Tampa, FL –The Florida Chamber of Commerce today endorsed Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican primary in the race for the next Governor of Florida. The endorsement, made at the Port of Tampa following a site tour, signals the Florida Chamber’s strong support of Bill McCollum’s bold plan for creating jobs and strengthening Florida’s economy. It is also the first time in history the Florida Chamber of Commerce has endorsed in a primary election for Governor.

“I’m honored to have the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement and support in my campaign to be Florida’s next Governor,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum. “With more than one million Floridians out of work, nothing is more important than advancing bold pro-business policies to get our economy back on track. The Florida Chamber of Commerce is a leader in advocating for the economic climate that will ensure the Sunshine State recruits, retains and grows the businesses of tomorrow. As Florida’s next Governor, I look forward to working with the Chamber’s leadership and members in implementing my plan to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs for Floridians.”

“Bill McCollum has a strong pro-business track record, and fully understands the important role businesses are to the overall health of Florida’s economy,” said Steve Halverson, Florida Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman and President of The Haskell Company. “Bill McCollum understands the need to create a business climate that is conducive for high-wage, high-skill jobs, and has a solid plan that will help Florida bridge to the next economy.”

Announced on the campaign trail in recent months, Bill McCollum has outlined a series of bold recommendations comprising his economic and job creation agenda for Florida.

Bill McCollum’s “Real Solutions, News Jobs: A Roadmap to Florida’s Future,” is a comprehensive plan designed to create more than 500,000 new jobs in the next six years, and tackle the regulatory roadblocks impeding Florida’s business climate. Bill McCollum’s plan to prepare Florida’s children for the future demonstrates the important link between talent supply and education, and how the quality of Florida’s education system is essential to our state’s economic vitality.

The Florida Chamber believes Bill McCollum is a serious leader for serious times.

“We know Bill McCollum is a dedicated public servant with a solid record for putting Florida’s interests first,” Halverson added. “We know he is a leader of the highest character, and that he is ready to lead our great state on day one. Bill McCollum’s experience, dedication and character are often overlooked in the sound bite world of modern politics and news, but these traits are exactly what we should look for in our elected officials. That is why the Florida Chamber of Commerce proudly endorses Bill McCollum.”

As the leading voice of business, today’s endorsement allows the Florida Chamber to encourage its 139,000-member businesses and organizations to pledge their support to Attorney General Bill McCollum and help him succeed as the next Governor of Florida.

For more information, campaign news, and updates, visit www.BillMcCollum.com.

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Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Today, Bill McCollum announced the Statewide Leadership of the McCollum for Governor Law Enforcement Coalition, which includes 32 current and former Florida sheriffs and President of the Florida Fraternal Order of Police James Preston. The announcement comes as Attorney General Bill McCollum today addressed the Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Training Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“Florida’s sheriffs, police officers and first responders are the heroes serving on the frontlines in our communities, keeping our families and streets safe and secure. I’m honored by the tremendous support my campaign has received from leaders in the law enforcement community,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum.  “As Governor, I will champion efforts to improve public safety, crackdown on illegal immigration, enforce our laws and keep dangerous criminals off our streets.”

“As a five-term Sheriff of Collier County, Florida, and having served with Attorney General McCollum on the Florida Domestic Security Oversight Council, I applaud his efforts to promote the enforcement of federal immigration law in Florida to better secure this state’s public safety.” said former Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter.  “On issues from illegal immigration, to cybercrime to anti-gang initiatives, Attorney General McCollum has worked to find real solutions to some of our state’s most pressing challenges. I am proud to join members of the law enforcement community from across state in support Bill McCollum as Florida’s next Governor.”

This impressive group of law enforcement leaders will play a key role in continuing to build Bill McCollum’s support across the state.

