party of Florida recently made a request to Rick Scott's office for a list of his racial minority appointees, and they did it without going through the normal Open Government public records procedures. The list of over 200 appointees, not all of which were later confirmed, included information about their name, race, city and political affiliation.

Gov. Rick Scott Kept Official State Email Account Off Public Records Site

Propaganda Machine?

Because Florida Gov. Rick Scott began his term by deleting his transition emails due to "an error," his announcement last May that he was making his emails public on a website called "Project Sunburst" all in the name of "transparency," the news was met with a certain amount of skepticism.

As it turns out, there was good reason to be skeptical.

If you've ever spent any time perusing those emails as I have, you noticed a couple of things. The emails tended to be random and spotty at best, and there was rarely much in the way of follow ups. Now, that last one isn't really that surprising. Most news accounts involving the governor end with "Scott was not available for comment" or "calls to the governor's office were not returned." The other thing you notice about the emails is how overwhelmingly positive they are. Page after page are filled with subject headings like "Stand Strong," or "We Support You!" and "Thank You!" Normally that might not seem too unusual, but with a governor as unpopular as Rick Scott you would expect more than a little "negative feedback."

And what subject was most notable among the emails of support? An overwhelming amount of encouragement favoring Scott's recent new-found interest in "voter roll integrity."

Who knew Scott's voter purge was so popular?

On Monday, reporters from The Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times questioned the "unrealistically high percentage of favorable emails on the public database." The governor's office subsequently issued a statement, admitting to the use of two separate email accounts. Email from Scott's official state account weren't posted on the public records site. Instead they posted mail from another email account, this one for an email address given mostly to Scott's "conservative supporters:"

It also announced that it would phase out the address which Scott solely used to respond to email. That email address — which was not on any official state website — appears on many Tea Party websites across the state, under the heading “Governor Rick Scott’s email.”

“Effective this week, emails sent or received using the official website contact form will also be added to the Sunburst system,” said Scott spokesman Brian Burgess, who emphasized that the governor’s emails are always available through a public records request.

Other "supportive emails" from the website were over the current controversy involving Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll who also has a secondary account that’s not listed on state websites. According to the Bradenton Herald, the dual-email strategy has already impacted media coverage for both Scott and Carroll:

Reporters—acting at the urging of Scott—have relied on the Sunburst database rather than filing a public records request for official emails. Several reporters have used those emails to gauge public sentiment on a host of issues, and the informal reviews have returned skewed results in favor of the governor.

Several people who were present when the initiative was announced by Scott’s former chief of staff, Steve MacNamara, said they had no idea that it only included the governor’s unpublished account. That was never mentioned during the press conference.

“It was always my understanding that all of the governor’s email accounts were going to be listed,” said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. “I find it very odd and misleading that we’re only getting the [positive] stuff.”

Scott and his staff have also used other measures to "promote" the voter purge, using the public to do so through Facebook and Twitter. Earlier this month the Republican Party of Florida used party funds to promote the purge in emails from Scott to his supporters, asking "Will you help me share this victory for Florida voters?"

Still, Scott's office is defending the Project Sunburst website, saying:

It's “most transparent public records system in Florida state government,” and they say Scott’s official state account was not displayed because of concern for the privacy of people who include personal information in their emails to the governor.

Dan Krassner, director of Integrity Florida, a good governance organization, criticized the failure to put all emails on Project Sunburst.

“Project Sunburst should not be used as a propaganda machine,” said Krassner. “When you leave transparency in the hands of officials to pick and choose what they want to share with the public, problems arise.”

Will this mean more transparency from Scott's office in the future though? Probably not.

As usual:

Scott was not available for comment.

Rick Scott Gets Burned By His Own "Sunshine"

SPF = 0

What is it with Gov. Rick Scott's office and so-called "transparency?"

First there were the "accidentally" deleted emails, and now this, involving another "accidental" release of data. When the emails went missing, the losers were the citizens of Florida, to which the governor's office said what amounted to "Oops! No matter though, nothing to see there anyway" and an investigation found there was no wrongdoing. 

Sure.

