Last Friday, Rick Scott sent this e-mail out to state employees:

——-Original Message——-

From: Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 6:39 PM

To: FDOT Outlook Users

Subject: Message from Governor Rick Scott to State Employees

March 11, 2011

Dear Team,

The Florida Legislature opened the 2011 session, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the work that lies ahead in the upcoming weeks. Throughout the session, we can expect a myriad of bills to be considered and debated. During this time, we must remain focused on getting Florida back to work. If we do, we will make Florida the best place to live, work and play.

This week, we learned that January's unemployment rate remains unacceptably high – at 11.9 percent. That translates to 1.1 million Floridians being out of work. For them, this is an emergency. So while this legislative session may be a regular session, in many ways, this will be an emergency session.

On Tuesday, I gave my first State of the State Address, urging the Florida Legislature to reject special interests who ask them to defend the status quo. We must remember we were sent to Tallahassee to reduce the size of state government, lower taxes, and eliminate regulation.

I commend the House for taking the lead on reforming the unemployment compensation system. The House's legislation reduces taxes on Florida businesses and ensures we have the necessary safety net for those who areout of work. By linking the number of weeks a person can receive benefits to the state's unemployment levels, we are creating an environment for Florida's job creators to get the state back to work.

I also commend the Senate for successfully passing the Student Success Act. It implements part of my 7-7-7 plan by eliminating tenure and instituting merit pay so that we can attract and retain the best educators and make sure every classroom in Florida has a highly effective teacher.

I look forward to working with you and with the Legislature to create the best business environment to start, grow or relocate a business. Let's get to work!

Regards,

Governor Rick Scott

There is no standard by which this is anything other than a political e-mail. It has nothing to do with the jobs that state workers are doing, it is simply a list of right-wing talking points that Rick Scott said repeatedly on the campaign, at his inauguration and at pretty much every public appearance he's said since then. The e-mail even uses his campaign slogan.

I talked to a number of political scientists today and they all suggested this was unethical, at best. That's my conclusion as well. In fact, if Barack Obama used the federal government e-mail system to send an e-mail filled with his campaign talking points and ending with "Hope and Change," the right and Fox News would go insane with anger.

But it may not simply be a matter of unethical behavior, it may also be illegal. From the Florida Statutes:

112.313: (6)?MISUSE OF PUBLIC POSITION.—No public officer, employee of an agency, or local government attorney shall corruptly use or attempt to use his or her official position or any property or resource which may be within his or her trust, or perform his or her official duties, to secure a special privilege, benefit, or exemption for himself, herself, or others.

Obviously, Scott is a public officer and he is using a resource in his trust (the state e-mail system) to disseminate campaign propaganda, which obviously is a special privilege, since his past and future opponents can't do the same, and is certainly a benefit to himself, since it amounts to little more than a campaign advertisement sent using state resources to state workers who have not opted in to Scott's campaign e-mail list. There's more:

104.31 Political activities of state, county, and municipal officers and employees.

(1) No officer or employee of the state, or of any county or municipality thereof, except as hereinafter exempted from provisions hereof, shall:

(a) Use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or a nomination of office or coercing or influencing another person’s vote or affecting the result thereof.

(b) Directly or indirectly coerce or attempt to coerce, command, or advise any other officer or employee to pay, lend, or contribute any part of his or her salary, or any money, or anything else of value to any party, committee, organization, agency, or person for political purposes. Nothing in this paragraph or in any county or municipal charter or ordinance shall prohibit an employee from suggesting to another employee in a noncoercive manner that he or she may voluntarily contribute to a fund which is administered by a party, committee, organization, agency, person, labor union or other employee organization for political purposes.

Again, Scott is certainly a state officer and employee. In his role as governor, he is certainly using his official authority and influence in this e-mail (and others, this isn't the first) to attempt to influence how people vote. There is also a pretty strong implied coercion to support the issues mentioned in the e-mail. He makes no bones about laying off state workers in the e-mail and at the same times tells employees in very clear and direct language what the official stances of the Florida government are. If that isn't at least an implied threat, I don't know what is.

This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.