McCollum for Governor Law Enforcement Coalition Honorary Chairs:

• Michael Adkinson, Walton County Sheriff
• Rick Beseler, Clay County Sheriff
• Gary Borders, Lake County Sheriff
• Tim Brown, Holmes County Sheriff
• Bill Cameron, Charlotte County Sheriff
• Vince Champion, President of the Coastal Florida Police Benevolent Association
• Jim Coats, Pinellas County Sheriff
• State Senator Charlie Dean, Former Citrus County Sheriff
• Don Eslinger, Seminole County Sheriff
• Don Fleming, Flagler County Sheriff
• David Gee, Hillsborough County Sheriff
• Grady Judd, Polk County Sheriff
• Wendall Hall, Santa Rosa County Sheriff
• Don Hunter, Former Collier County Sheriff
• Ben Johnson, Volusia County Sheriff
• Thomas Knight, Sarasota County Sheriff
• Deryl Loar, Indian County Sheriff
• Paul May, Okeechobee County Sheriff
• Frank McKeithen, Bay County Sheriff
• David Morgan, Escambia County Sheriff
• Richard Nugent, Hernando County Sheriff
• State Senator Steve Olerich, Former Alachua County Sheriff
• Jack Parker, Brevard County Sheriff
• James Preston, President of the Florida Fraternal Order of Police
• Kevin Rambosk, Collier County Sheriff
• John Rutherford, Duval County Sheriff
• Mike Scott, Lee County Sheriff
• Thomas Seagraves, Nassau County Sheriff
• David Shoar, St. John’s County
• Daniel Slaughter, Gilchrist County Sheriff
• State Representative William Snyder, Martin County Sheriff’s  Office, Former Director of Law Enforcement
• Brad Steube, Manatee County Sheriff
• Charlie Wells, Former Manatee County Sheriff
• Bob White, Pasco County Sheriff
• Jerry Whitehead, Union County Sheriff

For more information, campaign news, and updates, visit www.BillMcCollum.com.

“Today, Rick Scott told Florida voters he wanted to be Florida’s Chief Economic Development Officer – blatantly and unapologetically plagiarizing Bill McCollum’s comments from an April 15 announcement made alongside Steve Forbes. Apparently Rick Scott thinks spending more than $25 million on misleading TV ads can gloss over a detail-free, partially plagiarized announcement masquerading as an original economic plan.

“Bill McCollum has been running on a comprehensive job creation and economic agenda for months. He’s offered solutions to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, grow our economy, improve the state’s transportation network, provide more choice and affordability in our health care system, provide water solutions for our future growth needs and create a world education system for Florida’s students.

“Rick Scott couldn’t even be bothered to put out one solid policy proposal in advance of Floridians beginning to vote for the state’s highest office by absentee ballot. Now he has put out a plan, where, when it doesn’t copy Bill McCollum’s, the ideas are unrealistic and misguided at best. Moreover, Rick Scott has now flip-flopped on property taxes.

“Rick Scott is a greedy and dishonest insider who will say and spend anything to avoid answering questions about his record – from profiting off illegal immigrants to making millions off President Obama’s $780 billion stimulus boondoggle.”

“Rick Scott: Nothing new. Not a proven conservative. Not right for Florida.”

Background:

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES BUZZ BLOG: Rick Scott opposes Bill McCollum’s tax rate proposal

Read Story Here: http://bit.ly/deuXyI

Caught up with Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Rick Scott today and asked him about Bill McCollum’s proposal to freeze local millage rates for two years.

“I don’t think you can do that,” he said, arguing that local communities know what’s best without mandates from Tallahassee or Washington. “It should be a local decision.”

Likewise, when asked about casino gambling, Scott said “I think the local community should decide.

For more information, campaign news, and updates, visit www.BillMcCollum.com.

Naples, FL – Today, speaking at Advanced Medical Center in Naples, Florida, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum announced his plan to improve access to affordable, quality health care in Florida. The plan, “Choice, Access and Affordability: A Roadmap for Quality Health Care in Florida” is a central part of McCollum’s agenda for Florida’s future.

Advanced Medical Center provides Family Medicine, Women’s Health, Urgent Care/Walk-In Services, Occupational Medicine, Laboratory Services, Imaging, and Pharmacy; and is known as one of the most energy-efficient local businesses in the Naples area.

“Florida’s health care system is facing greater challenges today than ever before. Record numbers of hard-working Floridians are unable to afford health insurance and cannot access quality care. Small businesses struggle to provide coverage for employees. Doctors and nurses are leaving the practice faster than we can replace them. Health care costs have risen too high, too quickly. The status-quo is unacceptable and must be addressed with strong action,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum.

