An Opinion By Jan Bergemann 
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.

Published September 11, 2010

Rick Scott's "new friends" called him a crook and a criminal who belongs in jail -- all on public TV. Ads paid for by the Florida Republican leadership called him about every bad name in the book. They painted a grim picture of Rick Scott -- making him look like the bad guy of all bad guys -- who defrauded American taxpayers of billions of dollars. You couldn't turn on your TV without listening to some magic voice telling you that Rick Scott shouldn't be a candidate for Florida governor, but rather Scott should be a jailbird!

Honestly, any halfway decent person with some self-respect wouldn't even share a table with people like Bush, Thrasher, Haridopolos and Cannon -- just to name the worst -- after the insults they launched at Scott.

But not even 24 hours after it was known that Rick Scott had beaten Bill McCollum in the Republican Primary, Scott hugged these same people and crawled into bed with them.

Obviously, Rick Scott is neither a decent person nor does he have some self-respect! This made it all abundantly clear: He is not running as a public servant with great plans for Florida; he is running as a power-grab with a private agenda.

Rick Scott won this primary with a bold-faced lie, claiming that he is not running as a party insider, but as an independent force that, if elected, will be the voice of reason against special interest in Tallahasseee. Because of this statement, many good Republicans, fed up with the so-called Republican leadership in Tallahassee, voted for Rick Scott. They didn’t vote for Bill McCollum who was generally seen as the party yea-sayer, whose campaign was financed by special interest.

In his victory speech on the evening of the primary Scott said: "In Tallahassee tonight, the deal-makers are crying in their cocktails.'' Not 24 hours later he was all buddy-buddy with just these dealmakers. 

You have to give Scott one thing: He works fast! Not even 24 hours after his victory speech where he ridiculed the Republican leadership and special interest that called him every name in the book, he crawled into bed with them, betraying all the good Republican voters who voted for him on his claim that he is independent from the career politicians running Tallahassee. He proved one thing: He can lie even faster than these career politicians! His actions show one thing: He would make a 

pact with the devil if that would help him to be Florida's next governor.

His next step -- after discussing it with the party leadership that are now suddenly all his friends  -- Scott selected House Representative Jennifer Carroll as his running mate, claiming she is not a "party insider."
  
If Jennifer Carroll is not an insider -- then who is? She is known as a Republican party-line YEA-sayer -- exactly what Rick Scott, Jeb Bush and John Thrasher were looking for! Scott picked her for his ticket for two reasons: To play the race card and to play the gender card. 
  
In a way I feel sorry for Jennifer Carroll. Getting into bed with a crook and liar (not my words, that's what his newest friends called him in the TV ads) surely destroys her reputation. Don't forget, you are always judged by the company you keep.

Scott won the election under false pretenses, claiming to be a safeguard against special interest. Not even 48 hours after the primary, Florida's media ran headlines like: "AIF (Associated Industries of Florida) is opening its purse for Scott!" This is the same special interest group that paid for many of the ads demonizing Scott before the primary! That's called POLITICS OF THE INSIDERS!

The Florida Republican leadership -- equipped with dictatorial powers in Tallahassee in the last twelve years -- turned the former SUNSHINE STATE into an economic disaster. No matter who was in charge in Washington, the mess was created here in Florida, caused by greed, corruption and growth mismanagement at a time when Jeb Bush was governor of Florida.

No Florida citizen with some common sense and a little dignity left should vote for a guy like Rick Scott, who lies faster than the career politicians he claimed to hate in his TV ads.

DON'T FORGET: RICK SCOTT RUNS FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR, not for president of the USA or any other Federal office. Florida's misery will not be cured by introducing the Arizona immigration law or fighting Obama's health care system. We need a governor who is down to earth and cares about Florida -- trying to make Florida again the SUNSHINE STATE it once was.

FLORIDA VOTERS: If we have any self-respect, let's get to work to make sure that Rick Scott will not be Florida's next governor!

ELECTING RICK SCOTT AS FLORIDA'S GOVERNOR?
WE WOULD BE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WHOLE NATION!