Can We Afford Rick Scott for 4 Years?

[stjr]

Could Scott be a candidate for the fastest recall of a governor?  What would it take to force him from office before the next election?  Can we afford a full 4 years of this guy?

At his current pace, in less than a year, he will have setback Florida's future by decades in the areas of education, transportation, environment, parks and recreation, water management, growth management, social services, etc. while further driving away the very jobs he proclaims to be seeking.  The only beneficiaries of his mauling will be his special interest friends and short sighted tea partiers who will save a mere few dollars on their property taxes that probably equate to a fraction of their beer budget.  Of course, they will be giving back all the savings and more later when the failure to properly invest in our communities comes home to roost in a further depressed economy and lower quality of life.

I am waiting for Scott to highlight one single job coming to Florida solely because we "lowered taxes" under his watch.  I don't expect him to be able to do so.  However, I bet there will be plenty of examples of jobs not coming to Florida because of a poor education system and other ills of our state magnified under Scott's approach to governance.

By the way, I have no problem "living within our means" with a balanced budget.  I support a review of government for efficiencies, best practices, pension reform, accountability, and proper spending.  What I don't support is cutting the near-lowest tax rates in the country even further when we already have huge deficits so that Scott can implement his real agenda, a wholesale dismantling of state government.  I also don't support his non-spending priorities such as deregulating so that developers and friends can continue the raping of the Florida landscape that caused many of our woes to begin with.  In other words, Scott is being a purely destructive and mindless bull in a china shop, not a thoughtful and insightful visionary applying surgeon-like skills in approaching problem solving.

[mtraininjax]

STJR - Well, I guess we are at a Mexican Standoff. I can't stand Obama either, but I am still stuck with him for 2 more years, at least.

[urbanlibertarian]

Has anyone looked into Gov. Scott's birth certificate or FL residency?  Maybe he's a closet Muslim?

[NotNow]

STJR - Well, I guess we are at a Mexican Standoff. I can't stand Obama either, but I am still stuck with him for 2 more years, at least.

If the republican congress keeps up with the nonsense of the past two weeks, it will definitely be for another 6.

   
What "nonsense" are you referring to?  Do you really think that we can sustain the federal spending that we currently practice?  Or would you rather that cuts be made in other areas than those proposed by the Republican House?

[peestandingup]

This guy reeks of Tea if you know what I mean.

[NotNow]

Oops!  Sorry, I forgot that opposing views are not welcome here.

The issues that you raise, extension of the tax rates (what you call "tax cuts", and included ALL income levels), the wars in the Mid East (which, like Gitmo, seem to continue under the current administration), and the economic recession (I note that Wall Street posted RECORD profits and bonuses this year, under the watchful eye of the current administration), can all be debated at length.  Of course the obligitory insult to the Tea Party (The most significant populist movement of our time).  (What happened to "tea bagger"?)

And still both of you failed to simply answer my question.  Want to try again?

[JeffreyS]

STJR - Well, I guess we are at a Mexican Standoff. I can't stand Obama either, but I am still stuck with him for 2 more years, at least.

Are you really comparing the President to a guy who under oath swore 65 times that if he told the truth about stealing from senior citizens it would incriminate him.

[stjr]

Scott's decisions are already having a destructive ripple effect at local levels.  Look at what happened with the Clay County School Board decision this week.  Board members are reacting to Scott's draconian cuts to education even before the legislature has approved the budget.  Given Clay County overwhelmingly supported "Republican" Scott, I wonder what citizens there think now?

Even Clay superintendent surprised by board’s rejection of teachers contract
Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-18/story/even-clay-superintendent-surprised-board%E2%80%99s-rejection-teachers-contract

By Beth Reese Cravey, Dan Scanlan

Shock and disbelief. That’s what Clay County teachers are dealing with in the aftermath of the School Board’s denial of a long-debated contract Thursday night.

The 4-1 vote came after Clay County Education Association members gave the 2010-11 contract tentative approval after eight months of sometimes contentious negotiations with the School Board.