McCollum’s plan is focused on five areas: lowering overall costs within the health care system, lowering costs of health insurance products and empowering consumers with more choice, ensuring a strong health care workforce, lowering costs in Medicaid, and empowering persons with disabilities.

The centerpiece of the plan is a focus on market-based solutions that provide greater choice and flexibility to consumers.

“Private sector ideas do work, and evidence supports my position. Some politicians think they should be able to run the health care system from their ivory tower in Washington—but they are wrong,” said McCollum. “We must advance state-level reforms that value the free market, improve consumer choice, and respect every individual’s right to choose what is best for him or herself. To me, the doctor-patient relationship is sacred. The solutions to our problems do not lie in a bigger, detached federal government.”

In his role as Florida’s Attorney General, McCollum is leading a 20-state lawsuit to declare President Barack Obama’s federal health care plan unconstitutional on the basis that Congress has exceeded its powers by penalizing individuals for failing to purchase insurance, and for commandeering state assets in unprecedented ways. McCollum also noted that the President’s plan will come between doctors and patients, deny choice to individuals, and cripple the private insurance market.

McCollum’s proposal includes a number of issues that federal health care reform failed to address, including meaningful litigation reform to drive down costs and ensure a strong health care workforce, permitting individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines, and allowing small businesses and organizations to pool together to create greater purchasing power for lower-cost, high-quality health plans. Further, the plan calls for aggressively tackling fraud and abuse within public health care programs, and calls for developing health insurance products more tailored to individual needs.

“Florida is facing a critical shortage of physicians, nurses and dentists. Attorney General McCollum’s plan will help medical professionals stay in practice and continue to serve the growing health care needs of Floridians,” said Karl Altenburger, M.D., past president of the Florida Medical Association. “Addressing common sense litigation reform is also necessary for lowering costs and providing more appropriate care.”

Florida has the highest medical malpractice insurance premiums in the nation, with Miami at the top of the list.  Because of this, new doctors are not choosing Florida as a place to begin practicing medicine, and are avoiding practicing in high-risk, critical areas such as hospital emergency rooms, obstetrics, or neurosurgery. The practice of defensive medicine costs an estimated $100 billion-plus each year. For patients, these costs translate into higher fees and higher health insurance premiums.

McCollum’s plan calls for more transparency and accountability in health care pricing, both for the private marketplace and for driving down costs in Florida’s Medicaid program.

Today, Medicaid consumes about a quarter of Florida’s state budget and is expected to increase to 36 percent of state spending within ten years if nothing is done to curb this trend. McCollum’s plan calls for better coordination of care in Medicaid, noting that “medical home models” and other coordinated care models result in better health outcomes and lower costs to the state, in great part by ensuring access to preventive care and avoiding costly visits to emergency rooms. McCollum’s plan also calls for greater access to home and community-based care options so that the elderly and persons with disabilities can stay out of nursing homes and receive care in more appropriate, more comfortable, and lower-cost settings.

Bill McCollum shared an outline of the plan along with the complete paper, linked below.

➢    Reduce the costs of the health care system
-    Place more choice in the hands of consumers
-    Fight President Obama’s government-run health care plan, which is increasing, not decreasing costs
-    Tackle Medicaid fraud and abuse
-    Achieve meaningful litigation reform
-    Promote the use of health information technology to lower costs and improve health outcomes
-    Use market-based methods to incentivize healthy behaviors

➢    Drive down the costs of health insurance with market-based reforms
-    Increase the transparency and accountability of health insurance and health care services
-    Provide more choices and flexibility in health insurance policies
-    Permit Floridians to buy health insurance across state lines
-    Lower costs of health insurance for small businesses and the self-employed through pool purchasing and tax credits
-    Ensure that health insurance policies are available for people with preexisting conditions
-    Improve the long-term care insurance marketplace and increase utilization of these plans
-    Encourage the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other high-deductible plans

➢    Ensure access to a top-quality health care workforce
-    Increase the number of medical residency positions in Florida
-    Rebuild the role of primary care doctors
-    Quickly address Florida’s shortage of nurses and nursing instructors
-    Enhance access to dental care

➢    Secure and improve Medicare and Medicaid
-    Fight to restore Medicare to a solid foundation and ensure quality care for Florida’s seniors
-    Improve the coordination of care drive down costs and achieve better health outcomes
-    Prioritize improved access to health care for children
-    Improve access to home and community-based care options

➢    Support and empower persons with disabilities
-    Advocate consumer self-direction and dignity
-    Enhance independence for persons with disabilities
-    Support improved opportunities for education and safety

For more details on Bill McCollum’s click here: “Choice, Access and Affordability: A Roadmap for Quality Health Care in Florida.”

