From Floridatoday.com and written by Sheree Shatsky, read about why Florida citizens should move to pursue an amendment to allow present and future governors to be recalled......Never in my nearly 50 years of calling Florida home have I witnessed a governor as focused in tearing down the state as Rick Scott.
His refusal of $2.4 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail trashed a project years in the making, instantly vaporizing up to 30,000 much-needed jobs. If that’s Scott’s idea of a sound business decision made in the best interest of the state, he should read a Henry Flagler biography.
The business tycoon’s Florida East Coast Railway paired his vision with the Flagler fortune and, as a result, provided a sound transportation system that led to the birth of a little city called Miami.
Scott also tossed aside the much-anticipated computer database aimed to track illegal distribution of narcotics from pain clinics. He claimed the law enforcement tool “didn’t work.” However, late last week, Scott changed course, telling Congress that Florida soon would implement the database as part of broader reforms.
After transferring his $62 million investment in Solantic urgent care centers into a trust held by his wife, Scott got busy lobbying his own health care reform, as reported by the Miami Herald:
“Drug testing state workers, switching Medicaid patients to private HMOs and shrinking public health clinics,” all business decisions initiated by Scott that could benefit both Solantic and Mrs. Scott’s pocketbook.
Likely the worst affront is Scott’s systematic draining of Florida’s lifeblood by targeting the pensions of public and state employees, the very people who have devoted a lifetime to improving the quality and efficiency of our everyday lives.
It’s the governor’s way of driving off any sense of community and connecting people together.
If these Scott decisions aren’t grounds enough for Floridians to actively pursue a constitutional amendment to allow recall of a Florida governor present or future, I honestly don’t know what are. What I do know is 19 states have the ability to recall a governor as well as other state officials.
Florida could round out that figure to an even 20. However, we citizens do have an option:
The impeachment of a governor is current law in the Sunshine State.
Sheree Shatsky works for Brevard Public Schools. She lives in Melbourne.
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