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I love it when Republicans have hissy fits over people like Charlie Rangel yet their own crooks--cough*cough*Rick Scott*cough*cough--always wear Teflon.
So now Rick Scott is Florida’s Republican candidate for Governor. How is this possible? How did the hustler who let the largest healthcare fraud case in U.S. history go on right under his nose, who left Nashville’s Columbia/HCA in such tatters that they had to change the company’s name, who escaped with a $10 million golden parachute, manage to sell enough free market snake oil to make people forget he’s (in my opinion) a big, fat crook?
Only in Florida and only in the Republican Party. How can Democrats get that deal? If Mark Sanford can hike the Appalachian Trail with his South American mistress and not have to resign the governorship, then so can Eliot Spitzer. Oh I forgot, there’s always a higher standard for Democrats. IOKIYAR.
Even more amazing are all the Freepers claiming Scott was brought up on “trumped up charges,” which totally makes sense when you remember that a) Rick Scott actually wasn't brought up on any charges, and b) Columbia/HCA paid $1.7 billion -- yes that’s right, billion with a “B” -- in penalties and fines and pled guilty to various criminal charges. Sure, corporations would rather plead guilty and pay nearly $2 billion to make “trumped up” charges go away. Man you guys are pathetic.
So this week I hear a lot of folks wondering why Rick Scott is not in jail. Why wasn't he charged with any crimes, anyway? Good question. For that you can thank President Clinton’s Attorney General Janet Reno. Last year one of my readers posted a link to an interview with Reno (or maybe it was a news conference transcript, I don't remember) where she said something to the effect of, "Scott’s public humiliation was punishment enough." I can’t find the link now to save my life, and losing all of my old comments to the demise of Haloscan didn't help.
That Reno let Scott go always stunk to high heaven to me. Remember: Scott and Reno are both from Florida. Janet Reno ran for governor of Florida in 2002 but lost the nomination to Bill McBride. Bill McBride is married to Alex Sink, who is currently running for governor of Florida against .... Rick Scott. You know, Florida politics looks like one of our Kentucky family trees: no branches.
Anyway, Rick Scott was supposedly chastened by his "ordeal" and public humiliation. Oh wait, maybe not:
The man leading the Governor's race on the Republican side was deposed just days before he got into the Governor's race in one case and accused of medicare fraud by a former doctor.
Now Rick Scott is refusing to answer questions about the case against his current company.
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Scott went on to call the ploy desperate and "Chicago style politics" but refused multiple times to release his testimony in the case. He's also been accused by a former doctor at Solantic of Medicare fraud and that case is now in the hands of the FDLE. No charges have been brought. Wednesday was supposed to be the final debate, and the only one to be broadcast statewide. Scott decided to skip that final debate. Bill McCollum will be here in Orlando today for the forum anyway.
Of course, we all saw Scott subpoenaed at a press conference.
I remember when politicians tainted by an ethics cloud were forced to set aside their political ambitions. Nowadays it's part of a Republican candidate's resume -- even for Vice President of the United States. Hmm.
I remember when Ronald Reagan was first labeled "Teflon Ron" way back in 1984. After more than 25 years of this, I guess we're just supposed to accept that Republicans are made of rubber and Democrats are made of glue.