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“The quality of Florida’s education system is the cornerstone of our economy. The talent and breadth of our workforce today will determine the businesses and private sector investment we attract tomorrow,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum. “Under the leadership of former Governor Jeb Bush, Florida has made substantial gains, but it is time to continue our progress. We will not secure or improve Florida’s long-term economic prospects unless we ensure every single Florida student, regardless of location or background, has access to a quality education that enables him or her to be competitive in today’s global economy.”

Attorney General McCollum’s education agenda is the roadmap Florida needs to dramatically improve our schools and better prepare Florida students for college and the workforce. It is based on ensuring that all students can achieve successful outcomes when provided the right tools.

Bill McCollum’s education policy agenda will raise student achievement by:
•    Basing policy decisions on measurable, quantitative results to judge progress.
•    Expecting high standards – Florida’s students deserve to achieve a year’s worth of learning to progress each and every year.
•    Rewarding improvement and achievement, for students, teachers and schools alike.
•    Empowering students and parents through choice, and creating more competition in funding for both schools and scholarships.

“Education is Floridians’ pathway to a greater quality of life and key to achieving a prosperous long-term economy,” said McCollum. “Education cannot be separated from Florida’s economy, and under my leadership, we will institute the reforms necessary to produce better lives for our children and our state while boosting our workforce’s economic viability.”

At today’s press conference, Bill McCollum outlined his education policy agenda for Florida:

21st Century Education Solutions:
Bill McCollum’s Roadmap for Florida’s Future

Pre-Kindergarten

• Develop standards for pre-kindergarten curriculum
• Increase the quality of pre-kindergarten teachers
• Collect data on pre-kindergarten use to improve the program

Kindergarten through High School

• Raise the standards for school grades
• Raise the bar on high school graduation
• Reform Florida’s approach to teacher quality, compensation and removal
• Provide teacher support structures
• Require specific subject area proficiency
• Create a merit based compensation system
• Phase out tenure
• Empower superintendents and principals to remove non-performing instructional staff
• Institute the High Performing Teacher Exchange Program
• Expand school choice and increase access to quality education for low-income families
• Leverage Career and Professional Education (CAPE) academies to increase student choice by providing professional certifications
• Connect local industries with school districts
• Corporate partnership tax credit program
• Fully deploy CAPE academies
• CAPE counseling for students failing high school
• Support Amendment 8 to “right size the class size”
• Extend full certification in Florida for Troops-to-Teachers and Teach-for-America teachers
• Better integrate technology into the classroom
• Eliminate barriers to virtual education
• Open Florida’s virtual education market to allow competition between service providers
• Require Florida high school students to take at least one internet based class

Colleges and Universities

• Incentivize greater STEM degree production
• Link education funding to graduation rates
• Produce more professional certificates, undergraduate and graduate degrees
• Refocus Florida’s financial aid programs to accomplish concrete goals
• Build incentives for performance into Bright Futures
• Encourage students to apply for federal student aid before state funds are awarded
• Provide greater flexibility for students to pursue graduate degrees
• Integrated financial aid solutions
• Develop stronger public/private partnerships for higher education in Florida

Workforce Training

• Prioritize targeted workforce training program funding
• Develop the Florida “Back to Work Program” through competitive funding for programs that target local industry needs
• Update the Community College funding formula

For Bill McCollum’s complete education policy plan click here: “21st Century Education Solutions: A Roadmap for Florida’s Future.”

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“On the day Rick Scott filed to run for Governor, he pledged to abide by campaign spending caps currently in state law. Now that he is failing to win over voters, despite the millions he is personally hemorrhaging into his campaign to pay for false and negative attacks against Bill McCollum, he wants to change the rules of the game. There Rick Scott goes again, saying one thing and doing another.

