Rick Scott’s Style Let Him Down
March 10th, 2016 by Mike VasilindaGovernor’s Rick Scott’s hands off style of dealing with lawmakers isn’t paying him dividends in the legislature’s final hours. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, The Governor’s calls for tax cuts and economic development have fallen on mostly deaf ears and he’s losing one of his top appointees.
Governor Rick Scott wanted two things from lawmakers; Tax cuts.
“one billion dollars.”
and money for ecumenic development.
“250 million dollars”
But int he end, Scott is getting just 40% off his tax cuts and none of his economic development money. Some blame Scott’s hands off style. He rarely meets with lawmakers. His schedule shows he was only in the Capitol for 21 of the 58 session days so far, and he only met with 11 lawmakers one on one. Until just over a week ago, he insisted things would work out fine
“It’s no question. Nobody doesn’t know what we are working on” Scott told reporters.
Senate budget Chairman Tom Lee says Scott’s style, while different than most previous top executives, was not the root of all his troubles.
“I think he grabbed onto an issue that there was group of Republicans in the legislature had a real problem with and it was just taught negotiate anything on his behalf” Lee told us.
Some lawmakers with pointed remarks didn’t want to go on the record because Scott is still got his veto pen handy. But what they all said, almost in unison, is that the Governor isn’t hands on.
Surgeon general John Armstrong is the first Gubernatorial appointed to fail to win Senate confirmation in over two decades.”
“It was a terrible lack of transparency in that department, and you know, we’re dealing with public health.”
Rick Scott may still have the last laugh. He’s the guy with the veto pen when the budget hits his desk.
Last year, the Governor vetoed 461 million from the state budget, and it was a year in which he got mostly what he wanted.
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