Governor Rick Scott of Florida attended a budget-signing ceremony at a retirement village on Wednesday where he signed into law a self-described "jobs budget" which may lead to the elimination of as many as 4,500 state employees by cutting $615 million dollars from the state budget while also lowering taxes on corporations.
That's not all though.
Governor Rick Scott and his henchmen were hoping to enjoy a protest-free environment during their ritualistic killing of jobs and livelihoods, so what did they do? -- They escorted political-persons-of-interest from the event.
In his speech Thursday, Scott omitted many of the serious-sounding programs he cut: homeless veterans, meals for poor seniors, a council for deafness, a children’s hospital, cancer research, public radio, whooping-cough vaccines for poor mothers, or aid for the paralyzed. [...]
Members of The Villages Democratic Club were barred from the budget signing by Scott staffers who said the outdoor event in The Villages town square was “private.” Other staffers and Republican operatives scoured the crowd and had Sumter County sheriff’s deputies remove those with anti-Scott signs or liberal-looking pins and buttons. They escorted more than a dozen people off the property.
Unfortunately for Rick Scott, the fascist-like removal of "liberal-looking" persons from the event was not enough to escape criticism, as several Republican members of the Florida State Senate expressed their own reservations concerning Rick Scott's motives and priorities.
In response to the ceremonious signing of Scott's "jobs budget," Democratic House Leader Ron Saunders said “If he means the ‘jobs budget’ is killing jobs, then it’s an accurate title."