It’s slim pickings for Floridians electing the person to replace Gov. Charlie Crist as he heads into near-certain obscurity.
Floridians have the choice between a somewhat lackluster chief financial officer and a Mr. Clean imposter who holds the dubious legacy of involving himself and his company in the largest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history.
It’s a tough one this time, Gators.
We don’t have any political stars like Jeb Bush this time around. The closest thing we have to a catchy slogan is Rick Scott’s imploring of voters to get to work.
But the fact of the matter is, regardless of their personalities, there is one clear choice for Florida’s next leader: Alex Sink.
After buying the defeat of Attorney General Bill McCollum, Scott’s campaign is largely based on his personal fortune, which grew when Columbia/HCA Healthcare paid him $9.88 million to stop stinking up the company. He’s spent a good chunk of his millions slinging mud in the eyes of opponents who simply can’t compete with his checkbook.
We hope Floridians will see through it.
Scott has never held public office, yet he insists he can run the fourth most populous state just like he led his business. But if that’s true, we’ll owe billions of dollars after he lies, pleads the Fifth more than 70 times and claims he had no knowledge of wrongdoing.
Sink, on the other hand, has served as chief financial officer to a state where she regularly oversees a $200 million budget.
We understand voter anger with the current administration’s seemingly lackadaisical efforts to pull us out of the eight-year gaping hole the former administration dug us into, but electing Scott is not just foolish. It’s laying down in the hole and asking officials to pile on the dirt.
There is no on-the-job training for the leader of one of the biggest states in the union. We can’t expect a millionaire buying his way to Tallahassee to know how to run an entire state by osmosis, particularly a millionaire who couldn’t ethically run a business.
Sink is adding endorsement after endorsement to her list. Scott’s campaign is in such need of official support it has begun to advertise its own “Endorse Rick” option as private citizens endorse him rather than major newspapers.
Scott cancels many public debates, including one at UF originally scheduled for tonight, and seems generally afraid to confront his opponents in any medium aside from sound bites and vicious ads.
Furthermore, Scott’s views on everything from his 7-7-7 job creation idea, which one could say has no basis in fact and is simply an idea, to his views on valuing the rights of fetuses over gay Floridians are especially problematic.
If anything, Floridians should be ashamed Scott has made it this far. In fact, the rest of America should be terrified. If Scott can make it to the general election, taking down one of Florida’s strongest Republican figures in the process, Scott has the potential to climb the political ladder and lend his inability to lead ethically and efficiently to the rest of the indifferent nation.
On the other hand, you have Sink — a pro-choice, pro-equality, pro-people candidate with the experience necessary to run a state.
We think the choice is clear. But if you’re still not convinced, just remember: a vote for Scott is a vote for someone who would do everything in his power to take away the rights of women, immigrants and anyone who doesn’t conform to his idea of “family values.” Is that really how you want to vote?
