Rick Scott is scheduled to tour in major cities across the state this week, beginning tomorrow at a Honda dealership in Brandon. It's all part of his campaign to tout his successes during the just-completed legislative session, which included his number one goal — a $400 million tax cut for Florida motorists who will save on average around $25 when they get their car re-registered.
“Florida families deserve to keep more of their hard-earned money," said the governor in a press release announcing the tour. "When I took office, Florida was deep in the hole and tuition was out of control. At a time when Floridians could least afford it, Charlie Crist raised taxes by $2.2 billion and let tuition climb year after year. This is a victory for Florida taxpayers and I’m going to keep working to make our state the best place in the country to raise a family, find a job, and enjoy every opportunity to succeed.”
But on a conference call, and Florida Democratic Party Vice Chairs Annette Taddeo and Justin Spiller slammed the idea of so-called victory tour, with Spiller claiming the idea was "as misleading as his TV ads."
"There are no victories because the people of Florida are losing," said Spiller, adding, that Scott "had so many opportunities to expand opportunities for the middle class," but ultimately failed. "That's not victory. That's failure," he said.
Taddeo blasted the governor on a number of fronts. When asked if there was anything positive he accomplished during the legislative session, she mentioned his support for granting undocumented high-school students the opportunity to pay in-state tuition for Florida universities and colleges. But that prompted the Palm Beach Post's George Bennett to ask her about Charlie Crist's flip-flop on the issue.
"We have to get through our primary first to see who our nominee is,” Taddeo said. “But I most certainly know where the Democratic party stood for more than a decade.”
So, Bennett responded, does that mean Taddeo isn't supporting Crist in his race against Nan Rich for the Democratic nomination?
"I am very glad that he is supporting [in-state tuition] now and I do trust him," Taddeo said. "I do trust that he has come to the Democratic side and is a proud Democrat," adding that she is pleased that Crist has been an unabashed supporter of the Affordable Care Act, for starters. After bemoaning the fact that Medicaid expansion continues to be a problem, she said, "there are so many things that we need to do, and with a Democratic governor we'll be able to change that."
Spiller also mentioned that the failure to expand Medicaid allows approximately 40,000 veterans in the state to remain on the uninsured rolls.
“I continue not to understand how Rick Scott can look servicemen in the eye,” Spiller said, adding that the governor “will do or say anything to get elected.”
Again, Governor Scott travels to Brandon Honda tomorrow (9209 East Adamo Drive) to celebrate what his campaign people are calling the "Help is on the Way!" Statewide Tax Cut Tour.
