Scribbles from the Rick Scott bus tour…
by Michael C. Bender | July 25th, 2010Scribbles from the road after Day Four of Rick Scott’s six-day, statewide bus tour.
1. Let’s start with a detail about Scott’s jobs plan. After all, it is the reason the Republican gubernatorial candidate is hauling three family members, a dozen staffers and consultants, several news reporters, a van, an SUV and a bus with a giant picture of his head some 1,100 miles crisscrossing the state three times (see the map) in the middle of a scorching Florida summer.
2. Scott’s promise to create 700,000 jobs is in all of his campaign materials, from the wrapping on the bus, to the made-for-tv backdrops, to a glossy flyer that could be arriving in your mailbox any day.
But add up the numbers on that mailer and you’ll see it’s really 665,000 jobs. Ask the campaign for their consultant’s version of the plan and the actual number is 661,914 new jobs.
3. We asked about the discrepancy and Scott says he rounded up. His reason: It sounds better to say he has “seven steps for 700,000 jobs in seven years.”
The implication here is that voters won’t care that he takes a little creative license. And maybe he’s right — Florida has lost 830,000 jobs in the past three years. And he seems to know a little something about slogans; The “Let’s Get to Work” catchphrase he’s laced through $26 million in TV ads has caught traction with a lot of people around the state.
Flagler Beach
4. But the reality is that rounding error inflates Scott’s promise by 5.4 percent, or about 38,000 jobs. That’s roughly all the gas station jobs in the state. It’s more than twice as many jobs in all of Okeechobee County. If Florida lost another 38,000 jobs last month, its unemployment rate would be 11.8 percent instead of 11.4 percent.
5. The casual rounding comes from a candidate who insists he’s more cautious with numbers after his chain of hospitals was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. It’s also the candidate who wants to bring more accountability to the state government and vowed to stay away from “gimmicks” in the state budget.
6. About that fraud… If his TV ads have successfully spread his slogan, they’ve failed to stop the questions about why his company, which news reports say was nation’s largest Medicare biller at the time, exaggerated patients’ illnesses to get a bigger check from the government. Voters ask Scott about the case at just about every campaign stop.
7. Scott says in ads that he takes responsibility for the mistakes of HCA, his former company. In interviews, he says it’s his fault the company he built didn’t have enough auditors to flag the problems.
You can watch the video below from his Q&A with Sarasota Republicans on Thursday.
8. In a TV ad, Scott says he was never personally charged with any crime. “But that’s not what matters,” he adds, saying its more important that he takes responsibility for the company’s mistakes.
9. But it does matter to him. Scott tells everyone who asks. In Jacksonville, Claudia Werner said she wanted to know what to say when friends ask about his involvement in the fraud case. “It’s not true,” Scott told her. “It’s not true.” Scott went on to say that he had to take responsibility, but it wasn’t exactly his fault.
10. Something else Scott doesn’t think is true: that poll Thursday showing him beating primary opponent Bill McCollum by 14 points. Scott says it’s higher. He told a diner at a Flagler Beach restaurant that his internal polls showed he was 20 points up. Asked about it back on the bus, Scott didn’t want to say any more.
11. The incoming Senate president and House speaker, both Republicans, have pumped more than $1 million into McCollum’s campaign, but Scott might be working the margins. He met with Will Weatherford, the potential Republican speaker in 2013, and powerful lobbyist Michael Corcoran (whose client list includes HCA) during his swing through Tampa.
(UPDATE: Weatherford says most of the discussion was about Scott’s economic plan. “Both he and McCollum have good plans,” Weatherford said. Weatherford, a McCollum supporter added: “Both are good candidates. I think whoever wins Aug. 24 will win in November.”)
We asked Scott how he’d work with Mike Haridopolos and Dean Cannon, the Republican legislative leaders helping McCollum, if he’s elected.
“The same thing happens in business,” Scott said. “You compete with somebody and then you eventually do a merger.”
But don’t some people get sacrificed in a merger?
“As long as people have the right agenda, you’re fine. I think it will be fine,” he said.
DeLand
“I think it’s helpful to have legislative experiences, but you have so many things you have to think about picking a lieutenant governor,” he said.
13. Scott gets asked a lot the Medicare fraud and also about the negative ads he and McCollum are trading (quick cheers here to the gutsy GOP primary voters for wading into two pretty tough subject areas). But in true Florida fashion he also gets some from left-field, like one from a Flagler Beach resident who asked if Scott would just “level the whole state.” In The Villages, a man asked if Scott would keep President Obama from getting on the Florida ballot in 2012 because some conspiracy theorists say he’s not a U.S. citizen.
Scott said he had never heard of the so-called birthers. Asked if he believes Obama is a U.S. citizen, Scott said: “Oh, I have no idea. I assume he is or he wouldn’t be president. I assume he’s been vetted. But I don’t know that.”
