Scott lacks integrity, enviromental concern

I am shocked, shocked that there are falsehoods and outright lies in political ads.

Well, leaving obvious irony behind, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact has vetted nine of Rick Scott’s political ads and found that all nine contain falsehoods. To be fair, Politifact has found falsehoods in Bill Nelson’s ads as well — four of the nine that they vetted. But NINE OF NINE? How does this happen, except by design?

Scott stands out because he and his supporters’ ads wield untruths with such relentless consistency (nine-for-nine and the only full-on “Pants on Fire” lies) — and because of the devilishly ingenious way he uses them to mask his own weaknesses.

Scott loves to deflect by pointing fingers at his opponent. Let’s take a look at a few.

In an effort to distract from his own Medicare/Medicaid woes, Scott accused Nelson of “stealing money from Medicare.” Politifact rated the ad as “mostly false.” However, Scott’s company’s theft from Medicare is legendary, trumping even Donald Trump’s major con. Trump paid $25 million to the over 6,000 people who spent their hard-earned money to enroll in the bogus Trump University. Scott’s con was Columbia/HCA, over which he presided as CEO. Scott’s Medicare con resulted in Columbia/HCA paying $1.7 billion for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, stealing from taxpayers by using kickbacks and phony billing. Surprise, surprise. Scott resigned from Columbia/HCA, but could not escape from the fallout of his Columbia/HCA connections, and, in a deposition related to Columbia/HCA dealings pled the Fifth 75 times.

Scott, who is rabidly partisan, has accused Nelson of being a party-line voter. Untrue says Politifact. Data from the nonpartisan vote-trackers at Govtrack.org show Nelson as one of the most centrist members in the U.S. Senate — with a record so far to the right of most Democrats that it’s on par with Republican Susan Collins of Maine. Nelson’s career has been so middle-of-the-road, that he has sometimes “infuriated the Democratic Party’s more liberal voters,” as the Tampa Bay Times wrote earlier this year.

Of course Scott, if elected would change his partisan ways, become centrist, and rebuff Trump at every turn. Look at what he did in disagreeing with him on the Maria death totals in Puerto Rico. Oh wait, I forgot that there are thousands of new Puerto Rican voters in Florida. Call me cynical.

On the environment, Scott says “look over there,” stating that Nelson has not done enough at the federal level to solve Florida’s environmental problems. But what did “Red Tide” Rick do? He has presided over major repeals of environmental protections and decimated the agencies THAT serve Florida citizens. After he took office, the Department of Environmental Protection shifted agency focus from enforcing rules to helping violators minimally comply. The DEP pursued almost 1,600 enforcement cases in 2010, but a mere 220 in 2017, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. He also decimated the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades restoration and advises the Army Corps of Engineers on Lake Okeechobee discharges that cause algae blooms. Scott cut the agency’s budget in half, by $700 million, resulting in 500 layoffs. Half of these were scientists, hydrologists, engineers, field technicians and regulators tasked with protecting, conserving or restoring water resources.

Eliminating those with scientific expertise should not be a surprise from someone who reportedly banned the use of the term “climate change” from state agency vocabulary.

Fraud, decimation of our environment and continual lies. Have we not had enough of this from the White House? Why would we send someone to Washington who will simply accelerate these trends?

Scott won election as governor in 2010 and in 2014 by 1 percent using much the same playbook as he is using now. Let’s send him home with such a resounding defeat that he will be discouraged from any return to the political stage.

— Bill Freeman is an educator who was a teacher, principal, school superintendent and dean of higher education before retiring in 2013 to Ocala.