What Blacks and Floridians don’t know about Florida under Scott
By Roger Caldwell
Leadership matters in Florida, and Rick Scott and his administration for four years has not been honest with the residents of the state. The governor has tricked the residents into thinking that he cares about the quality of life in the state, but he is only concerned about creating more investments and wealth for his network of companies. From the very beginning he was only interested in the top 1 percent in the state, and with his money, he can buy off the support he needs to win an election.
Florida is controlled by the Republican Party in both Houses, but there are more Democrats registered to vote in the state. If Governor Rick Scott and The Republican Party cared about the people in the state, they would have approved the expansion of Medicaid, because it can help over 1 million residents.
“The Legislature’s politically driven refusal to accept federal money to expand Medicaid leaves $50 billion on the table and puts thousands of lives at risk. It’s an object failure of responsibility by Florida lawmakers for which there is no justification,” says the Miami Herald. Our leaders are morally bankrupt, and they operate in the past and refuse to look ahead to the future.
Our governor continues to tell the residents that his initiatives and plans are working, but we find time and time again that our state is at the top of bad lists. Florida is ranked first in fraud, first in identity theft, first in home foreclosures, and first in public corruption convictions. It is obvious that to be first on a bad list is an embarrassment, and we have to question if our legislators are doing their job, and if the governor cares.
Florida is the second worst in the country on per-capital spending on higher education, access to emergency care, and the most regressive taxation system. We are also the third worst in per-capital spending on public education, the widest income disparity between the top 1 percent and the bottom 99 percent, the most long-term jobless, and among the three worst states for future retirement security. Our state is also eighth in violent crime rates, and the 42nd in per-capital spending on public welfare programs.
Most of this information comes from a research paper from the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, and they are now not recommending retirees to come to Florida to retire. In 2011, the Scott administration cut money for spring protection, and gutted the state’s water management districts. All around the state, there are toxic dumping grounds in minority communities, which are making the residents sick. There is excessive runoff from urban areas, septic tanks, landfills, and agriculture areas, which can cause vomiting, rashes, lung and liver diseases.
It is time for Governor Scott to tell the truth about the environment, and end this appalling cover-up in the state. When Florida is ranked first in public corruption convictions, the wrong group of leaders is running the state. We must remember the ones who are caught and convicted are a small percentage, because the system is broken and rotten to the core.
