Early Rick Scott Supporter Sen. Paula Dockery 'Disappointed' in Rejection of Stimulus Money

Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, one of Gov. Rick Scott's earliest supporters, released a statement just after midday Wednesday expressing her disappointment in Scott's rejection of the federal government's $2.4 billion in high-speed rail stimulus money. The following is Dockery's full statement:

"This morning I spoke to Governor Rick Scott who informed me of his decision to turn back $2.4 billion to the federal government. I expressed my disappointment that Floridians will lose the opportunity to have the first true High-Speed Rail system in the nation and even more so in the loss of thousands of high-wage jobs that it would bring. Seven teams were planning to bid on the Florida High-Speed Rail project representing companies from 11 different countries including Japan, South Korea, Germany and France, all experts in building and operating high-speed rail systems. Each of these teams had explicitly agreed to design, build, operate and maintain Floridas high-speed rail system for a firm, fixed price, with no cost overruns and no subsidies.

"It was my hope and expectation that the governor would have allowed these teams to submit proposals before pulling the plug on this true public/private partnership that had little risk to the state and tremendous return to Floridians. It would have been more prudent for the governor to have waited for the private industry to make their offers in writing to assess the viability of this transformational transportation project. Florida is a donor state for transportation dollars, receiving only 62 cents on every transit dollar and 87 cents on every highway dollar we send to Washington, and this $2.4 billion in federal transportation dollars would have brought Florida in line with other states. It appears that Secretary LaHood will direct these billions lost by Florida to California where true high-speed rail has the next best opportunity to succeed."