Special Interests Already Misleading Floridians About Rick Scott's Self-Serving Record

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Sebastian Kitchen released the following statement in response to special interests already lining up to spend heavily to deceive Floridians and defending Rick Scott’s record that left more than half of counties with fewer jobs:

“Special interests supporting Rick Scott cannot erase his record: thanks to Scott’s self-serving politics half of Florida counties have lost jobs and wages are at the bottom of the nation, but he’s used his position as governor to make himself $46 million richer. The only people who have benefitted from Scott’s self-serving politics are himself and his donors.”

Here are the facts about Rick Scott’s record of leaving behind half of the state while working to enrich himself:

Associated Press Headline: Florida Gov. Rick Scott Worth Nearly $150 Million

• “Scott on Friday filed financial information with the state that listed his net worth at nearly $149 million, or a jump of nearly 25 percent from 2015.”

Pensacola News Journal Headline: Scott’s Job Promises Missed Most Floridians

• “Indeed, despite almost 8 years of the governor’s persistent public rhetoric about job-creation, a report from the Florida Chamber found that 36 of 67 counties have actually lost jobs since 2007, before the Great Recession. And according to the data, many of Florida’s rural counties are worse off today than when Scott first won election in 2010.”

Miami Herald Headline: Many Promises, Few Jobs, The Rick Scott Jobs Record

• “Of the jobs Scott can influence most, only a fraction now exist. Scott has pledged $266 million in tax breaks and other incentives in return for 45,258 new jobs. But 96 percent of the jobs have yet to materialize, according to state data.”
• “The total number of new jobs Scott ultimately might deliver doesn’t offset the jobs lost at companies with more than 100 workers in the same time period. Between January 2011 and November 2013, large Florida employers reported 49,163 layoffs, according to federal data.”

Palm Beach Post Headline: Florida’s Low Wages Are Nothing To Brag About, Gov. Scott

• “His pitch: Wages are low in Florida. What a terrible thing to brag about.”
• “Florida pay falls short of the national average. Weekly wages in Florida’s two highest-paid counties — Palm Beach and Miami-Dade — are $50 below the national norm. In May 2015, at least 109,000 of Palm Beach County’s 565,000 workers made less than $10 an hour.”

Florida Politics Headline: Jobs In Florida Cities Have Lowest Pay In The Nation

• “Florida’s big cities have the lowest paying urban jobs in America, according to a recently released federal survey.”
• “The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment data, for the year 2015, show the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan area had the lowest median pay among the country’s 50 largest employment centers, according to an analysis by FloridaPolitics.com. Miami’s pay rates take the second-lowest spot.”
• “Fort Lauderdale, Tampa-St. Petersburg and Jacksonville also were among the lowest seven in the country in 2015 when it comes to median pay for all surveyed jobs, according to the BLS numbers released this spring.”