Governor Scott Inauguration: How much will the press let Gov. Rick Scott get away with?

Jeb! Bush tolerated the press. He was quick to lash out at questions and reporters he deemed impertinent. Not even Jeb! imagined he could get away without talking to the press at all. Governor Rick Scott challenges that assumption. Scott won the office of Florida's governor despite refusing to grant a single interview to a state newspaper editorial board. I watched the Michael Putney TV interview with Scott in Miami, on the Scott Victory Lap Tour. The experienced interviewer failed to pierce Scott's thinking.

At his inaugural events, the press were personas non grata and even yesterday, amidst high security befitting the Manchurian Candidate, the press were delegated to certain events through a "pool" representative. One thing is for sure: inaugurations are the personal statements of the candidates we elected. This one was all about preening Florida's corporate interests in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Depression. It was created from images of prosperity as though those images could stimulate real demand. In the absence of real demand, Floridians appear ready to let a governor deliver changes to Florida's protections-- for our air, water and environment-- to serve polluters and land speculators straight out of a powerpoint presentation.

It must have been fun in Tallahassee for big business, kind of like when Enron took its "Liquid Gold" party to the state capitol in 1999-- to persuade Gov. Bush, whose staff were already on board the Enron train, to privatize Florida's water management districts (and to put campaign contributions in every water pipeline in the state of Florida, like water spigots). Enron then collapsed, and Jeb! skittered away from the carnage that still took down $350 million in state pension funds directed to purchase Enron stock as it slid. But what does Rick Scott know about policy history, or anything else about the struggle to maintain balance and equity between the public and private interests? It's a blank slate and high security all the way, protecting him from us. My prediction is that Scott will use mainly the Fox News-like entities, like Sunshine State, that project radical extremist views to get his messages out. Why? Because he can and because Florida's business elite-- who are smart enough to know how damaging this all is to our state-- don't have the courage to stand up and to voice their objections. It is Miami, times one thousand.