Scott’s Weekend Press: “Bad Optics,” “Lies” & Corruption

Here’s what Floridians were reading this weekend:

• Columns in the Orlando Sentinel and Miami Herald condemning Rick Scott’s “lies” and highlighting the “bad optics” as he flees from red tide protesters;
• An expose in the Palm Beach Post revealing new details of his corruption;
• A Florida Politics report on Scott’s historic Medicare fraud;
• The Miami Herald’s endorsement of Senator Nelson, contrasting his fight to put Florida first with Scott’s self-serving politics.

See for yourself:

Miami Herald, Hiaasen: Rick Scott doesn’t want his Senate campaign swept away by the (red) tide: Scott made a rare, ghost-like appearance on Martin County’s algae-plagued St. Lucie River. It was a short boat ride, and the governor successfully avoided interacting with residents or journalists. Even from a distance, the optics were bad. More recently, Scott had to flee a couple of campaign events because protesters were showing up, mocking him as “Red-Tide Rick.” Another optic setback.

Orlando Sentinel, Maxwell: ‘Mostly false:’ Politifact vets 9 Rick Scott ads, finds all 9 are false. It’s almost impressive, yet hardly surprising, as Scott has used lies to distract from his own record every step of his political career.

Palm Beach Post: Medicaid paid drug-maker in Scott’s portfolio hundreds of millions. Even absent controversy over drug prices, the governor’s Gilead shares fuel an ongoing question that has dogged the multimillionaire Republican: Has his family fortune profited from his policy decisions?  […] “Scott as governor has the ability to influence policies that impact the bottom line of Gilead,” said Craig Holman, lobbyist on campaign finance and governmental ethics for the Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen.[…] the fact that (policy) is lining his pockets provides the appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said.

Miami Herald, Editorial: Re-elect Bill Nelson to the Senate. He puts Florida’s interests first. In his three terms in the Senate, Nelson, 76, has made Florida, its people, its environment and its well-being his priority. After eight years, unfortunately, the same simply cannot be said about Scott.

Florida Politics: How much responsibility did Rick Scott really take in Medicare fraud scandal?  A television commercial released this week seeking to address the 1990s Medicare fraud scandal has the Republican U.S. Senate campaign of Gov. Rick Scott declaring, “he took responsibility” […]  news reports from the time of the scandal say Scott took responsibility only by resigning, and he did that under pressure from corporate board members unhappy with his defiant policy toward an FBI investigation.

These reports add to the over 370 bad stories Scott’s suffered in the first 150 days of his campaign.

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