The no vote surprised Superintendent Ben Wortham, who said he heard from some concerned teachers via e-mails Friday. As for what happens next, teachers will head back to class Tuesday after Monday’s Presidents Day holiday under the current 2009-10 contract as the union and district plan a return to the bargaining table.

“In my 43 years in the county, never has this happened, that the School Board would not ratify a contract after they sent it to the table,” Wortham said. “We are sort of breaking new ground and we will go back to the table. What will come from that remains unknown.”

Typically, the district’s contract negotiations begin in the spring and produce a tentative deal in summer or fall, followed a few weeks later by School Board ratification. If the 2010-11 school year had been typical, the 2009-10 contract would have been succeeded last summer or fall by a 2010-11 contract. But negotiation of salary and benefit issues for 2010-11 took longer than ususal, with a tentative deal not reached until January.

The board rejection of that tentative deal means the terms of the 2009-10 remain in effect, until they are replaced with a new contract.

In Florida, teachers are barred by law from striking.

Liz Crane, president of the Clay County Education Association, which bargains for all Clay teachers, said the board’s vote was uncalled for, leaving the rank and file “angered, disappointed and shocked” after months of work. The tentative contract, which included $1.7 million in increased salaries and benefits, is dead on the table.

“Because they voted down the contract we worked on for the last eight months, it is like it never even existed, so we have to go back and renegotiate,” Crane said Friday.

As the votes were coming in, she said she saw people crying.

“With all the teacher bashing going on, they asked me, 'What did we do wrong?’ Crane said. “That is what I asked them [board members] last night. 'Why do you hate us? You voted down a contract that cost virtually nothing for you guys.’ ”

A standing-room-only crowd of about 300 people, most of them teachers, attended the School Board meeting Thursday night to witness the vote. Most of the teachers supported the proposed contract, which would have given them so-called step pay increases based on experience â€" $300 to $400 in most cases. But after hours of mostly favorable public comments, the board voted against it.

Before the vote, board member Lisa Graham cited the “economic realities” facing the county, which include declining property tax revenues and potentially deep cuts in state education funding this year, for her rejection of the contract. Board member Carol Studdard disagreed with some teacher assertions that not approving the contract would signal a lack of respect for them.

“It is not a matter of respect,” she said. “The economy breaks my heart.”
After she said she could not support the contract, gasps erupted in the audience and she appeared near tears.

Board member Stephanie Van Zant said she also had respect for teachers, who are the “heart and soul” of the district.

“The board has the responsibility to look beyond this year,” she said. “This is a tough decision.”

Wortham said he had not heard from “one single board member” as of Friday afternoon, a day after the vote. Although the teachers are frustrated, he knows they will come back to classes next week doing the good job they always do.

“When they get in the classroom, they will do what they have always done for the kids,” Wortham said.

But as they wait for word on when negotiations can start again, Crane said morale is bad.

“The morale out there is bad anyway, with what is going on in Tallahassee, so we are very, very disappointed,” she said. “They want to know the School Board has their back, and the message is they don’t.”

Crane was sending out a letter to all union members Friday alerting them to what happened at Thursday’s meeting. But as to when the union will meet with school system officials to set a date for negotiations to resume, or if there will be a teacher meeting to discuss what occurred, no dates have been set, she said.

[A-Finnius]

I can't believe he turned now two billion in funding for mass transit even though I'm not sure that the high speed rail project between Tampa and Orlando would have been the best idea.  Was it not an option to accept this money and allocate it to our cities for urban mass transit systems (I.E. Jacksonville Street Cars).