“On June 17, Rick Scott promised to stay under the $24.9 million limit on spending and less than a month later he now says he plans to exceed that. Now he’s using money he ripped off from taxpayers to sue the state of Florida, in a greedy and dishonest attempt to avoid the repercussions of his decision.

“Today, Bill McCollum filed a motion seeking to join the case in support of upholding state law. Given that Rick Scott’s lawsuit mentions him directly, it is only appropriate for Attorney General McCollum to join this case to ensure his position is adequately represented.”

“Thankfully, Florida voters are becoming increasingly disgusted with a greedy and dishonest insider who will say and spend anything to avoid his record – from profiting off illegal immigrants to making millions off President Obama’s $780 billion stimulus boondoggle.”

To access the motion, please click here.

For more information, campaign news, and updates, visit www.BillMcCollum.com.

Orlando, FL – Today, speaking to attendees at the 2010 Floridians for Better Transportation Summit, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum announced his plan to improve Florida’s multimodal transportation system, provide innovative financing solutions and enable Florida to capture more trade.  The plan, “Interconnected, Multimodal Transportation Solutions: A Roadmap for Florida’s Future” is a key part of Bill McCollum’s economic agenda for Florida’s future.

“Transportation and infrastructure are central to Florida’s quality of life and economic growth. As Governor, my number one priority will be to get Florida’s economy back on track and get Floridians back to work,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum. “I have released an economic agenda proposing to lower taxes, lower regulations and attract more diverse industries to Florida. But without a reliable, safe, interconnected transportation system, our goals for job creation and long-term prosperity cannot be accomplished.”

Attorney General McCollum also signed the Floridians for Better Transportation “Jobs Pledge” in which he promised to protect transportation funding for transportation purposes as Florida’s next Governor.

“This is not only the right thing to do for improving Florida’s infrastructure. It is also the best way to ensure immediate job growth. Today Florida is in a state of ‘economic emergency’,” McCollum said. “As Governor, I will expedite projects to help get people back to work right away.”

Attorney General McCollum’s plan is focused on six areas: innovative financing, seaports, roadways and bridges, freight rail, aviation, and commuter and bus transit.

The plan recognizes that Florida is at a turning point. With the 2014 completion of the Panama Canal expansion, Florida has an opportunity to capture significantly more trade, bringing hundreds of thousands of new jobs and billions in economic benefits. However, Florida is already losing these opportunities and jobs to competing states that have invested in their ports, rail and roadways to land long-term shipping contracts.

“The good news is that the return on investment for transportation funding is extraordinary,” said McCollum. “Every dollar spent to improve Florida’s infrastructure will bring significant return in benefits to the state and direct job creation.”

According to an independent study commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation, every dollar spent on transportation investment yields between $5 and $7 in benefits to the state, with an even higher rate of return for seaport improvements.

To incentivize greater private investment without spending taxpayer dollars, McCollum’s transportation plan includes a variety of financing methods. These include the creation of a State Infrastructure Tax Credit to provide private investors with some protection against extraordinary downside risk and the creation of tax incentives to companies that locate or expand seaport, rail or aviation shipping capacity within Florida. The plan also calls for reducing unnecessary regulation and creating a better business climate.

Finally, McCollum’s plan takes an aggressive approach to tackling congestion and improving safety conditions for passengers and pedestrians.  Florida’s stretch of I-95 is currently ranked the most deadly in the nation, and I-4 is the third most deadly.  To address long-term, coordinated planning needs, McCollum states he will restart the “Future Corridors” process that began under Governor Jeb Bush. McCollum’s vision is to “develop a statewide, integrated network of multimodal corridors to address current and future needs, and to support economically developing areas.” These projects will be financed through public-private partnerships and user fees to the maximum extent possible.

Bill McCollum shared an outline of the plan along with the complete paper, linked below.

