Rick Scott: Job Creation So Far My Greatest Success and Failure

Gov. Rick Scott summed up his efforts to create jobs during his first two years in office as both his greatest failure and success early Tuesday.

Appearing on WCTV TV in Tallahassee, Scott was asked for his assessment on the first half of his term, along with topics including state work pay and gun control.

When it came to his top success and failure, he lumped them into his overriding theme since he hit the campaign trail: unemployment.

I think theyre both the same; I think wed all like to have full employment, wed all like to make sure that everybody who wants a job has one, Scott replied.

I grew up in a family where my father was laid off every November, so thats frustrating. I grew up in a family without health insurance. So people need health insurance and they need a job.

Thats the negative. The positive is weve had the biggest drop (in unemployment) other than one state. Were heading in the right direction but we still have a lot of work to do.

Floridas unemployment hit 8.1 percent in November, down 0.4 percentage points from October and marking the lowest number the Sunshine State has seen since November 2008.

The December unemployment report is due out Friday.

Other topics discussed Tuesday:

State worker performance pay:

What Im going to propose is legislation, which I did last year, but last year we had my second year of budget projection deficits, this year we have a budget projection surplus because people are getting back to work, so what Im going to propose is a performance pay program.

Gun control:

I think we ought to look at what impacts public safety, school safety and that is what I want to look at and work with the Legislature.

Marijuana legalization:

Drugs scare me. Ive had a brother who's had drug issues. So any time there is a legalization of more drugs, it scares me.