- Holding up their donut holes, activists say, "This is how many jobs Rick Scott made today."
In between posing for photos, protesters kept the governor on his toes by asking hard questions in between donut orders. To the governor’s credit, his smile never wavered, no matter how hostile the question was. Now that he has a new press secretary in tow, some believe that this is a positive step toward re-vamping the image of the least popular governor in America.
Activists would ask Scott for a pink-glazed donut, then hand him a pink slip. “On behalf of 982,000 people who are unemployed, here’s your pink slip.” said Ritter and numerous other protesters. “Oh, that’s a big number.” was the most Scott would reply.
Although activists claim that the governor is a job-killer who is responsible for 982,000 unemployed, it is not necessarily true that Governor Scott has not created any jobs. Under his office, the unemployment rate has remained steady at 10.6%. According to Politifact, Florida has gained 85,500 jobs from January through June 2011.
After Phyllis Roth recounted her difficult job search to the governor, he handed her the number of Cynthia Lorenzo, director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation. He would hand out this number on several occasions when faced with similar situations.
When Scott mentioned that his daughter was a teacher of special needs, Tim Heberlein asked about Scott’s proposed budget cuts in the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, in response to the agency's $174 million deficit. Although the plan ultimately did not pass, Heberlein wondered why the drastic cut was even proposed at all. “I was wondering why would you do it in the first place? This is why we have those types of programs, and one of the reasons why I pay taxes.”
Much like a donut, the workday was sweet without much nutritional substance. There were no groundbreaking revelations, but overall, the workday was an interesting opportunity to see how the governor handled tough questions while juggling donut orders. Even while being critiqued, he retained the same rictus smile throughout the morning.
One gentleman in particular tested Scott’s customer service. Ronald Ballentine asked, “Sir, I’ve got a trick question for you. Is the customer always right?” With his expression unchanging, the governor replied, “Yes.” Ballentine was wearing a shirt that said, ‘Pink Slip Rick.’
You can watch displeased Floridians hand Scott his pink slip here.
