State Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera, says news today that 15 states are splitting the $2 billion that had been designated for Florida's high speed rail project was yet another blow to Gov. Rick Scott's argument to decline the money.
"The governor is either intentionally lying or it's malfeasance," said Altman, who unsuccessfully sued to stop Scott from blocking the federal cash.
Altman pointed to a press release Scott sent in April taking credit for helping prevent the federal government shutdown. Scott said his rejection of the money allowed Congress to cut high-speed rail funding, which was part of the budget deal to avoid a shutdown. (While U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., practically thanked Scott personally in her press release today.)
Scott's spokesman, Brian Burgess, said it was "indisputable" that Scott's decision to turn down the money helped. "It made it a lot easier," Burgess said.
But Altman says the news today is proof Scott's statement was wrong. "This is the final piece of misinformation," he said.
Altman said Scott' has lost several other arguments. Scott's claim that high-speed rail was a "boondoggle" was contradicted by a Florida Department of Transportation study and Scott's top attorney, Charles Trippe, had to walk back a key fact his Supreme Court argument about how much the state had spend on the project.
"This is almost propaganda," Altman said. "It's all proven to be false and as a result we've lost money for would have been the most modern transportation system in America, if not the world."
"He intentionally ignored the facts to make a political point," Altman continued. "It was a political move to prevent the president from having a project awarded to Florida.
"In his disdain for the president and his zeal to make him look bad, he was even willing to hurt the people of Florida."
Republicans, eating their own since 2011...
Posted by: Cynical Idealist | May 09, 2011 at 02:03 PM
Gov Scott still made the right decision. I know my confidence soars knowing we have a study that says it's NOT a boondoggle. Take a bus.
Posted by: Salt Lick 75 | May 09, 2011 at 04:16 PM
Tricky Ricky didn't turn the money down to help the deficit. As closely as the Feds watch him after his 65 uses of the 5th Amendment, he couldn't figure out a way to divert half the funds to his and Jeb Bush's pockets without getting caught.
Posted by: John Totten | May 10, 2011 at 10:21 AM
Hooray for scott--drop dead to the people of florida--I am elected now!
Posted by: james smith | May 10, 2011 at 10:30 AM
Washington D.C. is the only major metropolitan area in the country where real estate prices are going up...hmmm (it's the event horizon for the federal governments black hole).
Please don't let the state of Florida get sucked into their singularity.
Posted by: FIUFan | May 10, 2011 at 02:22 PM
Good for Altman. More people need to call Scott on his unbridled political machinations.
What Scott did was say look at me I'm cutting the deficit while he and his cronies loot Florida. (the old look over there!)
It's going to get to expensive to retire here with property insurance rising, healthcare cost increasing exponentially and developers once again being allowed to run rampant.
But without the retirees who is going to be left to vote republican?
Posted by: NoSacredCow | May 10, 2011 at 02:37 PM
Trying to get the Scott-O-Meter working...windows can't find a program, and the comments on the accompanying article link to this one...how does this thing work? Please describe here or e-mail me
Posted by: AJ | May 10, 2011 at 04:04 PM
hey, no sacred cow, do you know what the term growing exponentially even means? It means to double or triple, etc. over a given period of time. A ten percent annual growth rate for government health programs is unsustainable (but it's not exponential).
Medicare/caid is growing out of control, however, that is a federal program administered by the states. Call your congressman if you're really concerned about this run-a-way program.
Posted by: FIUFan | May 10, 2011 at 04:18 PM