Those deleted emails led Scott to create "Project Sunburst" where emails to his administration are posted for all to see. Of course, Scott isn't a fan of using email, and rarely communicates that way, and those that are posted are only what they want the public to see. Mostly communications from the media. It shifts most of the actual "sunlight" onto what reporters are working on rather than the governors office communications. Naturally, that means reporters may be less apt to communicate with them, hence less questions asked. Problem solved.

Well, it seems this new accidental release of information is a little different. The problem for Scott's office this time? It puts some of his actions out there in full sunlight, and what he's doing about that shows he's really not all that concerned with transperency.

Suffice it to say Gov. Scott may get burned this time around.

It's quite an interesting read:

From Aaron Deslatte of The Orlando Sentinel: Scott's Office Flips Out Over Accidental Release Of Data

 

 

GOP Lawmakers Pass Bill To Shield Them From Testifying In Redistricting Lawsuits

Just one week after Florida Democrats filed a suit to challenge redistricting maps, Republicans in the Florida House passed a bill that would shield them from ever testifying or to produce public records when they get sued:

The Republican-controlled Legislature’s proposal to grant itself what’s called “absolute privilege” in any civil suit or legal proceeding emerged for the first time Wednesday, the sixth week of the nine week lawmaking session, less than one week after the Florida Democratic Party filed a lawsuit challenging its redistricting maps.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee blasted the last-minute proposal as a blatant attempt to “hide the ball” behind its redistricting effort, which are expected to draw additional lawsuits from defenders of the Fair Districts amendments voters passed in 2010.

“I think timing is telling,” said Rep. Darren Soto, an Orlando Democrat on the panel. “What it’s telling me is that this is an attempt to shield legislators from depositions in the redistricting process.”

Republicans on the panel said the move was necessary because more and more groups – teachers, unions, and others – are filing lawsuits against the Legislature and attempting to compel lawmakers and their staff to testify about the “legislative intent” behind what they’ve passed.

But Democrats challenged them to prove the move wasn’t a veiled attempt to hide lawmakers from explaining the “intent” behind their new congressional and legislative maps, offering an amendment to exclude the coming redistricting lawsuits from the new legal privilege. Republicans defeated it.

Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux issued this statement on the legislative immunity bill:

“With the GOP redistricting legal team in the front row, Republicans today rammed through perhaps the most outrageous and transparent abuse of legislative power in years, and that is no small feat in Florida. Today, with a looming redistricting legal fight on the horizon, Republicans sought to shield themselves from the courts and the people in what can only be called a cowardly move to conceal their own unconstitutional dealings from court review.

“If Republicans truly believed their maps would withstand court muster they wouldn’t be so concerned about ensuring immunity and avoiding questions.”

"If You See Something, Say Something?" Where Do We Start?

I Can See Clearly Now 
 
(Illustration: Beach Peanuts)

Last week Gov. Rick Scott announced he was joining domestic security officials to launch an "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign in Florida. 

From his press release:

The initiative features a toll-free, statewide hotline and online reporting form for citizens to report suspicious activity.

“As we draw closer to the 10-year anniversary of 9-11, there is no better time to remember the many lives lost that day a decade ago, and to remind citizens of the need to remain vigilant,” said Governor Scott. “This is another tool that citizens and tourists can use to contact authorities when they witness something they know is out of place.”

Wake up and smell the irony, citizens of Florida!

Something was a tad suspicious and out of place just recently, but I can't quite put my finger on it.......oh that's right! The governor's transition e-mails! The ones which he literally can't put his fingers on because they were deleted. I guess that would fall under the "If You Can't See Something, We Must Have Deleted It" department?

Good thing Gov. Scott called for an investigation to find out how those e-mails got deleted during a "chaotic transition run by a largely out-of-state staff still learning Florida law"..........except that those conducting the investigation also happen to work for Scott. Gosh, I wonder how that will turn out? I'm guessing he'll release the "findings" soon, something like: "The e-mails were indeed "mistakenly" deleted, but it won't happen again" or they'll find the company which deleted them entirely at fault as a scapegoat. 

The Florida Democratic Party in turn put out their own tongue and cheek press release highlighting several items:

Thursday, August 11th – Said individual lied to Floridians about the state’s credit rating.

