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Rick Scott (CAN-R-FL-GOV) Fights Dirty

By: BigGator5 (Diary)  |  July 7th, 2010 at 07:45 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Of late, Rick Scott (CAN-R-FL-GOV) has put out some factless ads against Bill McCollum (CAN-R-FL-GOV).

First, let’s look at Let’s Get to Work and their ad. It is a committee created by Rick Scott’s wife to help him raise funds federally to overcome Florida state laws. Far be it for me to criticize him getting money nationally and there may be nothing illegally going on, but he should be honest about his association with the group in the ad.

In the ad and Rick Scott’s website equates the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) with abortion. FAH is a trade group that represents hospitals, nothing more. I’ll let FactCheck.org take it from here:

Furthermore, McCollum’s connection to FAH is tenuous at best. McCollum joined Baker & Hostetler as a partner in 2001. At the time FAH already had been a paying client, beginning in 1999. McCollum did not work on the FAH account, lobbying almost exclusively for the financial services industry, according to a client list provided by the McCollum campaign.

Let’s Get to Work builds on this false foundation to argue at the close of the ad that McCollum was “wrong to help abortion providers.” When asked how McCollum helped abortion providers, the Scott campaign (again speaking for Let’s Get to Work) provided information on the Health Care Claims Guidance Act. McCollum, who served in the House from 1981 to 2001, introduced the bill in 1998 to amend how hospitals are prosecuted for false claims.

So how does Let’s Get to Work link that bill to abortion providers? The same way it connected FAH to abortion providers: The group labels hospitals as abortion providers, so a bill that supported hospitals in the claims process would be viewed as supporting abortion providers. That’s faulty logic.

The biggest problem I have is that Rick Scott is hidding behind a federal fund raising committee to do his dirty work. He should be honest with the general Florida public with his association with Let’s Get to Work, not just through a document dump on a late summer afternoon.

BigGator5.net

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  • pirate55

    by both candidates are troubling and only serve to dissuade the voting public away from the Republican Party. Both candidates would be better served by offering solutions to Florida’s growing problems.

    That said, Scott has stated what he would do as to illegal immigrants, but not much else. The negativity of the campaign thus far is very troubling. Voters at this point are probably being “turned off”.

    As it would seem you are pro-McCollum and as a SW Florida Republican, I am leaning ever so slightly toward Scott, both candidates need to “clean it up”. The RPOF scandal and Jim Greer has left a “bad taste” in our mouths and McCollum’s candidacy reflects him to be a “career politician” which is starting to be rejected in many quarters.

    The problems relating to Scott are equally troubling as it relates to his work in the private sector. His advantage is he has never run for office, is not a “career politician”, and not tainted by the RPOF scandal. I only pray the best candidate survives the August primary and there remains enough time to be positive for Florida, rather than negative about an opponent.

    The new politic of the Republican Party HAS to reflect solutions and not a status quo.

    • ralatredstate
    • edniceville

      Pirate 55, they both need to clean up their ads. Or, at least make them 100% truthful. I think Scott can bring out McCollums voting record, and ask for explanations from Bill about his votes and his time as a lobbyist. McCollum can talk all he wants about the Medicare case, but, the fact still remains that the FBI and state investigators never felt it necessary to question him or charge him as a co-respondent in the case. The fine was levied and paid after he left the company. Personally, I think Mr. Scott needs to give us a good answer to the charges of his association with a company that is helping illegals send untaxed dollars to Mexico never to return. Mr. McCollum needs to be able to show he is not a Washington insider. Getting help from a Liberal organization run by Mary Cheney doesn’t help, and getting Newsmax to run unfavorable stories doesn’t help either. From what I have read and seen, it seems that Scott has the “establishment politicians” on the ropes and they are runnig scared. The real question is, which one of them really has the voter’s and the State of Florida’s best interests at heart and a plan for moving us forward?!?

    • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

      Yes, I think McCollum is a proven conservative leader here in Florida. Sure there are troubling “career politicians” out there, but McCollum is not one of them. You don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and Rick Scott hasn’t made a very good case why we should replace a very strong conservative leader that has served Florida well.

      • mschmitt

        Both sides have needlessly hit the gutter, and as poorly as that reflects on McCollum — somebody who should know better — that doesn’t change the fact that he is still “one of the good guys”.

        Scott should be sticking with his pro-conservative outsider message and trying to build credibility for himself (as of now, he’s got none earned), and McCollum should just be reminding people that he’s been a reliable conservative force. Scott has made his hay off one gaffe by McCollum (the non-endorsement of Arizona law) — and I don’t know if Scott believes any of that or if he is just using it to attack McCollum.

        Regarding the negative campaign… In my neck of the woods, the anti-McCollum ads started hitting first, with the anti-Scott coming later. It was a big blunder by McCollum to respond the way he did; but at the same time, it doesn’t matter if it comes from the right instead of the left, you’re not going to get my support by bashing on the conservative front runner — who has been enthusiastically endorsed by conservatives for other office before — like this.

