When Push Comes To Shove, Who Really IS The Worst Governor In America?

Maine's teabagger governor Paul LePage could well surprise everyone and turn out to be the worst governor in history, tucked away where no one is looking. And about as far as you can get from Maine in the contiguous U.S. we can never count out Jan Brewer (even as more and more Arizona voters want her out). Who would have thought religious fanatic Bob McDonnell would be flying so low under the radar? Or Georgia's Nathan Deal? No one even has time to talk about Rick Perry anymore. No, it looks like the heavy lifting for Republican overreach has shifted to the Midwestern states of Wisconsin-- where Scott Walker has been rolling out his Simon Legree routine on a daily basis-- and Ohio-- where John Kasich looks like he's about to take flight onto the national stage next to the increasingly unpopular tub'o'lard, Chris Christie.. But after spending $73 million of his own-- in the way that stolen money, unconfiscated, indeed becomes one's own-- Florida sociopath Rick Scott is not about to be pushed to the side by any northern pikers like Kasich and Walker, no matter how much backing they have from the Koch Imperium. Even Florida Republicans are beginning to worry that this guy could upend their good thing down there.

“The governor doesn’t understand there is a State Constitution and that we have three branches of government,” said State Senator Mike Fasano, a Republican from New Port Richey who upset Mr. Scott with rough handling of his staff during a testy committee hearing. “They are talking about the attitude that he is still the C.E.O. of his former health care corporation, and that is not going to work in this state, in Tallahassee, in my district. The people believe in three branches of government.”

Republican lawmakers in Florida were hoping for a smoother transition. Instead, they say, they got top-down management from a political novice.

With the Legislature convening on Tuesday for a potentially arduous two-month session that is bound to usher in major cuts in spending and jobs and radical changes to education, pensions, unemployment benefits and Medicaid, the governor will be tested on a broader, more public scale. Florida faces an estimated $3.6 billion budget shortfall this year and has a stubborn 12 percent unemployment rate.

...In his first two months in office, the governor has irritated the State Senate’s powerful Budget Committee chairman by selling two state jets without legislative permission, a constitutional no-no. The governor wanted the sale done quickly (he uses his own plane), and he succeeded.

He annoyed the ambitious Senate president, as well as a host of leaders in conservative states, by trying to kill off a database to track the fraudulent distribution of addictive prescription drugs before it was up and running. He did so without consulting lawmakers, calling the monitoring system an invasion of privacy.

Most recently, Mr. Scott rejected $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando, which he saw as too big a financial drain on state taxpayers in the long term.

His refusal to take the money prompted new bouts of discord; a staunch conservative Republican from central Florida joined forces with a Democrat in filing a lawsuit last month, and 26 lawmakers signed a letter to the federal transportation secretary urging him to basically ignore the governor and send the money anyway. (The State Supreme Court ruled in Mr. Scott’s favor on Friday.)

As State Senator Arthenia L. Joyner, a lawyer and the Democrat who took Mr. Scott to court, put it at a news conference about the suit: “It’s necessary at this time, I think-- because our governor’s new-- to let him know this is not a monarchy. He’s not a king. This is a democracy.”

Mr. Scott’s go-it-alone style of governing was on display vividly last month when he chose to unveil his two-year budget 200 miles from Tallahassee, in the rural town of Eustis, at a rally jammed with Tea Party supporters. Mr. Scott, who wants to promote business in the state and drastically reduce the government’s reach, proposes slashing $4.1 billion in spending and cutting property and corporate income taxes.

...And he wants to cut costs in Florida’s pension fund by requiring more than 600,000 government workers, including police officers, teachers, firefighters, judges and retirees, to contribute 5 percent to their retirement. New employees would use plans similar to a 401(k). This has angered state workers, who have gone without a general raise since 2006. They plan large demonstrations around Florida on Tuesday.

The Koch Brothers bussed in confused-- often medicated-- teabaggers from all over the state to disrupt the demonstrations. But the bottom line is that in a state where education needs to be improved, the governor just lopped off $2,335 a year from the average teacher's salary to give a massive tax cut to corporations, the wealthy and a pittance in lowered property taxes for average Florida homeowners. Most will get a break of around $50 a year. Back to Senator Joyner's assertion that "this is not a monarchy. He’s not a king. This is a democracy.” TampaBay.com carried an interesting column today addressing that very basic question.

The state Constitution prohibits the governor and lawmakers from privately meeting to discuss pending legislation. Scott's folks have insisted that, in his private meetings, the governor hasn't broken the law. But on at least one occasion, a meeting with three senators involved somewhat substantial discussions on the budget. On Sunday, Scott and his wife dined with Senate President/U.S. Senate candidate Mike Haridopolos in private. Haridopolos said the politicians didn't talk politics.

When asked about the coffee plans for today, Scott's spokesman Brian Burgess said by email Saturday that he didn't know about any coffee invitation at first. Then, he said, the gathering wouldn't break the law. 

"Coffee with 10 legislators-- purely social," he said by email. "But thanks for ruining a perfectly good Saturday with my family so you could be first to report the non-story."

Last night Scott, who has done everything in his power to gut the department that regulates growth, as developers have asked him to, put on a human costume and delivered a state of the state speech to the citizens of Florida whose lives he seems intent on destroying. He warned Republican legislators that they'd better stick with him. I hate to say it, but Floridians elected this psychopath (and crook) and gave him huge legislative majorities. They're on their own. I'm just glad the $2.4 billion in federal assistance that he turned down is headed for California where it will revitalize an economy nearly as bad as Florida's by helping bolster employment while developing start of the art infrastructure. Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith can't be as cavalier and has to keep the well being of Floridians front and center. He was pleased with Scott's dishonest performance yesterday.

“Since he took office, Floridians have seen that Rick Scott only cares about imposing his rigid and extreme philosophy on our state, rather than working to implement common sense solutions for Florida.

“Whether he is killing high speed rail, proposing his spending plan that would lay off 20,000 teachers, or putting communities at risk by ending critical law enforcement tools to stop pill-mills, Rick Scott’s agenda is doing real harm to our state.

“Rather than working to improve the quality of living in our state, Rick Scott prefers to simply bully teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public servants.

“Rather than working to create jobs, Rick Scott is assaulting our middle class with union busting measures that genuinely hurt working Floridians and their families.

“Floridians are disappointed tonight because they saw Rick Scott is more interested in attacking government rather than attacking the many problems our state faces.”

Stephen King Has A Perspective Too

I doubt he's a bug LePage fan but America's most popular writer doesn't like the governor of his adoptive state either.

Noted horror writer and Casey Key resident Stephen King joined other Sarasota area residents in a rally on the downtown bayfront Tuesday night against state budget cuts, saying the government needs to protect education, unions and veterans services.

King especially bashed Gov. Rick Scott's leadership. With a note of sarcasm, King said a proposed high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando, for which Scott rejected federal dollars, was "probably a bad deal - considering how low the price of gas is."

"Maybe my next horror novel will star Rick Scott," King told the cheering crowd.