Monday, August 16th (sic) - Florida Supreme Court ruled said individual violated the Florida Constitution by exceeding his authority.

Thursday, August 18th – Said individual lied to the Orlando Sentinel about the quality of state workers' health care.

Friday, August 19th – Said individual admits to deleting public record emails belonging to the citizens of the State of Florida.

Sunday, August 28th – Said individual admitted to knowing about public record destruction four months before acknowledging the law had been broken.
 
We appreciate your attention to this very serious matter.

The ACLU came out to criticize the governor, saying: the program will inevitably result in profiling and spurious tips:

"These turn in your neighbor programs produce unreliable information and are little more than a government sponsored invitation to view everyone as a potential criminal and act on racial and ethnic stereotypes," Simon said in a statement. [Howard Simon, executive director ACLU Florida]

Bailey rejected that. [Gerald Bailey, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner]

"When it comes to suspicious activity, it's not a particular type of person you're going to be looking for, but behavior," Bailey said.

That would be the same Gerald Bailey charged with investigating Rick Scott's missing transition e-mails. Potential conflict of interest anyone?

The head of FDLE, Gerald M. Bailey, is employed at the will of Scott and the Cabinet. That relationship could pose a conflict for the department's investigation, [Alex] Sink said. Sink, a former state CFO, lost the governor's race to Scott in November.

"This is outrageous," Sink said. "Clearly there were laws broken. There should be an independent investigation into why these transition e-mail disappeared into thin air." 

If Bailey defends Scott on the new program, will he also defend Scott in the deleted e-mail investigation? 

What about the hypocritical behavior we see on an almost daily basis? Here's another revelation too recent to make the "list" from the Democratic Party: Scott will tell you that demands to cut spending means "making the tough choices," which translates to cuts in everything from education to unemployment benefits. 

In the latest controversy from the governor's office, you probably won't be surprised to learn that as Scott and the Legislature "tightened your belt" and gave tax cuts to big businesses, he also recently blew nearly $80k on renovations to spruce up his new chief of staff's office and Scott's executive suites, courtesy of the taxpayer. This "makeover" was for a new chief of staff who Scott values to the tune of $189k a year. Rather than taking a 3 percent cut in salary like other state workers, Steve MacNamara gets a 26 percent raise over the last guy. Scott's known for generous salaries for his staff, and MacNamara's even tops those in states like Texas, New York and even California. (Almost brings to mind another scandolous adventure in high-end decorating: the Taj Mahal courthouse in Tallahassee.)

So many other examples are so well known and egregious there's no need to "say something." He's just getting started on his four years of austerity fame: Medicare Fraud, health care cuts, high-speed rail. Drug testing welfare recipients, blocking food stamps from a blind woman, cutting unemployment benefits. Killing jobs, slashing education, cutting insurance regulations. 

Scott gets state health care at a discount, thanks to taxpayers.

While you sit in traffic for hours on end, Scott breezes over head in his own private plane, avoiding both gridlock on the highway AND the Commision Of Ethics. 

In the event of a catastrophic hurricane, Scott has a back up roof stashed away in storage. Don't you?

One almost wonders if he got the idea for "If you see something, say something" from one of several groups out there who already do so, like Awake The State, Pink Slip Rick, and It Gets Worse, just to name a few.

Why stop with the governor's office? There's plenty of "suspicious behavior" to scrutinize elsewhere in Florida government. There's an almost endless supply of "see something, say something" to go around. 

How about the Florida Legislature's redistricting roadshow? There are town hall meetings where you can certainly "say something," but Legislators won't, and you'll see no maps. 

The Legislature? Where do we start? Just try and name a Republican that has no scandal attached to their name.

There are so many chapters from the Adventures Of Mike Haridopolos that you could write a book! In fact, just to keep them all straight, Progress Florida has devoted an entire website, DirtyHari.org, to documenting them all.

Don't forget BondiGate, the foreclosure investigations and firings by the Florida Attorney General. 

The list goes on and on. So much to say, so much to see, and probably so much more we aren't even aware of. Yet.

Three years to go in the Rick Scott Administration and counting....