Got Jobs? Why Retiring Gov. Rick Scott is a Top Priority For Florida Voters … by gimleteye

There will soon be an opportunity to redress the mistake of electing Gov. Rick Scott to governor of Florida. There will be an election through which Florida voters can change course.

Yesterday's state of the state speech by Gov. Scott glided past the single campaign promise that stuck with voters in his first and only political campaign: "seven steps to 700,000 jobs over seven years". Politifact writes today, "As of December 2013, Florida has added 406,000 jobs since January 2011. Scott has several years to try to achieve 700,000 new jobs, we've rated his promise 'in the works'." If he is reelected.

Based on two new economic studies, a more realistic picture of Florida under the GOP stranglehold emerges.

Last week, the non-partisan LeRoy Collins Institute released a 120-page report called “Tougher Choices” by two University of Florida economists which concluded Florida’s ability to create high-wage jobs was eroding.

Among the findings, funding for teachers and higher education was among the worst in the country, its “hollowing out” of middle-class jobs was worse than the nation’s, Medicaid would continue to grow as more retirees move here, and roadways were among the nation’s most congested.

Pew’s "Fiscal 50" report compares mid-2013 fiscal data to pre-recessionary periods and determines states' “fiscal health” on tax revenues, spending, the workforce, long-term obligations, and fiscal policy.

While average state tax collections have bounced back to pre-recession levels, Florida was one of 11 states where tax collections remain more than 10 percent below the peak in 2006.

In fact, the report indicates once inflation and seasonal fluctuations are account for, Florida is roughly 21 percent below its boom days in the mid-2000s. Only Wyoming and Alaska were worse off.

"When it comes to buying power, Florida is still double digits behind where it was before the recession," said Barb Rosewicz, a research director in Pew’s state fiscal health project.

Employment rates for “prime-age” workers -- 25- to 54-year-olds -- remained lower in 35 states last year than in 2007, and Florida ranked third-worst in the country, better than only New Mexico and Nevada.

Public opinion polls, that consistently show Scott suffering under the worst approval ratings of any governor in the nation, show a deep mistrust of the governor.

Former Democratic house minority leader Dan Gelber issued blistering remarks about Florida's governor:

"As reported by media outlets across the state, Scott regularly simply refuses to answer questions about his policies and his actions. Even more startling, unlike every recent governor, Scott has refused to let the public know where he travels and with whom he is meeting. Yes, Rick Scott, Governor of Florida, has lawyered up… again. It’s an amazing spectacle. Questions that probe why he is doing something, what his position is, even what he thinks about his own policies, are usually met with a “have a nice day” or simply the governor or his minions shutting down the interview. That’s if you can catch him. More often he simply just ducks out a back door before he can be questioned."

Among Rick Scott blunders, one that stands right up at the top of the list was reported recently by Tampa Bay Times writer Craig Pittman, "DEP ends effort to sell $50 million worth of parks and preserved lands": Nine months after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection launched a review of its conservation lands looking for $50 million worth that it could sell as surplus, the agency is ending the program without having sold a single acre.

It was typical Rick Scott style. Scott deeply damaged the state's relationship with environmentalists when he announced the plan to sell off state lands that had been acquired in the past, usually because the lands had been fought for by citizens outraged, tired, and frustrated by the willingness of state agencies to permit developers to grow sprawl wherever and whenever they wanted.

The idea of selling off state lands was met with derision, anger, and even fury by state environmental leaders who were sent, again, back to the trenches to fight for again what they had already fought for.

The Tampa Bay Times referred to the press statement by the governor's office and DEP secretary Herschel Vinyard Jr. as "oblique" and "making no mention of the hard feelings stirred up." The plan to delete hard-won state lands was likely just another chase-down-the-rabbit-hole tactic, favored by the most powerful lobbyists, development interests and Big Ag. Kind of like: let's set off a big firecracker and watch all the do-gooders run around like headless chickens. No mention, in the governor's press statement, that the state's two top, career land management officials had already resigned in silent protest.

Typical stuff from the most clueless governor in Florida's history.

For decades, through state programs such as Florida Forever, the Legislature invested $300 million a year in buying environmentally sensitive land. During the recent economic meltdown, the Legislature cut off the funding. Some lawmakers called for getting rid of some of the land.

Last spring, the DEP proposed, and the Legislature approved, including in the state budget $20 million in cash for buying land, plus up to $50 million more raised by selling off unneeded park land. To do that requires declaring the property to be no longer needed for conservation, despite the "Forever" part of the program name.

This fall, Florida voters will have the opportunity to retire Governor Scott back to the private sector. Let's hope it is also "forever".