Scott reacts to American Airlines' layoffs

Gov. Rick Scott issued the following statement today after American Airlines’ announcement that it expects to reduce their Florida workforce by 1,400 workers before the end of the year.

“American Airlines’ announcement today is certainly bad news for their company and a setback for hundreds of Florida families. We are focused on growing our economy so every Floridian has access to a great job because we know that having the opportunity to work hard and provide for your children is the heart of the American dream. 

“I asked the Department of Economic Opportunity Director Hunting Deutsch to work with the Southwest Florida Workforce Investment Board, the Beacon Council, the Miami Chamber of Commerce and the associated labor unions to immediately develop a plan to transition these highly skilled aviation workers into other jobs. We know that Florida workers want to work, and assisting them in identifying other opportunities in our state is a top priority.”

Scott aggresively shut down a Bloomberg reporter Tuesday who asked about a recent report that suggests Florida may be creating less jobs than the governor claims.

@britt_alana

Scott campaign paid $5,000 to accused ballot broker

Update: Gov. Rick Scott's former campaign manager Susie Wiles said she's looking into why Scott's campaign paid Emelina Llanes. Generally speaking, she said, "The campaign hired contractors in various counties for almost exclusively get out the vote activities. They interacted with seniors and other groups to stress the importance of voting and to secure support for candidate Rick Scott at the time."

Gov. Rick Scott's campaign records show he paid $5,000 in 2010 to an alleged boletera, who was accused in Hialeah--during the 2011 mayor's race--of going door-to-door collecting absentee ballots from the elderly, according to The Huffington Post and The Miami New-Times.

Scott's campaign could not immediately explain why a $5,000 check went to Emelina Llanes.

Melissa Sellers, a spokeswoman for the governor, would not comment, and referred the issue to the Republican Party of Florida. RPOF spokesman Brian Burgess did not immediately answer a phone call Tuesday night.

Miami-Dade signs off on prepaid absentee ballot postage for countywide elections

In an attempt to curtail voter fraud, Miami-Dade will pre-pay return postage for absentee ballots, county commissioners agreed Tuesday.

But the move comes with a caveat: The county will only provide prepaid postage on return envelopes for countywide elections — not for stand-alone municipal elections.

That fine print means cities that hold their elections separate from the county will have to decide, one by one, whether to pre-pay the postage themselves. Those cities already have to defray the costs of their elections.

Two cities, Hialeah and Miami Lakes, have already agreed to pre-pay return postage. Others, including the county’s largest city, Miami, have yet to even consider the idea.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime suggested the county require all cities to pre-pay postage, but a county attorney said he would have to check if the county has that power.

The measure, put forth by Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo, was approved unanimously with a voice vote. Chairman Joe Martinez and Commissioners Lynda Bell, Dennis Moss and Xavier Suarez were absent for the vote.

Bovo’s proposal came after his office was embroiled in one of two ongoing Hialeah absentee-ballot fraud investigations that resulted in the arrest of two ballot brokers, Deisy Cabrera and Sergio Robaina. They have been charged with voter fraud and with violating a county ordinance that prohibits the possession of multiple absentee ballots.

More here.

Scott cuts off reporter asking about unemployment numbers

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday cut off a reporter who tried to ask him about a report from a top state economist who said Florida’s drop in unemployment is almost exclusively due to people dropping out of the workforce.

The question pointed out that the Florida Legislature’s top economist has regularly said that unemployment is dropping in Florida due to a shrinking workforce, not job creation.

That message is in stark contrast with Scott’s message—which is that Florida’s unemployment rate drop (the nation’s largest over the last 20 months)—is on the decline due to an improving economy.

When a Bloomberg reporter asked Scott what happened to the people no longer looking for work, Scott pivoted by pointing out that the state has created 130,000 private sector jobs under his new watch. Then he shut down the  questioner.

Here’s the transcript:

Land of secret recordings and gaffes, Florida is a minefield for Republican presidential candidates

Beware of Florida, Republicans.

When John McCain said "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," the Republican presidential candidate said it in Jacksonville in 2008. The comments were widely viewed as a gaffe so damaging that it helped Obama win the presidency by arguing the Senator was out of touch.

When Newt Gingrich ran in this year's Florida GOP primary, he was scolded by Sen. Marco Rubio for his comments about immigration on Spanish-language radio. It helped kill Gingrich's momentum after his South Carolina win.

When Clint Eastwood ranted at an invisible Obama sitting in an empty chair at the Republican National Convention last month, he was in Tampa. It did little to give Romney a boost from a convention in which he got no apparent bounce in the polls. Almost as many people thought Eastwood's speech was as much a highlight as Romney's speech, but was perceived more negatively than positively in one poll.

When Mitt Romney said last week that President Obama's administration was "sympathetic" and "apologizing" to embassy attackers, he said it in Jacksonville last week. A Pew Research Poll found that, of those who followed the news, only 26 percent approved of Romney's handling of the situation compared to 48 percent who approved. Obama's numbers: 45% approved, 36% disapproved.

And when Romney accused 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes of looking for handouts, he said it at a Boca Raton fundraiser. It was back in May, but the video was leaked yesterday to Mother Jones. He also joked that he wished he were born of Mexican parents because it would make it easier for him to win the presidency.

Romney is now on the defensive, holding a late-night news conference Monday night to explain himself.

"Of course, I want to help all Americans, all Americans, have a bright and prosperous future," Romney said, admitting his "off the cuff" comments at were not "elegantly stated." Romney also challenged the holders of the video to release the entire thing.

They might be, but slowly. Snippets of the closed-door fundraiser video are drip, drip, dripping out. This morning, Romney's campaign is having to explain his comments about Palestinians who, he said, "have no interest" in peace with Israel.

"You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem," Romney said, "and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it."

Florida Republicans, already nervous about how Romney has performed in the nation's biggest battleground state, are starting to sound despondent. "Forget Romney," one GOP strategist said this morning, "we need to worry about the rest of the ticket."