As Gov. Rick Scott gears up for his 2014 re-election campaign, his primary focus has shifted away from dealing with the many critical issues our state faces. Instead, he has decided to devote the bulk of his energy toward fundraising for his re-election bid in advance of the November election.
Scott will need all the money he can possibly raise. In 2010, Scott spent $85 million on his successful gubernatorial bid, which included more than $73 million of his own family’s money. Even after spending that enormous sum, he barely defeated Democratic nominee Alex Sink, the former Florida chief financial officer.
Scott faces an uphill battle in his re-election bid. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found the governor trailing presumptive Democratic nominee and former Gov. Charlie Crist, 46 percent to 38 percent. Among those surveyed in the poll, 54 percent said that Scott does not deserve a second term as governor.
A separate survey by Public Policy Polling found Scott’s approval rating at 34 percent, compared to a 51 percent disapproval rating. These numbers rank Scott as one of the six least-popular governors in America.
Scott’s fundraising in 2010 shattered previous campaign spending records in Florida, and the governor seems well on his way to breaking those records again in 2014. He recently appointed a new campaign finance director, South Florida health-care executive Miguel Fernandez.
Fernandez is a strong supporter of the governor; he and his companies have given more than $1.8 million to Scott’s re-election bid. This includes a $1 million check to a re-election committee supporting the governor, the largest donation to any candidate election fund in American history.
These donations are perfectly legal, thanks to the Citizens United ruling and other Supreme Court decisions dismantling campaign finance regulations across America. However, recent business dealings between Fernandez and the state of Florida suggest motivations for Fernandez’s donations beyond heartfelt support for Scott.
Fernandez’s companies recently won contracts from the state to serve Medicaid patients throughout central and south Florida as part of the governor’s private-sector focused “managed care” initiative. The contracts for just one of the two companies could be worth as much as $2.7 billion in the first year alone.
There is some indication that Fernandez’s companies were not the best choice for these awards of taxpayer dollars. On the website of Better Health, one of Fernandez’s companies that was given a contract, the firm’s “Executive Summary” and “Senior Management Team” are each completely omitted.
Better Health’s shoddily constructed website is clearly not indicative of a business deserving of billions of dollars in Florida taxpayer funds.
These contracts perfectly encapsulate the “crony capitalism” that has come to define American politics in recent years. Rather than focusing on providing vital government services effectively and at low cost, elected officials focus on rewarding campaign donors and the politically well connected.
Scott’s relationship with Fernandez is not the only example of questionable political conduct involving the governor in recent days. CNN reported on a $1.8 million lobbying contract given by Scott to a political supporter, former U.S. Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs Anthony Principi. Principi hosted a fundraiser for the governor and personally donated $10,000 to Scott’s re-election campaign. Although these financial transactions with Principi did not involve taxpayer money, Scott’s tendency to reward the politically and financially connected has defined his tenure as Florida governor.
The people of Florida deserve better than a governor more focused on rewarding wealthy donors than on confronting the issues facing our state. By voting Scott out of office in November, voters can reject both crony capitalism and our system of campaign finance, both of which amount to little more than forms of legalized bribery.
[Elliot Levy is a UF political science and public relations junior. His columns appear on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 2/5/2014 under the headline "Scott’s shady donations crony capitalism"]
