Editorial: In Florida Governor Race, Re-Elect Rick Scott

The Florida governor race has been one of the nastiest contests in the country. By Election Day, PPD expects more than $100 million will have been spent attacking the two candidates, neither of which Floridians hold in particularly high regard.

Four years ago, Rick Scott, a sometimes stiff health care executive, defeated the well-known Democrat Alex Sink by a tiny 2-point margin. He promised to bring back accountability to government, balance the state budget and oppose efforts to implement a statewide sales tax, as well as other revenue increases Floridians could ill-afford.

Early in his tenure, the gravity of the challenge quickly became apparent. Florida was in bad shape, and Scott was faced with difficult decisions regarding long-ignored budget shortfalls, cuts to education and much-needed reforms to state employee pension programs. The new governor was attacked from both his left and right.

Yet, on the big issues, his private-sector instincts outweighed the political considerations that typically motivate lifelong politicians. Governor Scott listened to the people when we spoke and, when increased state revenues allowed for more spending, he changed course on big appropriations to education, senior care and other areas his critics had described as draconian.

Scott’s budget proposals didn’t just make investments in education, environmental conservation, disabled children and senior programs, transportation and other areas, but they made wise investments. His budget reform policy required state workers to contribute 3 percent of their salaries to the state pension fund, a fair amount that parallels contributions required from most private-sector workers. Governor Scott also made wise investments in Florida’s ports, state roads and infrastructure, which was more about promoting economic growth and commerce than it was a government-sponsored worker program.

However, Scott would not have been able to make these investments without abandoning his anti-tax, limited government principles, if not for his administration’s success in reversing Florida’s economic malaise.

Any journalist in Florida will tell you that economic development officials throughout the state, even in liberal-dominated Gainesville, praise Governor Scott as the most engaged and responsive governor in recent memory. He has made it a daily task to persuade companies to either relocate to Florida or expand their enterprises, constantly competing with Texas Governor Rick Perry to bring good-paying jobs to the Sunshine State. Under Scott, the private sector has flourished in this new business-friendly environment, which he helped to create by nixing roughly 3,000 burdensome regulations on small businesses and by cutting dozens of taxes.

Scott’s focus on increasing tourism was sorely needed after his opponents insufficient response to the BP oil spill, and has produced extraordinary results. Tourism is now at a record high, and is expected to reach 100 million this year, alone. Visitors to the Sunshine State are finding a more diversified economy, thanks in large part to Scott’s well-known, aforementioned efforts to attract new enterprises.

Floridians, by any measure, are more prosperous and have more opportunity than they did four years ago.

According to the latest data from Help Wanted Online, the number of online job openings in Florida increased in October 2014 compared to the previous October by 8.7 percent, or 21,480 openings for a total of 268,453 (seasonally adjusted). Job postings in Florida also increased over the month compared to September 2014 by 6,775 openings, or 2.6 percent. Since 2010, when Governor Scott took office, the Florida economy created more than 651,000 private-sector jobs, a number that has steadily increased from the abysmal record of his predecessor.

With Governor Rick Scott, Florida is making progress.

The Editorial Board contends that the choice Floridians face is between moving forward with a known proven leader, or moving backward with an unknown former leader who abandoned Floridians and the very post he again seeks to fill. Former Governor Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, might as well be an unknown candidate considering his complete reversal on just about every issue. Whether Floridians agree with Governor Rick Scott or not, at least they can always be assured they know where he stands on the issues.

And the positions we do know Crist has adopted, we believe will hurt every day Floridians, including families and children.

A Crist tenure would mean repeated vetoes on still-needed legislative efforts to expand school choice, pension reforms and additional tax cuts. A Crist tenure would mean the implementation of the first-ever statewide income tax, which would disproportionately hurt the working class and their families, reverse economic growth and suffocate Scott’s prior efforts to attract new enterprise.

With more money in their pockets, the adoption rate of children steadily increased under Scott, but higher taxes will mean less money in their pockets. A Crist tenure would risk reversing Scott’s success in keeping higher education costs affordable, cutting taxes and fees. Under Crist, car insurance fraud was driving up premiums, but due to Scott’s fraud reforms that aggressively prosecuted such criminals, experts claim that Floridians benefited by 13 – 18 percent in premium savings.

Voters should never forget that the politically ambitious Charlie Crist chose to abandon his voter-entrusted post in the governor’s office to further his own political career. When he ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, he broke his promise not to run as an independent if he lost the GOP primary to now-Senator Marco Rubio, and it is not a stretch to interpret his recent party change as a desperate maneuver to rehabilitate a political career that voters ended just 4 years ago.

Scott, on the other hand, has expressed interest in nothing except for completing the job he was elected to do — make Florida a better place for Floridians.

He brought accountability back to government, which now resembles the kind of accountability found in the private sector perhaps more so than in any other state. Scott has governed in a manner that is consistent with the values and principles of a center-right state, yet is responsive to Florida’s increasingly diverse needs, even pledging to spend $1 billion on water conservation.

In the Florida governor race, the Editorial Board at People’s Pundit Daily endorses the re-election of Gov. Rick Scott.