[stjr]

Looks like our "Scott" isn't the only "Scott" prone to behaving as he does.  It appears Wisconsin's Scott Walker is a clone.  From the NY Times, see profile below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/us/politics/20walker.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

February 19, 2011
For Wisconsin Governor, Battle Over State Finances Was Long in the Making
By MONICA DAVEY

MADISON, Wis. â€" Just last fall, people here were waving campaign signs. But the blocks around the State Capitol have been filled for the past week with protesters brandishing signs with a different message â€" demanding a recall of Gov. Scott Walker, calling him a bully and likening him to Scrooge, Hosni Mubarak, even Hitler.

Seemingly overnight, Mr. Walker, a Republican, has become a national figure, the man who set off a storm of protest, now spreading to other states, with his blunt, unvarnished call for shrinking collective bargaining rights and benefits for public workers to help the state repair its budget.

Wisconsin may seem to the rest of the country like an unlikely catalyst, but to people who have watched the governor’s political rise through the years, the events of the week feel like a Scott Walker rerun, though on a much larger screen and with a much bigger audience.

Critics and supporters alike say Mr. Walker has never strayed from his approach to his political career: always pressing for austerity, and never blinking or apologizing for his lightning-rod proposals.

He regularly clashed with the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors over the past decade when he was that county’s elected executive. He pushed to privatize cleaning and food service workers and sought changes to pension and health contributions and workers’ hours. At one point, he proposed that the county government might want to consider, in essence, abolishing itself. It was redundant, he suggested.

“All I can think is, here we go again,” said Scott Larson, one of 14 Democratic state senators who fled Wisconsin last week to block a vote on Mr. Walker’s call to cut benefits. Mr. Larson knows the governor well, having served on Milwaukee County’s board when Mr. Walker was the executive. He says that Mr. Walker is a nice guy on a personal level, “a good listener,” but that his politics are another matter.

“Unions have always been his piñata, over and over,” Mr. Larson said. “And this time I think he’s trying to out-right-wing the right wing on his way to the next lily pad.”

Mr. Walker’s supporters cheer the governor for what they see as delivering on the campaign pledge of frugality that got him elected in November and forced a surprising makeover, at all levels of government in the state, from Democrats to Republicans.

“This doesn’t faze me one bit,” Mr. Walker said Friday as thousands of protesters from around the country marched and screamed and filled every unguarded cranny of the Capitol, just as they had all week.

He said he had seen plenty of labor protesters before. Crowds of them in green T-shirts once even showed up when he presented a Milwaukee County budget proposal â€" one of nine proposals in a row, he boasts now, that included no tax increase over the rate the board had settled on the year before.

“I’m not going to be intimidated,” Mr. Walker said, “particularly by people from other places.”

Mr. Walker, 43, is the son of a Baptist preacher and a former Eagle Scout. He opposes abortion. He rides a motorcycle. For years, he has carried the same bagged lunch to work (two ham and cheese sandwiches on wheat) â€" a fact he has been fond of mentioning on campaign trails. His political heroes: Tommy Thompson, this state’s former governor, and Ronald Reagan.

“He didn’t flinch,” Mr. Walker said of Reagan. “Obviously, I take a lot of inspiration from that.”

Mr. Walker once lost a bid for class president at Marquette University (which he attended but did not receive a degree from), but won a seat in the State Assembly several years later.

By 2002, when a pension scandal engulfed the Milwaukee County government, the county executive stepped down and Mr. Walker ran on a reform platform to replace him. He was never an obvious fit for a county that leans Democratic and that, in the view of Mr. Walker, was “addicted to other people’s money.”

Mr. Walker describes himself as a fiscal conservative with a populist approach. It is a label that many in the enormous and angry crowds here would question, but it has won Mr. Walker backing in recent years from Tea Party supporters, who planned counterprotests this weekend in Mr. Walker’s defense.

Barack Obama won Wisconsin in 2008, but last November, Republicans swept into power in the state, shocking many who pointed to its long tradition of union power.

Republicans took control of the State Assembly, the State Senate and a United States Senate seat held by a longtime incumbent, Russ Feingold, in addition to the governor’s office. Former Gov. James E. Doyle, a Democrat, did not seek re-election, and Mr. Walker â€" who promised to bring 250,000 new jobs to Wisconsin in his first four-year term â€" defeated Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee and a Democrat, 52 percent to 46 percent.

