Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Sen. Rick Scott’s selective memory on a ‘blue-state bailout’
Rick Scott can’t run for president by trying to reopen Florida as soon as possible. He’s no longer governor.
Ron DeSantis has that job. He gets to proclaim that the largest swing state is almost ready for business as usual, even if the public health metrics don’t bear that out. He gets to boast, as he did Monday, that Florida needs a return of theme parks and sports to get back the state’s “mojo.”
Stuck in Washington, Scott must audition for Trump’s base in 2024 with a different script. So he rails against a “blue state bailout” — money from another COVID-19 relief bill that would provide money to states.
Scott sides with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans who claim that such legislation would forgive profligacy by Democratic-run states.
This month, Scott responded to a New York Times editorial that advocated such spending. New York, Scott sniffed, “can’t balance its bloated budget without borrowing and consistently raising taxes to pay for its profligate spending.” Scott praised his fiscal record as governor and added, “It’s not fair to Florida citizens to send their tax dollars to bail out liberal politicians in states like New York for their unwillingness to make tough and responsible choices.”
Scott has based his political career on selective memory. As an outsider candidate in 2010, campaigning as a successful businessman, he made enough voters forget that he got rich by running a hospital company that defrauded the government.
He’s trying it again. Scott wants to rewrite the two years before he became governor — the two years that enabled him to claim credit for reviving Florida’s economy.
In 2009, Florida’s economy had tanked. The real estate crash, for which Florida was partly to blame, had caused property values to crater. Relief came from the Obama stimulus package, which got four Republican votes combined in the House and Senate.
For the 2010 budget year, Florida got roughly $5 billion from the stimulus. The next year, the state got about $4 billion. Some of that money prevented drastic layoffs of teachers. Republicans in Tallahassee raged against federal spending as they accepted every dollar, including money for projects that kept people working.
When Scott took office, the bleeding hadn’t stopped, but the state’s finances mostly had stabilized. The Obama stimulus money, however, mostly had ended. So Scott’s fellow Republicans blocked his attempt to cut corporate taxes. You might say that they favored “tough and responsible choices” over Scott’s campaign promise.
But even that budget, which cut money to schools, included $370 million from the stimulus that Scott had criticized. Indeed, as a candidate Scott said he would have figured out how to balance Florida’s budget without that $9 billion from Washington. He offered no details.
Scott and other Republicans have implied that Democratic-run states need help because of generous public employee pensions. As governor, Scott shifted state employees to a defined-contribution — 401(k)-style — pension and away from a system with guaranteed benefits.
Florida Republicans have targeted New York. DeSantis blames the state for some of Florida’s COVID-19 cases; travel patterns in March bolster that argument. House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami, issues daily updates that compare Florida’s virus statistics to those of New York.
When it comes to state pensions, however, Scott is making a losing argument. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, New York’s pension fund ranks fourth in terms of solvency. Florida ranks 15th. Last comes McConnell’s Kentucky.
Also as governor, Scott was quick to demand federal help after hurricanes Irma and Michael. Were Democrats in hurricane-free states protesting such payments because Florida has allowed overbuilding in storm-prone regions?
Scott’s personal political calculus is clear. Like Republicans from President Trump on down, he wants to make a national crisis into a partisan fight and separate himself from the other 2024 GOP presidential aspirants.
Yet the only way to control the virus, start curing the economy and avoid a relapse is with a national public health response and relief plan. No lawmaker from any state should get smug. If we blow this chance, we will need a 50-state bailout.