Who is Rick Scott? He’s a former businessman with a record of fraud and corruption who battled the GOP establishment before becoming Florida’s Governor. Think Donald Trump, but even more corrupt, more bizarre, and more deceptive. Scott has lied about the impact of the economic stimulus, the cost of medicaid expansion, and his own record of gutting funding for Florida’s environment. He might just be the Sunshine State’s shadiest politician.
Rick Scott Lied About the Economic Stimulus
Rick Scott: “The stimulus has not created one private sector job.”
On top of that, my background is I put my money up. I took the risk. I stood up for what I believed in starting businesses. And that’s a whole different background than other people. But she clearly believes in higher taxes. She clearly believes in Obamacare. She clearly believes in the stimulus, and we know the stimulus has not created one private sector job.
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Rick Scott owns 15 percent of a company that estimated it would create 1,300 jobs using stimulus money.
Beyond Florida, there are examples Scott ought to be familiar with. Take telecommunications company XFone, which announced in March that it received $63 million in federal stimulus money. Scott owns about 15 percent of the company, campaign spokesman Chad Colby said. On Sept. 13, 2010, a Louisiana subsidiary, Pride Network Inc., got approval for $36 million in additional stimulus funding — money it estimates will create 1,300 jobs.
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PolitiFact rated Rick Scott’s claim that the stimulus created zero private sector jobs as “Pants on Fire.”
He may disagree that the stimulus is the most effective use of funds, or argue as Snaith does that ‘it didn’t do very much.’ But those aren’t the words he chose. With thousands of Floridians employed because of stimulus-funded programs — not to mention jobs for a company in which Scott owns stock — we rate his statement Pants on Fire.
Rick Scott Lied About Medicaid Expansion
Rick Scott on Medicaid expansion: “It’s going to cost Florida $1.9 billion a year.”
Medicaid is paid for with a mix of state and federal funds. So a big expansion could get expensive for states, even though the federal government would kick in a lot of the extra dough. ‘It’s going to cost Florida $1.9 billion a year,’ Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Monday. He said Florida wouldn’t go along with it.
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PolitiFact: “Scott’s Medicaid figure is an oversimplified estimate that relies on several assumptions and ignores how the Medicaid expansion would actually be implemented.”
Scott’s Medicaid figure is an oversimplified estimate that relies on several assumptions and ignores how the Medicaid expansion would actually be implemented. Even if you believe the assumptions and ignore how the law would be implemented, Scott is still quoting the wrong number, according to an estimate created by his own Agency for Health Care Administration.
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PolitiFact rated Scott’s “wildly high” claim as “False.”
In triumphantly declaring that Florida will reject a provision of the federal health care law that expands Medicaid coverage, Gov. Rick Scott told national television audiences that the expansion would cost Florida $1.9 billion a year. […] Scott’s $1.9 billion claim appears to be wildly high. We rate this claim False.
Rick Scott said Medicaid Expansion Would Cost Florida $26 billion.
‘As you know Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration put out their estimate of what the expansion would cost just for Florida taxpayers and it’s over $26 billion,’ Scott told Washington reporters after meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
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PolitiFact: “Scott and his staff are making strange assumptions to make the estimates higher than they actually will be.”
There is no doubt that Medicaid represents a significant part of the state’s budget, and that any plan to expand the system — no matter how much the federal government pays for — could include additional costs to the state. But rather than have a fact-based discussion about the state’s responsibilities when it comes to health care, it appears that Scott and his staff are making strange assumptions to make the estimates higher than they actually will be.
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Rick Scott cited a study directed by his own governor’s office to claim that Medicaid expansion would cost $26 million.
This is also a case where Scott cannot simply hide behind the fact that he is accurately citing a ‘study.’ His office directed the analysis, and it was notified that the assumptions were questionable. Scott gets a pass on one thing: The cost to expand Medicaid is largely unknown. But using a study to say that the expansion of Medicaid would cost Florida taxpayers ‘over $26 billion’ is False.
Rick Scott Lied About Florida’s Funding for the Environment
Rick Scott: “If you care about the environment, we’ve got record funding.”
Gov. Rick Scott says that Florida has invested big bucks in the environment. As he boasted about the state’s record during his economic summit for GOP presidential contenders in Orlando June 2, Scott reeled off a bunch of statistics about Florida’s budget and economy including this one: ‘If you care about the environment, we’ve got record funding.’
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PolitiFact: “The budget for the state Department of Environmental Protection and for Florida Forever were not a record under Scott.”
The budget for the state Department of Environmental Protection and for Florida Forever were not a record under Scott — two major pots of money that relate to the environment. Scott repeated a previously debunked claim in a national forum; his statement has long been proved incorrect. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!
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Sierra Club official: Rick Scott “cut back services to DEP, he cut back funding to various water management districts in state, he hasn’t done what needs to be done…to finish Everglades restoration…he cut back on environmental enforcement.”
But environmentalists say he doesn’t hold a record for overall environmental funding. ‘He cut back services to DEP, he cut back funding to various water management districts in state, he hasn’t done what needs to be done to acquire sugar land south of Okeechobee to finish Everglades restoration,’ [Sierra Club’s Senior Organizing Manager in Florida Frank] Jackalone said. Also, ‘he cut back on environmental enforcement.’
Rick Scott Lied About Improving Florida’s Credit Rating
Rick Scott: “Our credit rating went up since I’ve been in office.”
Florida Gov. Rick Scott made the declaration Aug. 11, 2011, in an interview with Panama City radio station WFLA 94.5 ‘Our credit rating went up since I’ve been in office,’ he said. ‘And their credit rating (the federal government’s) is dropping because they’re not doing what we’re doing in Florida. We are the most fiscal responsible state in the country.’
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Florida’s credit rating has not changed since 2005.
Florida’s credit rating was upgraded to AAA in 2005 while Jeb Bush was governor. Its rating has been the same ever since. The only thing that changed is S&P’s outlook on Florida debt. It went from stable to negative, then back to stable. But that isn’t considered an upgrade, the ratings agency says.