In the eyes of Gov. Rick Scott, Scott Walkers victory over the Democrats' and labor unions' recall effort in Wisconsin is validation for similar conservationactions he has pushed in Florida.
It shows you, if you go make the tough choices, and you do exactly what you said when you ran, you will get re-elected, Scott said during radio interviews Friday morning with Southwest Florida radio stations.
That is exactly what Governor Walker did," Scott reiterated on 97.3 FM SKY. "He went and made the tough choices. Weve got to start living within our means.
Make sure you treat people with respect, but you cannot be wasting state dollars.That is exactly what were doing here. That is what he did. That is why he won.
The Wisconsin recall fight was spawned by the governor's move to curtail collective bargaining rights for most Wisconsin state employees, while raising health care and pension co-pays.
Walker and Republicans in Wisconsin argued the bill was needed to reduce a budget shortfall. Democrats countered that the move was designed to break the unions, a core constituent of the party.
Scott, who is running for re-election in 2014, has butted heads with unions in Florida and state employees over collective bargaining, something he believes shouldn't be a guaranteed right in Floridas Constitution, and in rejecting federal stimulus money for projects like the high-speed rail in Central Florida.
When I first announced I didnt want to put money into high-speed rail, people said What are you doing?You should be taking all that federal money that you can, Scott said while on 92.5 FM FOX in Fort Myers. Then we look at California's $118 billion.There is no way to pay for that.Our project here was never going to work.
Californians' enthusiasm for the $9 billion borrowing plan to pay for a Los Angeles to San Francisco bullet train has waned considerably, as costs have leapt to $68 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.Additional reports have placed the cost between $70 billion and $100 billion over the next two decades.
Over time, if you do the right thing, and people understand why you do it, thats what Scott Walker did, and it worked up there and its working here, Scott said on FOX.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
