Scott's agenda has conflicts of interest
Folks, if you are not, you need to be paying close attention to what's going on in Tallahassee.
Gov. Rick Scott's campaign against special interests is probably still ringing in your ears from the 24/7 onslaught of his television ads last fall.
But apparently there is one special interest he's more than fond of - himself.
First, he signs an executive order requiring drug testing for state employees.
Conveniently, the chain of health care clinics he founded just happens to do drug testing.
Now he wants legislation on his desk that will put all of Florida's Medicaid patients into managed care plans.
The 100,000 or so potential customers from drug testing (at about $35 a pop) is small potatoes compared to the 3 million Medicaid recipients who could be looking for the other services Solantic provides.
A campaign promise Scott soon forgot was his pledge to put his considerable business interests into a blind trust while serving as governor.
Instead, he transferred his $62 million stake in Solantic to his wife.
Asked by reporters about potential conflicts of interest with Solantic, he shot back: "As I've told you, I'm not involved in that company."
How dumb does he think the people of Florida are?
Probably pretty dumb, and with reason.
After all, he did manage to win enough votes to become governor by bobbing and weaving around the record $1.7 billion fine the hospital company he founded had to pay for defrauding taxpayers.
It's no wonder he's emboldened.
And those special interests, other than himself, that Scott wanted to drive from Tallahassee?
The way this legislative session is going, it could be their best year ever.
Last week, the Legislature overrode a Charlie Crist veto of a bill passed last year that re-established "leadership funds," a shameful method of legal bribery that had been done away with two decades ago.
That act of arrogance couldn't be described any better than what columnist Howard Troxler wrote in the Sunday St. Petersburg Times.
"The Florida Legislature proved this past week, once and for all, that it is the utter ***** of Babylon."
Special interests can now pour unlimited amounts of money into these slush funds that go to the House speaker and the speaker designate, the Senate president and the president designate, and the leaders of the minority party in both the Senate and the House.
These "leaders" can then spread the money around to candidates who will then be indebted to them and to the special interests providing the cash.
Troxler wrote: "This is what we have come to. 'Lawmakers' walking around with open gunny sacks, selling the democracy, frankly, proudly, wickedly, shamelessly, amorally."
That conclusion can't be improved upon, and it should be remembered by voters the next time the yahoos who approved these funds come up for re-election.
ron.littlepage@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4282
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