Rick Scott surely missed the irony.
Florida’s governor made official Monday what anyone in state politics has known for two years — he will challenge three-term Democratic senator Bill Nelson in November. Making the announcement, Scott blamed “career politicians” for Washington’s dysfunction. Except for three years after his loss for governor in 1990, Nelson has been an elected official since 1972.
Scott, the former CEO of a hospital company that defrauded the federal government, casts himself as a non-politician. Yet after serving eight years as governor, Scott wants to be a senator. That sounds more like a second career as a politician.
Running against Washington, however, has become a popular campaign theme. Anti-Washington sentiment swung some voters to Donald Trump and his “drain the swamp” rhetoric. Throw the bums out, bring a business perspective, and Washington will start humming.
As Trump is showing, however, success in one business doesn’t ensure success even in another business, much less in government. Stephen Ross, CEO of The Related Companies, is worth about $7.5 billion. Yet the Miami Dolphins have had just one winning season since Ross bought the team from Wayne Huizenga in 2009.
Scott will claim credit for Florida’s economic recovery. Unemployment in February was just 3.9 percent, and Florida added the third-largest number of new jobs. During the worst of the Great Recession, the state’s unemployment rate was 10.7 percent.
Yet Scott mostly has surfed the Obama Recovery. Scott was not in office during 2009 and 2010, the worst of the recession. The Obama administration was stabilizing the financial markets. Lenders relaxed their death grip on credit. Panic passed. Confidence returned.
By the time Scott took office in January 2011, net migration to Florida had begun to increase from the historic lows of 2008 and 2009. Pent-up demand, especially for multi-family projects, got the real estate and construction industries out of intensive care.
As the national economy improved, Americans spent more on travel. Florida tourism dropped in 2009. By 2011 — too early for Scott to have any affect — it was increasing at a 6 percent rate and has kept gaining steam.
No credible study links any Scott policy to core factors in Florida’s recovery. In fact, more Floridians may be doing worse, not better. The United Way of Florida reported last year that 44 percent of state residents live in poverty or paycheck to paycheck. In Miami-Dade County, the rate was 61 percent.
Aside from the usual sales-tax holidays and reductions in license tag fees — which benefit owners of large fleets far more than individuals — what has the CEO governor done to address this fundamental problem?
Has he expanded Medicaid, to make the working poor less vulnerable to medical emergencies and provide them with substance abuse treatment? No. Has he pushed through the Legislature groundbreaking reforms that would lower the cost of property and car insurance? No. Has he appointed regulators who consider consumers when overseeing the state’s large utilities? No.
Instead, Scott tried to require drug tests for welfare recipients and state employees, and he lost in court. He tried to purge voters with Hispanic names, and he had to give up because of bipartisan resistance. He took Florida back to Jim Crow on restoring felons’ right, and a judge told him to undo it.
Scott typifies the new political free agents. They don’t apprentice at lower levels and learn government. They don’t learn how to build coalitions — sometimes with the other party — and craft good compromises. They don’t become good career politicians.
Some free agents rely on personal wealth; Scott spent $70 million on his first campaign. Others rely on new media platforms. Ron DeSantis, a Republican congressman running for governor, takes no questions about Florida from Florida reporters. He campaigns on Fox News.
Most Americans wouldn’t visit a doctor with no medical degree. Yet many Americans vote for politicians who have experience only at stoking emotions. Meanwhile, gerrymandering in states like Florida makes too many districts uncompetitive, helping ideologues and squeezing out moderates. The refusal of states like Florida to allow open primaries helps candidates in both parties who appeal to the uncompromising extremes.
Those are the real reasons why Congress and the Florida Legislature keep reaching new lows for ineffectiveness. Rick Scott is wrong. We don’t need fewer career politicians. We need more of them.
Randy Schultz’s email address is randy@bocamag.com
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