“This is the one part of the equation people are missing right now,” said Scott Fitzgerald, who became the Republican majority leader in the State Senate after the election and whose brother became the speaker of the Assembly. “Scott Walker and I and my brother Jeff went into this session with the understanding that we had to deliver on campaign promises, that people wanted the Republicans to make change, that the more feathers you ruffle this time, the better you’ll be.”

Within days of becoming governor, Mr. Walker â€" who hung a sign on the doorknob of his office that reads “Wisconsin is open for business” â€" began stirring things up, and drawing headlines.

He rejected $810 million in federal money that the state was getting to build a train line between Madison and Milwaukee, saying the project would ultimately cost the state too much to operate. He decided to turn the state’s Department of Commerce into a “public-private hybrid,” in which hundreds of workers would need to reapply for their jobs.

He and state lawmakers passed $117 million in tax breaks for businesses and others, a move that many of his critics point to now as a sign that Mr. Walker made the state’s budget gap worse, then claimed an emergency that requires sacrifices from unions. Technically, the tax cuts do not go into effect in this year’s budget (which Mr. Walker says includes a $137 million shortfall), but in the coming two-year budget, during which the gap is estimated at $3.6 billion.

Democrats here say Mr. Walker’s style has led to a sea change in Wisconsin’s political tradition.

“Every other Republican governor has had moderates in their caucus and histories of working with Democrats,” said Graeme Zielinski, a spokesman for the state’s Democratic Party. “But he is a hard-right partisan who does not negotiate, does not compromise. He is totally modeled after a slash-and-burn, scorched-earth approach that has never existed here before.”

The protests last week have put people in surprising circumstances. Mr. Fitzgerald and other legislators have needed police escorts to leave their offices. Protesters have swarmed to Mr. Walker’s home, apparently to the deep dismay of his wife, Tonette.

But Mr. Walker was already preparing the ground for his showdown last fall. While still waiting to take office, he urged lawmakers, many of whom he already knew from his years in the Assembly, not to approve new contracts for state workers during their lame-duck session. Once he came into office, he would need “maximum flexibility,” he said at the time, to handle the state’s coming budget.

In the end, after emotional fights in both legislative chambers (one lawmaker was deposed by his colleagues from his leadership role), Mr. Walker got his wish. And that gave him his chance to push his own plan. Last week, he announced that he wanted to require state workers to pay more for pensions and health care; to remove most collective bargaining rights, aside from wages, from discussion; and to require unions to hold annual membership votes.

As the battle here grew into a standoff, with the protesters’ numbers swelling every day and the legislation tied up and waiting to be voted on, Mr. Walker said he was feeling perfectly fine.

To the anger of his critics, who say he thrives on publicity, he has been on television and radio call-in shows and has taken phone calls of support from some of his Republican friends. He said he was speaking with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Thursday night while exchanging e-mail messages with Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, whom he describes as a “great inspiration and mentor,” and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida.

“Months from now, when this is enacted and people realize it’s not the end of the world,” Mr. Walker said, “not all, but I think the vast majority, including the vast majority of the public employees, will realize this was not nearly as bad as they thought it was going to be. And we’ll get back to work in the Capitol.”

[NotNow]

Oops!  Sorry, I forgot that opposing views are not welcome here.

The issues that you raise, extension of the tax rates (what you call "tax cuts", and included ALL income levels), the wars in the Mid East (which, like Gitmo, seem to continue under the current administration), and the economic recession (I note that Wall Street posted RECORD profits and bonuses this year, under the watchful eye of the current administration), can all be debated at length.  Of course the obligitory insult to the Tea Party (The most significant populist movement of our time).  (What happened to "tea bagger"?)

And still both of you failed to simply answer my question.  Want to try again?

Its not an 'opposing view', notnow.  Its a discredited point of view.  There is a difference.

