Steve Forbes Rips Into Rick Scott

Having already endorsed Attorney General Bill McCollum for governor earlier in the year, former two-time presidential candidate Steve Forbes came out swinging at health care executive Rick Scott --McCollums chief rival for the Republican gubernatorial nomination --on Wednesday in the pages of the Tampa Tribune.

I've known Bill for many years, since his days as a congressman representing Orlando, wrote Forbes. He's an experienced leader with a fine record on the issues that matter to Florida Republicans. When he says he will cut business taxes and remove regulatory roadblocks to job creation, he's going to do it.

"In contrast, it's hard to know what to make of Bill's primary opponent. Rick Scott boasts about his experience building HCA/Columbia, a massive network of for-profit hospitals that at one time employed one in every 1,000 American workers. For some reason, he doesn't like to talk about how that story ends -- being ousted as CEO by his board of directors, massive federal fraud charges and unprecedented company fines totaling $1.7 billion.

While Forbes may know McCollums record, he continued to pound Scotts record at HCA/Columbia.

Scott's story is that the company made mistakes, but as CEO he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing, continued Forbes. Scott would explain that he was in charge while HCA defrauded both the government and shareholders on a massive scale for years, but not once did he have even a hint there was a problem. Nor can he be blamed for what occurred. Sounds like the CEO of BP ducking responsibility for the safety of BP's offshore oil rigs.

If this convenient story is true, the next question is obvious, concluded Forbes. In the face of such stunning managerial incompetence, how could anyone decide Scott was qualified to run a lemonade stand, let alone the nation's fourth-largest state?

Forbes may be tipping off McCollums game plan from here until the primary on Aug. 24: acknowledge that Bill McCollum has been there for Florida Republicans in his three decades in public service and then promptly open fire on Rick Scott on his record at HCA/Columbia.