JACKSONVILLE — Florida’s leading candidates for governor clashed fiercely during their final debate on Tuesday night, sniping at each other over everything, from the economy and the minimum wage to the death penalty.
Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist and Republican Gov. Rick Scott, essentially tied in the polls, used their final moments before the television cameras to come up with some of the most personal attacks leveled so far in what has already been an extremely negative campaign.
Crist called Scott “out of touch” with regular Floridians, while Scott called Crist a “divider” who switched parties and policies to further his political career.
“What is he saying this year that he actually believes, whether it’s on taxes, education or abortion?” Scott asked.
As they debated the economy and who was responsible for the recovery, Scott contended that Crist, the son of a doctor, grew up rich and didn’t know the struggles of poor people like he did. Crist fired back by saying Scott, who is now a multimillionaire after growing up poor, didn’t care about the middle class and spent all his time in a private jet and seaside mansion.
Crist used that line to stress the need to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, which Scott opposes because he argued it could prompt some businesses to pare back the number of jobs they offer.
Scott said he did believe there should be some sort of minimum wage in place, but when asked how much it should be, he responded: “How would I know? I mean, the private sector decides wages.”
They each took digs at the other’s past, with Crist attacking Scott over his time as the head of the hospital chain HCA/Columbia, which was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. Crist repeated a line from one of his ads, saying Scott once invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while questioned about an unrelated civil lawsuit.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 10/22/2014]