You might seriously think that continuing to argue for the same point of view once its been proven wrong, (and incidentally, look around at the country my friend, this is the outcome of listening to you and your fellow traveller's for the past decade or so)  But none of us have to bother continuing to argue the merits of your disaster policies with you.

You certainly didnt think that the deficit was a problem 6 years ago when these deficits were being run up.

Whats changed?

Interesting.  Seems to me that the last election indicates that YOUR point of view is the one lacking support.  The policies of the last two years have been soundly rejected by the voters, and apparently the President(at least for now) as well.   

I still notice that you cast discredit without reason or facts, and that you continue to avoid answering my original questions.  YOU stated that a "republican congress" (I assume you meant the House, as the Senate is under control of the Democrats) had participated in "nonsense" for the past two weeks.  I simply asked for clarification.  You apparently can not, or will not do so.  Instead, you choose to throw out unfounded dispersions.  At least PSU had the common sense not to repeat this sad "style" of debate.

The questions are simple, StephenDare!, and you are an intelligent man.  Do you think that we can sustain the current federal spending practices? What has the Republican House done that is "nonsense", and what would you do differently? 

If you do not wish to discuss facts, just say so and we can stop now.

[NotNow]

Scott's decisions are already having a destructive ripple effect at local levels.  Look at what happened with the Clay County School Board decision this week.  Board members are reacting to Scott's draconian cuts to education even before the legislature has approved the budget.  Given Clay County overwhelmingly supported "Republican" Scott, I wonder what citizens there think now?

Even Clay superintendent surprised by board’s rejection of teachers contract
Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-18/story/even-clay-superintendent-surprised-board%E2%80%99s-rejection-teachers-contract

By Beth Reese Cravey, Dan Scanlan

Shock and disbelief. That’s what Clay County teachers are dealing with in the aftermath of the School Board’s denial of a long-debated contract Thursday night.

The 4-1 vote came after Clay County Education Association members gave the 2010-11 contract tentative approval after eight months of sometimes contentious negotiations with the School Board.

The no vote surprised Superintendent Ben Wortham, who said he heard from some concerned teachers via e-mails Friday. As for what happens next, teachers will head back to class Tuesday after Monday’s Presidents Day holiday under the current 2009-10 contract as the union and district plan a return to the bargaining table.

“In my 43 years in the county, never has this happened, that the School Board would not ratify a contract after they sent it to the table,” Wortham said. “We are sort of breaking new ground and we will go back to the table. What will come from that remains unknown.”

Typically, the district’s contract negotiations begin in the spring and produce a tentative deal in summer or fall, followed a few weeks later by School Board ratification. If the 2010-11 school year had been typical, the 2009-10 contract would have been succeeded last summer or fall by a 2010-11 contract. But negotiation of salary and benefit issues for 2010-11 took longer than ususal, with a tentative deal not reached until January.

The board rejection of that tentative deal means the terms of the 2009-10 remain in effect, until they are replaced with a new contract.

In Florida, teachers are barred by law from striking.

Liz Crane, president of the Clay County Education Association, which bargains for all Clay teachers, said the board’s vote was uncalled for, leaving the rank and file “angered, disappointed and shocked” after months of work. The tentative contract, which included $1.7 million in increased salaries and benefits, is dead on the table.

“Because they voted down the contract we worked on for the last eight months, it is like it never even existed, so we have to go back and renegotiate,” Crane said Friday.

As the votes were coming in, she said she saw people crying.

“With all the teacher bashing going on, they asked me, 'What did we do wrong?’ Crane said. “That is what I asked them [board members] last night. 'Why do you hate us? You voted down a contract that cost virtually nothing for you guys.’ ”

A standing-room-only crowd of about 300 people, most of them teachers, attended the School Board meeting Thursday night to witness the vote. Most of the teachers supported the proposed contract, which would have given them so-called step pay increases based on experience — $300 to $400 in most cases. But after hours of mostly favorable public comments, the board voted against it.

