Two New Editorials Slam Scott’s Corruption & Self-Serving Politics

Sun Sentinel: The governor’s most consequential decisions  […]  were partisan and bad for the people of Florida

Tampa Bay Times: As governor, his blind trust for his personal fortune appears to be not so blind

Two new editorials today from the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Tampa Bay Times slam Rick Scott for his self-serving politics and using his office to enrich himself at the expense of Floridians:

Sun Sentinel Editorial: It takes blind faith to trust Gov. Rick Scott

• The governor’s most consequential decisions — to reject President Obama’s Medicaid expansion and a fully-funded high-speed rail project — were partisan and bad for the people of Florida. The algae blooms that kill fish, choke people and depress tourism are the price of his willful neglect of the environment. Lives have been lost because of his indifferent oversight of the departments of family services and corrections. The Sun Pass toll collection fiasco was on his watch, and a conflict of interest.
• Even if none of that were weighting the ledger, the contest between Nelson and Scott would still be unequal on the issue of character, which ought to be paramount in judging whether someone deserves the people’s trust. Nelson has been scandal-free, Scott not so. How he became wealthy and what’s he done with the money are significant issues for the voters.
• To deflect suspicion of conflicts of interest, the governor created what he called a blind trust that supposedly would conceal even from him how his money was being invested […]  In practice, the trust has been “blind in name only,” as the New York Times described it. There have been an astonishing series of comparable investments by the governor’s trust and by his wife.
• What sets [Scott] apart is how he has insulted the intelligence of Florida voters by pretending that his “blind trust” is anything but a sham.
• Bill Nelson, Florida voters have a senator who has shown that he can be trusted not to exploit them. Given the challenger’s record, how can they trust Scott?

Tampa Bay Times Editorial: Nelson better voice for Florida in U.S. Senate

• Nelson, who is seeking his fourth term, works with fellow Democrats as well as Republicans in the Senate. In fact, he often has taken on issues such as caller identification fraud that are nonpartisan. Scott has been a partisan governor who failed to develop close relationships with even fellow Republicans in the Legislature who called most of the shots in Tallahassee.
• For voters who care about access to affordable health care, Nelson is far superior to Scott. The Democrat voted for the Affordable Care Act and is committed to improving it. Scott has fought the law for years, opposed Medicaid expansion and would not be a positive force. Don’t trust the television ad that shows him pledging support for requiring insurers to offer coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. It’s hollow rhetoric.
• For voters who care about the environment, Nelson has a strong record and has been Florida’s most steadfast opponent to expansion of off-shore drilling. Scott has the worst environmental record of any governor in recent history, from dismantling growth management to gutting water management districts to embracing the pro-growth, deregulation approach that has contributed to the massive green algae blooms. His deal with the Trump administration to exempt Florida from expanded drilling is less than iron-clad.
• For voters who care about ethical leadership, Nelson has an unblemished record over decades in elected office in Tallahassee and Washington. Scott was forced out as CEO of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, which then paid a record fine for Medicare fraud. As governor, his blind trust for his personal fortune appears to be not so blind following multiple reports of investments by his wife and the trust that are similar and at least indirectly related to state business. He also is the first governor who has paid public money to settle lawsuits accusing him of violating public records and open meetings laws.
• The U.S. Senate should work in a bipartisan manner and serve as a check on an impulsive, unpredictable president. Scott would serve neither of those goals. Nelson would serve both, and he deserves to be re-elected.

These add to the 620 bad stories Scott’s suffered in the first 200 days of his campaign.

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