Tag Archives: Florida

April 9, 2011 · 3:00 PM

Rick Scott Has a Plan For Jobs – Cut Them

Follow up on earlier post:  Recall Rick Scott

This blog is in no way dedicated to Governor Voldemort, but he hit new levels of evil with the most recent, despicable executive order cutting 15%  of the funding for the severely handicapped, slashing payments by 40% for the 30,000 disabled Floridians who rely on the state’s Medicaid program.

His rule of governing can’t be any clearer: he’s literally stepping on the most vulnerable to kiss the asses of the few corporations who hoard their cash despite record profits.  There is no reason he deserves the 30% approval rating he currently has.

In order to stress the need for a recall effort, I wanted to underscore this by updating some information from an earlier post. Recently, I commented on the stunning contrast between Florida Governor Rick Scott’s campaign promise to bring 700,000 jobs to the state of Florida. I noted then that the state of Florida was projected to cut almost 70,000 cash-money jobs.

Those numbers were wrong.

More recent numbers suggest that in the 4 months since taking office, Scott has cost the state roughly 74,000 jobs (estimates includes the number of jobs that were lost, in the long run, with the high-speed rail project). This includes 1,600 jobs cut from the Department of Health; 1,690 cut from the Department of Corrections and the Department of Children and Families; 28,500 expected to be lost from road projects;  about 4,106 job losses are yet to be determined but are planned for next year, or a total of 12,700 lost over the next 2 years;  and of course 24,000 to 40,000 jobs that would have come from the high-speed rail project that Scott nixed.

 

Thank Rick Scott for why China is ahead of us.

Thank Rick Scott for why China is ahead of us.

Those are just the state/public jobs that were cut by Rick Scott.

Florida A&M University, a private school, recently voted to eliminate 242 positions by their board of trustees.

Since taking office, private businesses such as the French firm, Teleperformance, has had to lay off 1,200 workers and retailers in Florida estimate they’ve had to fire over 5,700 employees due to Florida’s plummeting economic climate.

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March 27, 2011 · 11:17 PM

Florida Governor Rick Scott Thinks You’re on Drugs

Florida Governor Rick Scott thinks state workers are on drugs. So are poor people.

Rick Scott issued an executive order requiring drug tests of state employees. Governor Scott made his announcement while praising the Florida Legislature for advancing a bill for mandatory drug-tests of all welfare applicants.

“Floridians deserve to know that those in public service, whose salaries are paid with taxpayer dollars, are part of a drug-free workplace,” Scott said. “Just as it is appropriate to screen those seeking taxpayer assistance, it is also appropriate to screen government employees.”

(Notice Gov. Voldemort’s slick use of symbolism connecting welfare and state workers?)

Rick Scott wants your urine

In 60 days, current employees will be randomly drug tested 4 times a year. Beginning immediately, all new hires will be drug tested.

Oddly enough, there are some who object to this kind of thing. Like the federal judge in Florida who declared this policy unconstitutional 7 years ago. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found The Department of Juvenile Justice in violation of the Fourth Amendment when they ordered random drug testing.

In a statement released by the ACLU of Florida, Executive Director Howard Simon remarked “I’m not sure why Gov. Scott does not know that the policy he recreated by executive order today has already been declared unconstitutional”. It seems Emperor Scott views the Constitution (state and federal) as a gray area.

But wait! There’s more!

It turns out that one of Solantic’s more popular services is employer-related drug testing. Lucky for them, their founder, and major shareholder, is the Governor of Florida.

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March 13, 2011 · 11:39 PM

Rick Scott and the Corporate Takeover of Florida

Since Rick Scott bought the Florida Governor’s office, one question has been plaguing me: what’s in it for him? A self-described business-man with no political experience drops over $70 million on his campaign. What’s the pay-off for his large investment? An answer is beginning to materialize, and it’s unsettling how not-surprising it is.

Rick Scott on Cluster FOX

Scott was forced out as head of the for-profit hospital chain Columbia/HCA as a result of federal investigation against the company (who later plead guilty to Medicare fraud and paid a record $1.7 billion in fines). It was revealed that the company had been ripping off Medicare while giving kickbacks to doctors who steered patients to their hospitals.  6 days before he announced his candidacy, Rick Scott was deposed for a federal investigation on fraudulent business practices at his company Solantic.

As Governor, Voldemort transferred his Solantic ownership to his wife’s name. Solantic is regulated by the state, administers Medicaid, is licensed through the Agency for Health Care Administration, The Department of Health licenses its doctors, and both agencies’ secretaries are appointed by the Governor.

Governor Voldemort is very open about his opposition to the Patients for Affordability Act (cleverly referred to as “ObamaCare”). Not only does he refuse to implement the law, he organized raised over $20 million to fight the reform in 2009. Rick Scott is the founder of Conservatives for Patients Rights (CPR), one of the front groups who coordinated with allied groups (including Koch owned “Americans for Prosperity”) protestors at town-hall meetings nationally. This flyer was one of many they sent with schedules of meetings.

Scott has also recently taken action against pill-mill regulation. His controversial plans to kill the prescription drug database allowing  law-enforcement to track patients that “doctor shop” to obtain prescriptions for pain-killers like oxycodone. Solantic currently sells on-site prescription medication, and recently announced news they’ll be selling them at a deep discount.

So what do you think Rick Scott hopes to profit from his $70 billion investment?

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March 8, 2011 · 2:18 AM

The GOP Budget Would Cost Almost 1 Million Jobs

The demand from Congressional Republicans to slash over $60 billion from the federal budget has been analyzed by two independent sources and the outlook is grim. From the latest report from Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi (emphasis mine):

While the government spending cuts proposed by House Republicans for this fiscal year mean only modest fiscal restraint, this restraint is meaningful. If fully adopted, the cuts would shave almost 0.5% from real GDP growth in 2011 and another 0.2% in 2012. There would be almost 400,000 fewer U.S. jobs by the end of 2011 than without the cuts and some 700,000 fewer jobs by the end of 2012.


A week earlier, Goldman Sach’s produced a private report for their investors estimating even greater damage. They found the GOP budget “would be a drag on the economy, cutting economic growth by about two percent of GDP.”

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March 8, 2011 · 2:17 AM

Recall Rick Scott

Rick Scott doesn’t seem to realize that he was elected Governor of Florida, not emperor. The Oath of Office for the Florida Governor begins with the pledge to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of Florida.

Even though the Fair Districts Amendments received more votes than he, Scott canceled the DOJ approval (filed by the previous administration) and is in violation with the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

Remember the “7-7-7 Plan” that promised “700,000 jobs in 7 years”? Since taking office in January, Scott has cut roughly 70,000 jobs, including the 30,000 jobs that would have come with high-speed rail plans.

Remember the two official state planes that he sold? Senator J.D. Alexander not only questions the legality of those sales, but puts it in writing. According to Article VII, Section 1(c) of the Florida Constitution and Sections, the governor must receive approval from the legislature. In a letter, Alexander asked Scott what his legal authority was in making that transaction. He also asked about some of the $3.67 million that was kept from the state treasury.

Democratic state Representative Rick Kriseman, of St-Petersburg,  filed a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Florida voters to recall state legislators, cabinet members, and the governor. To set up a recall vote, a petition would require 15% of the votes cast in the last election.

Remember: Rick Scott won the election by only 50,000 votes.

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