| Cara Jennings confronts Florida Governor Rick Scott about cuts to healthcare and women's health in a Gainesville Starbucks. |
Does building a frigging wall on our southern border keep you awake at night? Jobs, housing, and healthcare are a different story.
by Roy Steele
GAINESVILLE, Florida --- Millionaire business investor Rick Scott is the current Republican governor of Florida. He was elected to his first term in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Scott spent $75.1 million dollars of his own money during his first run for office, and he eked out a 1% (sixty thousand votes) victory over Democrat Alex Sink. There were 5.2 million votes cast in the 2010 contest.
$107.4 Million Dollars Buys 2 Terms In Tallahassee
In October 2014, the Orlando Sentinel reported that the governor spent at least $12.8 million dollars of his considerable wealth on his re-election effort at that point while the Miami Herald wrote that rumors suggested he’d spend $22.0 million dollars.
I reviewed the Florida state database of campaign contributions, and Rick Scott and his wife donated $12.8 million dollars plus an additional $19.5 million dollars to his re-election efforts via their super-PAC ‘Let’s Get To Work’ (total of $32.3 million dollars). He defeated former governor Charlie Crist by the slimmest of margins, and I can confidently say that he bought an elected office. If someone spends over $100.0 million dollars to win an election they purchased the office.
Buying your way into a governor’s mansion is corrupt in my opinion and all too common. Bernie Sanders has been carping about this for years, and this is a textbook example of an oligarch buying an elected office.
Millionaire and Billionaire Politicians
There are lots of politicians across the country with considerable wealth, and that in itself doesn’t make them evil. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a millionaire committed to improving the life of the impoverished. He wanted to lift them up and give people the tools to succeed. The late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) was wealthy, and he was a champion promoting social justice for racial minorities and LGBT Americans.
I’ve been involved in politics since I was five or six years old and think I’m an astute observer of today’s political landscape. It’s troubling that I can’t think of any politician with considerable wealth who is committed to fighting racism and promoting gender equality. I can’t think of any billionaire candidate working tirelessly to lift up the poor or reducing income inequality. Do you know of a multimillionaire office-holder actively putting his or her money to good use battling for LGBT civil rights?
Governor Tim Scott spent over $100 million dollars to be elected and doesn’t know that he has a responsibility to all the people in the state, regardless of their political ideology or party politics. If you don’t believe me see for yourself. His reaction is appalling.
Do Public Servants Serve The Public?
Scott was in Gainesville, Florida and visited a Starbucks for coffee. Cara Jennings was in the store working on her laptop and noticed the governor. She told the Florida Sun-Sentinel that she began a conversation with him, and the beginning of the conversation was ‘civil.' Then it quickly devolved into her shouting at the governor as he ran out of Starbucks.
“You cut Medicaid so I couldn’t get Obamacare,” she shouted. “You don’t care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here.”
The Governor started shaking his head NO as he bragged “I created a million jobs.”
“A million jobs? Great. Who here has a great job?”
“You should,” Scott sneered.
“You stripped women of access to public health care. Shame on you, Rick Scott. We depend on those services.”
“Maybe you should try to tell the truth,” Scott muttered.
“Rich people like you don’t know what to do when poor people like us need health services; you cut ’em. Shame on you, Rick Scott. You’re an embarrassment to our state!” She said that to the governor’s back as he ran out of the store.
The encounter was recorded on another customer’s phone and posted on Youtube. In two days the video “Governor Scott Gets an Earful” had over two million views.
Arrogant Ignorant and Outrageous
Rick Scott responded to Cara Jenning’s complaints in a passive aggressive and immature way. He used his super-PAC ‘Let’s Get To Work’ to create an attack video called “Latte Liberal Gets an Earful” and posted it to his Youtube channel.
It starts with Jennings questioning the governor. She sarcastically says “A million jobs? Great, who here has a great job?” Then the narrator intones “Well, almost everybody – except those that are sitting around coffee shops, demanding public assistance, surfing the Internet, and cursing at customers who come in.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m shocked by Rick Scott’s puerile and sanctimonious response. He thinks that people’s real world concerns about their healthcare and employment are a joke, and doesn’t care about women or their health. This same governor wanted to drug test food stamp recipients for God’s sake. There isn’t much empathy or compassion in Rick Scott, and he’s probably like the others cut from a right-wing cloth. He’s in it to enrich himself and his cronies while he screws the middle class and those less well-off.
We all have to do a better job of demanding accountability from our elected representatives regardless of party, and they should never run away. They ARE public servants.
Real Issues Keep People Up At Night
Income inequality and jobs, housing and healthcare, and national security are the issues that keep most Americans awake at night. Not a frigging wall. Billionaires and millionaires have different priorities, despite what they might claim, and that’s why we have to vote and demand change.
The first step in the direction of ‘change’ is NOT voting for a Republican in any shape or form. Which non-Republican candidate you vote for is entirely up to you, demanding change is up to all of us.
Governor Tim Scott is a real piece of work, and that’s a big negative in my opinion. He’s a public servant with a responsibility to the people first, regardless of the size of his wallet.
I’m confident that people will realize that electing millionaires and billionaires to represent us are not in our best interests.
I don’t know when that will happen, but I hope it’s real soon.
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This post first appeared on Jive 415 Gay LGBT Blog | News Analysis Political, please read the originial post: here
