Rick Scott raises expectations for cutting spending, taxes, fees

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scribbles in my notebook after watching Gov. Rick Scott's interview on FOX News today.

1.) In former Gov. Charlie Crist's first year in office, he took aim at his predecessor's record for budget vetoes.

Gov. Rick Scott has set his sights on the entire country.

In a FOX News interview today, Scott claimed he would have "the most fiscally conservative budget" when it is released Feb. 7.

"We're going to make all the tough decisions we should have been making across the country over the last, you know, so many years, which we haven't been doing." Scott said.

Later in the interview, he added: "I'm competing with 49 other governors and 49 other states."

2.) Scott has continued to raise expectations for his budget release, which will set the tone for his first legislative session in the spring and the remainder of his first year in office. He has promised to account for a tax shortfall approaching $4 billion and the $2.2 billion in tax cuts he pledged from the campaign trail.

For good measure, he'll also roll back some fees.

"I'm going to roll back some fees," Scott told FOX's Uma Pemmaraju today. "I'm going to make sure we watch every dollar [and] we are the place to do business."

Scott could be eying some of the $1 billion in fees that his fellow Republicans approved in 2009 to help fill budget holes. We know Scott isn't shy about criticizing the spending plans approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature.

3.) Scott evaded a question about where he would find the money, saying only that he would press for changes to require government workers contribute to the state pension. Scott's 7-7-7 campaign plan identified $1.3 billion in savings from pension changes.

4.) In one amusing moment at the start of the interview, Scott corrected Pemmaraju, who led into a question saying, "You were elected with a mandate to bring about change."

"No," Scott said. "I was elected to be the jobs governor and get the state back to work."

5.) Scott called the 900 regulations he froze "job killers." He didn't mention he has yet to actually kill any of those regulations or that his office has allowed some to move forward.

6.) Scott closed the interview insisting he would "do whatever we can" to repeal the health insurance changes approved by Congress in 2009. He said the changes were unconstitutional and the federal government shouldn't be telling state how to spend tax money.

"They shouldn't be telling me I should spend my money," Scott said. "My job is to figure out how I run my state. They should stay out of that, those decisions."

Comments

[cranky]

I wish politicians who talk about "job killing" would identify the jobs that are being killed. Just one would be a good start.

[SamL]

Its amazing to me how stupid people are to believe that crap he's selling....trickle down economics. This guy is just going to give more to the rich like jeb bush the dictator did. Remember he gave billions in tax breaks and promised the economy would take off...what happened...it tanked. The middle class and poor will get nothing. This time he is giving to the rich off the backs of state workers who have not had a raise in over 5 years and are the lowest paid in the nation. He wants a buisness model, in buisness, does he treat his employees like that? No, they would be long gone. Don't he realize state workers are his employees? Karma will get him good one day.

[teacher]

I do not like what scott is doing. He must remember that50% of Florida did not vote for him. he should govern from the middle, not all the way from the right.

[in the know]

He bought the election and the people were stupid enough to vote for him.

[NoSacredCow]

Rick Scott was elected to help sell off the State of Florida's assets and privatize and further ruin the state. (Maybe they are thinking it's going to be under water in the next 50 years or so and they might as well get while the getting's good?) He is going to give his cronies a bigger cut and do it openly in the guise of "cost cutting" and "jobs generation".
What will happen is a shift of jobs from the public to the prvate sector with a decrease in quality of services and an increase in user fees. Just you wait and see.

And no I'm not a state worker I work in the private sector.

[Get Real]

When the state sells off those 53 state parks they are closing they can send the money directly to the corporate CEO's who are now the last remaining beneficiaries of state government. Of course they will use it to suddenly employ thousands of Floridians who are out of work. How about $6 per hour, no benefits and no overtime for them? It's coming.

[tax heavens]

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