Rick Scott turns 59 today, and to celebrate, he'll be part of a panel discussion with other GOP governors at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Orlando. Among the panelists sharing the dais with him are fellow Tea Party favorites John Kasich of Ohio and Wisconsin's Scott Walker. Like Rick Scott, the other governors have seen their popularity drop precipitously over the past year.
Kasich, you might recall, was humbled last month when a restrictive new collective bargaining law he championed was overwhelmingly rejected by the Ohio electorate.
And Walker? He may face a recall election, having infuriated Wisconsinites with his attempts to curb collective bargaining rights of public-sector workers. Opponents say they've collected 300,000 signatures to force such an election (they need 540,208 by Jan. 17).
Scott's attempts to reduce collective bargaining rights of workers in Florida didn't go very far last year, as some moderate Republicans joined with Democrats in the Legislature to combat his efforts. Then again, since Florida is a right-to-work state, Scott and his fellow union-bashers had a lot less to work with.
But our governor has certainly been working in other areas to earn the dismal 36 percent public approval rating he currently enjoys.
Take his environmental policy, for instance. Scott's decision to radically defund the water management districts throughout the state was the subject of biting criticism from former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham, who said at a press conference in Tallahassee on Wednesday that this year's Legislature "reversed 40 years of Florida's progress in water and land conservation."
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2011.