By Tom Tillison
Florida Political Press

In response to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s announcement yesterday that he is rejecting federal money for high speed rail, a very peculiar thing happened. Both Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and Republican John Mica, Chairman of the Transportation Committee made almost identical comments in statements to the media.

Is Mica, who called Gov. Scott’s decision a “huge setback for the state of Florida”, working hand in hand with Bill Nelson to circumvent the Governor on high speed rail?

You be the judge;

“The (U.S. transportation) secretary and I have decided to look at our options, by end of the week and soon as the highly paid folks analyze them, a new plan will be formed.” ~ John Mica

“We are exploring with the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, how we could keep this project going forward since the state of Florida will not participate. We have the lawyers researching it.” Bill Nelson

Wow, very similar statements, huh? So, did Mica and Nelson each have seperate conversations with the Sec. of Transportation yesterday afternoon, discussed exactly the same thing? Or is it possible that the parties involved collaborated in a joint conversation?

Under the circumstances, it certainly seems to be a fair and reasonable inquiry.

And, if both Mica and Nelson share the exact same goal and are depending on the exact same resource to determine their next course of action, does it not make them allies?

Meanwhile, elected officials from one end of the state to the other are lambasting Gov. Scott for his decision, including many fellow Republicans. One exception seems to be Senator Marco Rubio, who has come out in favor of the decision.

Interestingly, the people of the state don’t seem to be as critical of the decision. In fact, amongst tea party and 9/12 groups, there’s been much celebration of the Governor’s “respect for the will of the people”.

Perhaps, the struggle truly is the people vs. the ruling class…

Cross-Posted