  • ralatredstate

    since he ends most of his ads with “Let’s get to work.”

  • http://www.practicalstate.com Bloggy Bayou

    Getting the Chairman of the party to come out for one candidate over the other in a primary is WRONG… Just as it was Wrong for the NRSC to come out for Cristover Rubio.

    Second: Bill McCollum has been a politician His whole professional life.. the ONLY thing you got to take him on is his record.. Are we deciding a politicians record IS OFF LIMITS? No way.

    Also: Crist took this into the gutter first, calling Scott a thief basically, Scott went after McCollum on his record.. which, as a “professional” politician is all you can judge McCollum on. Except for a small time as a lobbiest, McCollum has been on the Public payroll for most his whole adult life

    My Take:

    http://www.practicalstate.com/2010/07/06/to-the-republican-party-of-florida-you-still-dont-get-it/

    Cheers

    • cwilson

      …because frankly, the more years you’ve spent in public office, the more bits of your soul you’ve sold off making political deals and unsavory alliances. McCollum has never done anything for his entire life but hold political office. How much more of his soul does he have left?

      Judging by his own ads, not much (and yes, around here the first I heard of Scott was from McCollum’s negative ads — but ’round here, we also know better than to trust what any politician says on the radio. Or TV. Or in person. Or in the mail.)

      And — McCollum also suffers because I’m starting to get really tired of the “but it’s my TURN” politicians of the Republican Party. Attorney General is considered a stepping stone to the Governor’s office — and that didn’t work out so well for us with Chain Gang Charlie. Nor did its-my-turn-itis work out well with McCain or Dole. Maybe instead of choosing the approved political track to the Governor’s mansion after leaving Congress, he should’ve gone out and gotten a REAL job for a change.

      But…Bill McCollum doesn’t know how to do that. He has never had a real job. Never produced anything except hot air and votes.

      Unfair? Maybe so. But…given the sterling performance of our Lords and Masters over the past 10 years, a little distrust of the political class is not unwarranted. And Bill McCollum is the epitome of a political class hack.

      • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

        This is for both you and Bloggy Bayou: Would you wanting to kick out McCollum if there was no Rick Scott challenging him?

        If you’re siding with Scott, just because he’s never been in office, then you guys have mixed up priorities. You should be asking who is best to lead Florida into the next decade. Rick Scott hasn’t given me good enough reason to choose him over Bill McCollum.

        It’s also not about the negative ad, but the underhanded way Scott is attacking McCollum (using a 527 funded by his wife) instead of putting his name on the ad. It’s dirty and reeks of a REAL politician. I, for one, will not support a coward.

        • mschmitt

          Before Rick Scott came along, nobody had any problems with McCollum — now all the sudden he is Crist, he is RPOF…

          Based on what? The strength of a few 30-second ads from somebody we’ve never heard of before…

          • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

            Thank you man, now I know I’m not the only one who has had these same thoughts.

          • http://www.practicalstate.com Bloggy Bayou

            If you are using use of 527′s as an excuse to damn Scott, then you best damn McCollum..he Started using them before Rick Scott OPENLY Funded his own.. just got cought up in a lie denying them until he was caught…

            “If there was no rick Scott” argument is a strawman argument…Just like the left uses…. The fact is there is a Rick Scott”

            http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/06/rick-scott-to-counter-mccollum-with-his-own-527-group.html

            try again..

            Cheers

          • mschmitt

            It’s a question of why McCollum wasn’t a bad guy a year ago and is a bad guy now.

            Just to spell out a comparison, Rubio was propelled up for the Senate nomination because Crist was an unacceptable candidate for those paying attention. Crist didn’t suddenly become a bad guy because we had Rubio to tell us that.

            What I want to know is, if McCollum is such a bad candidate for Governor, where was the anti-McCollum sentiment before?

          • http://www.practicalstate.com Bloggy Bayou

            to address we are opposing McCollum. “what if there were no Rick Scott”… that’s a strawman

            Also, it was said by gator that the biggest problem he had was Rick scott hiding behind a 527… Rick Scott OPENY admitted he was using one when he started his..

            If 527′s is the problem: and I quote: “The biggest problem I have is that Rick Scott is hidding behind a federal fund raising committee to do his dirty work.”

            then gator’s ire should be directed at a) McCollum because he used them first and then b) got caught in a lie about his connections to them… Those are FACTS, not opinions

            Cheers

          • mschmitt

            … strawman arguments are of the form:

            there are those who think that it’s OK to support illegal immigration by providing wire services that can be used…

            Anyway…

            If it is, in fact, a FACT that McCollum used his 527 for negative ads first (though that wasn’t my personal experience) — then it was a poor, if understandable, strategy; since Scott is unknown as a candidate.

            I won’t defend the negative ads from either side (as I’ve said before, neither come across as being remotely substantive to me); however, the ones going against the guy who has an actual record — and is known by that record to be a conservative — are irksome to me.

          • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

            I didn’t know Rick Scott is behind Let’s Get to Work. And if I didn’t know, then how is the avarge voter to know?

            I have no issue with 527s, per say, but you had to go out and research the fact that Rick Scott was behind those attack ads. He founded the group and funded them, he should have had his name attached to that ad.

            You have a problem with McCollum and his connection with the RPOF. Ok, well, he is a Republican who is a sitting Attorney General. Of course he is going to be supported by the state party. He earned that support of the RPOF.

          • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

            And Muckraker (yes, you will always be Muckraker to me), nothing personal dude. We can agree to disagree on Rick Scott and Bill McCollum.

          • http://www.practicalstate.com Bloggy Bayou

            I’m supportting the winner…

            Bloggy Bayou is becase I’m joining forces and I’m using it bloggy bayou because TPM Muckraker is more famous, so I took the opportunity to keep my old blogs name

            Cheers
            Royce
            (aka Bloggy Bayou)

          • mschmitt
          • cwilson

            Before Rick Scott, McCollum was on the glide slope to a comfy perch in Tallahassee. Once that was threatened…he started showing some rather unsavory characteristics that had been kept hidden.

            This prompted a closer look at both policy and person.

            And I didn’t like what I saw. Here’s one thing: given the substance of McCollum’s attack ads, I started researching and found
            this: in 1998, McCollum actually defended Rick Scott and Columbia/HCA:

            In our zeal to crack down on health care fraud and abuse, we must be careful not to throw our nets so wide that we ensnare honest providers who are making inadvertent billing mistakes,

            The courts later agreed that the regulations were too ambiguous and that reasonable persons could differ on their interpretation, and overturned all convictions resulting from the investigation. But none of that appeared to involve Rick Scott at all.

            More:
            Erick’s comments, bloggy bayou, and muckraker (same person?).

            At the time (6/10/10), I said this:

            Anyway, the latest Quinnipiac poll has Scott up 13% on McCollum, which explains the desperation. In typical Establishment Republican fashion, McCollum?s probably thinking ?How dare this upstart challenge me? I?ve put in my time, paid my dues, and State Attorney General is the batter-up circle for governor — it?s my TURN, darnit!? Republicans always do seem to nominate the next-guy-in-line — but maybe not this time.

            Nothing since then has moved me to change that impression.

            Now, without Scott, (a) there would have been no one threatening McCollum’s comfortable sinecure, so he would not have started behaving badly, and (b) if there was to be no choice in the “primary”, no competition — sure, McCollum with his bad characteristics and behavior (still safely unrealized) beats [insert sacrificial Dem candidate here].

            But…that’s a hypothetical. We DO have Rick Scott, and McCollum’s coronation WAS threatened, and he started behaving poorly. That’s where we are.

            Where we go from here…depends on how the rest of the campaign plays out.

          • mschmitt

            … and I’m certainly disappointed with the McCollum campaign so far, to say the least.

            At the same time, as you must know, the St. Pete Times is renowned for shoddy research and slanted left-wing writing it’s not exactly the case that he defended Rick Scott, either… Scott was the scapegoat (fair or not) in the Columbia/HCA scandal, and a certain someone involved had Presidential aspirations to think about… If there’s an attack to be made there, it’s McCollum helped cover for Bill Frist, not Rick Scott.

          • GenEarly

            Destroyed Bill McCollum; then how solid was his support in the 1st place? Bill was the heir apparent and the Establishment Repubs were happy with him, but the Voting Grass Roots Repubs have had it with the check pants Repubs and their support of Charlie Crist ( until he left them waiting at the wedding),the Obama Bullet Train, The Sugar Bail Out for the Everglades, Illegal Alien Acceptance, and “Fee Increases” not being taxes! All done by the Estab. Repubs. Along comes a TV ad with Rick Scott and the lackluster McCollum is shown as the lack of initiative/ideas candidate.
            I support JD Hayworth in AZ over McCain, and Rick Scott over McCollum in FL.

  • pirate55

    That airplane causes more problems doesn’t it? First Kottkamp and now McCollum. It is “catchy” but again negative politics instead of constructive solutions. Maybe both better think about an oil spill threatening a tourist geared economy. Maybe both better think about solutions for illegal immigration and be ready to be attacked by a Department of Justice which does not have any respect for states anyway. Maybe both will start to think about insurance companies who want to sell us auto insurance, but don’t want to issue homeowners policies. Maybe the Widman law will be signed into law. Maybe we will start to think about law and order and protect our officers. All I see of the current Governor is plastering himself in photo ops on our Gulf beaches. Maybe he should wade in and absorb a few “tarballs”.

  • http://www.practicalstate.com Bloggy Bayou
  • GregInFla

    I feel I got a front row ticket in a good debate. I’ll be forwarding a link to this diary to my fellow Floridians.