Before the vote, board member Lisa Graham cited the “economic realities” facing the county, which include declining property tax revenues and potentially deep cuts in state education funding this year, for her rejection of the contract. Board member Carol Studdard disagreed with some teacher assertions that not approving the contract would signal a lack of respect for them.

“It is not a matter of respect,” she said. “The economy breaks my heart.”
After she said she could not support the contract, gasps erupted in the audience and she appeared near tears.

Board member Stephanie Van Zant said she also had respect for teachers, who are the “heart and soul” of the district.

“The board has the responsibility to look beyond this year,” she said. “This is a tough decision.”

Wortham said he had not heard from “one single board member” as of Friday afternoon, a day after the vote. Although the teachers are frustrated, he knows they will come back to classes next week doing the good job they always do.

“When they get in the classroom, they will do what they have always done for the kids,” Wortham said.

But as they wait for word on when negotiations can start again, Crane said morale is bad.

“The morale out there is bad anyway, with what is going on in Tallahassee, so we are very, very disappointed,” she said. “They want to know the School Board has their back, and the message is they don’t.”

Crane was sending out a letter to all union members Friday alerting them to what happened at Thursday’s meeting. But as to when the union will meet with school system officials to set a date for negotiations to resume, or if there will be a teacher meeting to discuss what occurred, no dates have been set, she said.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the 2011 budget set?  The Governor's policies will not affect this years education budget in any county, but will take effect in 2012.  If Clay County Schools budgeted for this increase (which they did), why vote it down now?  Shouldn't they deal with 2012 when more actual facts are available and the 2012 budget is on the table?  And when they are actually negotiating for the 2012 contract? 

Clay teachers were wronged, but it's not the Governor's fault.  It appears to me that the School Board backed out of a negotiated contract.  Whether they feared the Tea Partiers who appeared in opposition to the contract, or they just got shaky, the fault for this negotiation falling through rest solely on the Clay County School Board.

[thelakelander]

Before I can figure out if we can afford 4 years of this guy, I would first need to know how he plans to create all of the jobs he promised. There has been a lot of restructuring and cutting (which can create layoffs) but not much emphasis on how any of this will stimulate 700,000 jobs over the next 4 years.

[mtraininjax]

Stephen - Thanks for going over the top. They are not proposing to kill social security. But it IS nice to know that you care.

[Jaxson]

Stephen - Thanks for going over the top. They are not proposing to kill social security. But it IS nice to know that you care.

I do not believe that Stephen is some tinfoil hat wearing freak.  There indeed are people who wish to abolish Social Security.  I had a professor at UNF who made a reasonable case for getting rid of this entitlement program.  The problem with this debate is not that people want to get rid of Social Security, but that we deny that a rational debate exists on this issue.  There are people on both sides who have great ideas.  I do not believe that Social Security should be a sacred cow that everyone speaks about in hushed tones.  This is what is so screwed up about our system.  We can't fix what we believe is not broken or what we are afraid of losing votes over...

Tea party leaders say they would 'absolutely abolish Social Security
http://www.cafemom.com/group/99198/forums/read/11113640/Tea_party_leaders_say_they_would_absolutely_abolish_Social_Security

What's wrong with Social Security and how to abolish it
http://www.freecolorado.com/2004/12/qass.html

The plot to kill Social Security
http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2003/06/12/tax_cuts_and_social_security/index.html

Kill Social Security for the right reasons
http://blog.nj.com/njv_johnbury/2008/08/social_security_at_73.html

Michele Bachmann fueling Republican drive to kill Social Security
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2691257/michelle_bachmann_fueling_republican.html

Stop trying to kill Social Security
http://www.alternet.org/economy/146606/stop_trying_to_kill_social_security

GOP wants to kill Social Security, no joke
http://politicsreport.com/news/gop-wants-kill-social-security-no-joke

It's time to end Social Security
http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/time-to-end-ss.html