About a half-hour and several topics later, Scott’s press secretary stepped into the interview. “I want to make sure there is no misunderstanding. Clearly he’s not a birther,” Alice Stewart said. “Clearly he believes President Obama is a U.S. citizen.”
“Right,” Scott said.
14. We noted Friday that Scott weighed in on the U.S. Senate race featuring Republican Marco Rubio and independent Charlie Crist, telling a Tampa Bay voter that “Marco’s lost his momentum.“
Scott said later that it was the Republican Party’s fault for not helping Rubio.
Here’s the response from the Rubio camp: “We’re pleased with Chairman Thrasher’s support in this campaign and look forward to a united Republican Party going into November,” Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos said.
Tags: bus tour, Rick Scott, scribbles
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July 25th, 2010 at 7:33 am
How much money did Scott personally make during the Columbia/HCA fraud and when he left the company?
When is he going to prove he takes “personal responsibility” by paying back that money, plus interest, to the U.S. Treasury?
July 25th, 2010 at 7:53 am
I have to wonder if the “reporter” took his axe with him on the tour. If he really thinks Scott is guilty of fraud, can he explain why Scott is not in the slammer? I’ll take a smart businessman every time over a career politician who raises his own pay. N.B. I’ve heard it said that we should have Michael Milliken as Treasurer because he knows about money (He did time for manipulating it) and Tim Gaithner doesn’t know how to file his income tax report. There is something to be said for business acumen.
July 25th, 2010 at 8:54 am
The part of his campaign that concerns me is some of his cost reductions, including having prisons grow their own food. While this sounds like a good idea, I wonder if Scott has actually considered the cost of land, equipment, harvesting, processing and distribution of such a proposal. This could easily cost much more than the current process. I wonder if he controls a company that would supply the inputs needed for this?
July 25th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Because it sounds better??? Give me a break. He openly admits he tells people what they want to hear. Government doesnt provide jobs, he does??? How much money did he make from government programs? What a hypocrite. Any one who would consider voting for this guy needs to pay attention. Liars and cheats lie and cheat. period
July 25th, 2010 at 10:18 am
MOST OF THESE BLOGS ATTACKING RICK SCOTT WITH “FRAUD ACCUSATIONS” ARE COMING FROM “HOODY DOODY’S” FRIENDS!
IF YOU CAN SAY SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF, ATTACK YOUR OPPONENT WITH LIES! TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WITH BRAINS THAT HAVE EVEN HAD TO DEAL WITH A GOVERNMENT BUREACRACY THIS IS HOW IT WORKS AND A REAL CUTE STORY TO BOOT!
Part of rebuilding New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership. Here’s a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client:
You have to love this lawyer……..
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.
(Actual reply from FHA):
“Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.”
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual response):
“Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus ’s expedition. Now the Pope, as I’m sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God’s original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our darn loan?”
The loan was immediately approved.
(These are the same geniuses charged with the Government mortgage bailout.)
AND THEY ARE FROM THE SAME “MOLD” AS THE INCOMPETENT EMPOLYEE’S OF THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION WHO COULD NOT UNDERSTAND OR COMMUNICATE MEDICARE RULES!
I’LL TAKE ANYTHING OR ANYONE OVER A 30 YEAR CAREER POLITICIAN! HOW DO YOU THINK WE GOT IN THE MESS?????
July 25th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
To: Cute Little Bureaucracy Letter Story - a quick review of Snopes.com demonstrated that your cute little anecdote is not based in fact. http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/landgrab.asp
Nice try, though. Just keep voting for the party of “no” and don’t complain when there’s nobody around to answer your phone calls when government is on a 4 day work week.
July 25th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Should be a cake walk for Alex Sink.
July 26th, 2010 at 7:46 am
have to laugh, Scott stresses “accountability”, yet his company, according to a Sun Sentinel news stroy, kept two sets of books…and once the government audits werer done and there were no fines, a ton of money waws pured into the company…the FBI agent who did the case said his one regret was not prosecuting criminally…Scott should by all rights be behnd bvars, not running for governor…and when he says he is accountable and takes responsibility, what the heck does that mean? that he got $300 millioon in stock and almost $20 million for other reasons when he left the company…sure don’t want a guy who says one thing and does another as governor…wish the reporterrs would nail him with the question, “what does he mean when he says (referring tpo the huge Medicare fraud by his company) that ‘I take responsibility’?”…exactly what has he done to back that staement up, give back the $300 million?…the reporter on the bus tour should be more like the Rolling Stone reporter who nailed General McCrystal..think the Post is panederring to him
August 20th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
McCullum’s behavior has been so unprofessional, I would not vote for him for anything. I detest prosecutors who feel entitled to try cases in the press without any respect for the due process rights of people.
When the FBI does a surprise raid they confiscate every piece of paper and interrogate everyone. I am not inclined to support double jeopardy. It’s unconstitutional, you know.