Interconnected, Multimodal Transportation Solutions:

Bill McCollum’s Roadmap for Florida’s Future

The Big Picture: Sustainable and Innovative Financing for Multimodal Projects

-       Enhance Florida’s Strategic Intermodal System to achieve coordinated goals

-       Protect transportation funding

-       Create the Florida Infrastructure Tax Credit to better leverage transportation funds and maximize private investment in state projects

-       Improve Florida’s regulatory climate to become more competitive with other states

-       Correct Florida’s “donor state” status to receive a fair share of our tax dollar funding

-       Restart the “Future Corridors” process to ensure coordinated, long-term planning

Seaports

-       Ensure Florida’s direct investment in seaport financing and improvements

-       Increase the flexibility of matching requirements

-       Offer tax incentives for companies that locate or expand shipping facilities in Florida

-       Remove unnecessary and rigid statutory provisions that impede priority projects

-       Improve on-dock rail connectivity and develop warehouse and distribution centers at major Florida seaports

Highways, Roads and Bridges

-       Declare a state of Economic Emergency and expedite projects to spark Florida’s economy

-       Focus on congestion relief

-       Insist on safety

Airports & Aviation Industry

-       Recognize the importance of Florida’s aviation industry to jobs and tourism

-       Restore full use of the Aviation Fuels Tax to the aviation industry

-       Utilize my proposed Infrastructure Tax Credit to upgrade and maintain former military bases

Freight Railways

-       Encourage more freight to be carried by rail to reduce highway congestion, improve road conditions, and improve air quality

-       Provide corporate tax incentives to encourage private investment in rail infrastructure

-       Increase in-state rail manufacturing and business in Florida

Bus & Rail Transit

-       Take a leadership role in federal-state projects to ensure affordable, viable results

-       Create bus rapid transit in urban areas throughout the state

For more details on Bill McCollum’s “Interconnected, Multimodal Transportation Solutions: A Roadmap for Florida’s Future” please visit www.BillMcCollum.com.

For more information, campaign news, and updates, visit www.BillMcCollum.com.

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By Steve Forbes

Tampa Tribune

July 7, 2010

The top priority for Florida’s next governor will be fostering an economic climate that makes it easier for businesses to grow, prosper and create jobs. Florida is suffering from one of the country’s highest unemployment rates, and it will take years to replace the more than 900,000 jobs the state has lost during this deep recession.

It is for this reason, among others, that I am supporting Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican gubernatorial primary. His economic plan will accelerate Florida’s recovery and facilitate the creation of more than half a million jobs over the next six years.

I’ve known Bill for many years, since his days as a congressman representing Orlando. He’s an experienced leader with a fine record on the issues that matter to Florida Republicans. When he says he will cut business taxes and remove regulatory roadblocks to job creation – he’s going to do it.

In contrast, it’s hard to know what to make of Bill’s primary opponent. Rick Scott boasts about his experience building HCA/Columbia, a massive network of for-profit hospitals that at one time employed one in every 1,000 American workers. For some reason, he doesn’t like to talk about how that story ends – being ousted as CEO by his board of directors, massive federal fraud charges and unprecedented company fines totaling $1.7 billion.

After years investigating HCA, federal law enforcement officials found evidence that Scott’s hospitals kept two sets of books. The first tracked actual expenses, while the second contained inflated figures that were submitted to the government for reimbursement. By the time charges were filed, HCA officials admitted to systematically overcharging the government – and by extension taxpayers – with fraudulent claims, including exaggerating the treatment of Medicare patients to increase billings.

It should be noted that while HCA agreed to plead guilty to 14 felonies in five states, Scott himself was never charged with any crimes due to differences in the laws at the time. But there’s a higher standard than just indictment here, and it’s one that requires all Republican voters to ask themselves: “What did Scott know about HCA’s criminal conduct, and when did he know it?”

Scott’s story is that “the company made mistakes,” but as CEO, he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. Scott would explain that he was in charge while HCA defrauded both the government and shareholders on a massive scale for years, but not once did he have even a hint there was a problem. Nor can he be blamed for what occurred. Sounds like the CEO of BP ducking responsibility for the safety of BP’s offshore oil rigs.

If this convenient story is true, the next question is obvious. In the face of such stunning managerial incompetence, how could anyone decide Scott was qualified to run a lemonade stand, let alone the nation’s fourth-largest state?

When these allegations have come up in the past, Rick Scott has tried to change the subject by saying he wants to talk about issues instead. Unfortunately for Scott, his background is the issue. And if state Republicans hand him the nomination, its one Democrats are sure to focus on this fall in an election where voters are paying a lot more attention.

Steve Forbes is president and chief executive officer of Forbes and editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine.

To view this piece, please visit