So I guess the lesson of the 2015 Florida Legislative session is this: don’t piss off the governor. Because if you do, then he’ll basically try to veto your political life away.
Photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel.
As session came to an end last week, Scott’s attitude towards lawmakers and their unwillingness to give him what he wanted was on fully display. Scott vetoed a total of $461 million in spending, including money for a downtown campus for UCF and money for the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center.
Scott’s moves will slash government jobs and make a lot of people mad, but in the end, he made this all about him. Work with the governor and you might to get to keep your pet projects? Piss him off, though? You’re likely to take the route of Senator Geraldine Thompson.
Thompson sent out a press release busting the governor for his decision to veto her projects.
“Could it be that my district has less need for support than other districts or could it be that citizens in District 12 are overlooked because I do not think like Governor Rick Scott?”
Thompson isn’t happy and neither are a lot of Florida’s lawmakers. Take Senate President Andy Gardiner for instance. He kept banging away at Medicaid expansion for the state during session this year, so he butted heads with Scott.
You can pretty much figure out what happened next. In response to the vetoes, Gardiner released a tight release.
Photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel
“While Governor Scott will undoubtedly spend the next several weeks traveling the state touting his record number of vetoes as a win for Florida’s families, there are many families across Florida who have seen their dreams shattered by his decisions today.”
Here’s the thing about Scott. We’ve known for a little while now that things better go his way or he will burn this state down. He just showed us how important it is to be nice to him by way of this 10-page veto list.
Doc, this veto list is 10 pages! Word?
He was such a nice man last year. When he was looking for your vote to retain the governorship, he was affable and attempted to appear as a politician with feelings.
He got your vote and made off in the night like a bald-headed bandit with raccoon eyes.
But really Scott was just in brief disguise last year. This veto list; the one that includes money cut for “Adults with Disabilities Pilot Program” and “Children of Inmates,” shows how hot Scott can run. He vetoed a “Pay Increase for Forestry Firefighters,” a group that makes just $27,000 per year, and money for a “Navy SEAL Museum.
Piss him off and he’ll come for your neck with his pen.
I guess at this point, Scott may be hustling backwards. He’ll certainly need the legislature next year for more tax cuts that I’m sure he’ll want. If so, I doubt that he’ll get support from Gardiner or other Republicans he’s leaned on before.
These moves have further isolated the governor from his party and the other party that hates him so. I mean, did he really have to red line the money set aside to restore Bethel AME Church in Pinellas?
Anyway, Scott has claimed that his pen didn’t turn angry because so many lawmakers from his own party turned against him during the debate over Medicaid. He said that he’s just doing what’s best for the state.
Ppsshh, if that’s the case. Just pack up and take it the house then man. Because your idea of what’s best is like turning a table of food over so that nobody can enjoy it.
-JH
Note: For a full veto list, please visit the Miami Herald’s link for details.
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