Rick Scott survived a hard-fought and often heated primary battle to win the Republican nomination for governor in Florida.
The Republican voters spoke — and they chose businessman Scott.
Newsmax supports the GOP nominee in this race against his Democratic rival, Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer, for several reasons.
For starters, the outcome of this governor's election will have a direct impact on the 2012 presidential race.
For the Republicans to defeat President Obama, it is crucial for the GOP to hold on to the Florida governorship in 2010.
Influential Democratic political consultant Joe Trippi cited Florida when asked recently on “Fox News Sunday” which governor’s race he considers most important.
“I think this has big implications — redistricting later on in the 2012 presidential race,” he said. “Obama would like to carry Florida.
“That’s the one to watch, I think, in terms of a governor’s race. Does a big state like Florida stay in the Republican column, or can Alex Sink pick it up?”
The new governor also will play a major role in the state’s reapportionment following the 2010 Census. Florida is the largest state in the union still considered "red." If the governorship falls into the hands of Democrat Sink, reapportionment probably will help push Florida into the blue column.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who heads the Republican Governors Association (RGA), says the governorships up for grabs this year could have an “enormous” impact and may alter the political balance of power for a decade.
Barbour told Newsmax that he continues to be impressed with the insurgent Scott, and his RGA already has spent $2 million to help elect the Republican.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush strongly endorses Scott. Although Gov. Bush backed Attorney General Bill McCollum in the primary, he said Scott deserves his vote in the November general election because “we need an outside-the-box thinker to get the economy back on track.”
He said Scott, former CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital chain, won the primary because “he was focused on getting Florida back to work. And he has a plan, and I think that plan will do exactly what he said he will do, which is to create 700,000 jobs.”
Opponent Sink, meanwhile, has a woeful record of acting as steward over public and private financial institutions.
As Florida’s leading financial official, she shares the lion’s share of blame for mismanaging the state’s pension funds, which lost a staggering $60 billion in less than a year.
Sink is a trustee of the Florida State Board of Administrators (SBA), which manages pension funds for 1 million current and retired Florida teachers, public employees, and their families. Despite audits dating back to 2000 warning of risky, unregulated investments, the SBA lost one-third of its assets between July 2008 and January 2009.
Sink also has come under fire for authorizing felons to sell insurance in Florida. The agents reportedly were convicted of crimes ranging from assaulting a police officer to writing bad checks. As agents, they could have access to sensitive and personal information about Floridians.
A scandal also has engulfed NationsBank Florida, where Sink was president. The bank was investigated and fined millions of dollars “for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for ‘deceptive and misleading sales’ tactics that defrauded approximately 13,000 investors, most of them elderly,” Scott’s campaign website points out.
It is important to note that Sink has been a staunch supporter of President Barack Obama’s economic programs. She supported the healthcare reform legislation Congress passed, a move that will cut Medicare benefits for seniors by at least $500 billion. She also opposed a tough immigration law in Florida, supports adoptions by gay couples, and opposes drilling for oil in Florida’s waters.
Scott opposed Obamacare, has called for a cut in property tax rates, and wants to eliminate Florida’s business income tax over seven years. He has received an “A” rating from both the National Rifle Association and the Florida Right to Life organization.
The choice is clear for us: Florida needs Rick Scott, and so does the Republican Party.
Early voting has started in Florida. Be sure to vote and be sure to vote for the future of conservative values nationally by voting for Rick Scott.
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