What Responsible Government Looks Like

By Joe Gruters

Gov. Rick Scott is once again modeling how good, responsible government works.

The improving state economy, despite fighting the headwinds of an anemic national economy, will mean billions more dollars flowing into Tallahassee’s coffers for next year. The way government and politicians normally work, that happy news would mean turning the spending spigot wide open and spending all that new money before it’s collected.

That’s how politicians create popularity for themselves, making sure bridges and roads and other spending goodies are doled out in their districts. But that is also how government gets fat and sloppy and wasteful. There is no incentive to improve efficiencies and be careful with the taxpayers’ money because more keeps pumping in.

But thankfully that is not the way Scott operates coming from a hugely successful private sector career.

Scott is tasking each department in state government to find areas to cut back to save $100 million from existing operations. It is purposeful pressure to create efficiencies and save taxpayer’s money, even if it does not buy friends. Government-watchers find this type of thinking bizarre. Private-sector folks do not.

“Every agency should be able to find efficiencies,” Scott told The Florida Current. “We’ll do the same thing. We’ll review every contract, we’ll look at office space, we’ll look at all the services we buy, we’ll look at can we help our employees become more efficient in what they do every day.”

Scott is doing exactly what he promised to do and Floridians elected him to do. And he is doing it effectively.

Total state debt has fallen $3.5 billion since Scott took office, while new debt has declined from more than $6 billion in the two years before Scott was sworn in to less than $1.5 billion after his first two years in office.

Further, Scott says he does not want the state to incur any new debt in road building, land buying or school building without “specific and accountable returns on investment for taxpayers.” Basically, you have to make the case, not just want it.

That is not an unreasonable bar when spending other people’s money, which is what government does. And that is fiscal discipline that was sorely lacking in his predecessor, Charlie Crist, who while a Democrat now, spent taxpayer money like a Democrat all along.

Let’s remember that a big part of the reason for the new money flowing into the state coffers is because of Scott’s ceaseless efforts to make the state more attractive to outside companies to move here and more competitive for existing companies to start up and grow here. Those efforts have resulted in 365,000 private-sector jobs gained since he took office.

But more needs to be done. To that end, Scott is planning to cut taxes by another $500 million. The specifics are not out yet, but we can be sure they will be cuts to make the state more competitive.

The more competitive the state is, the stronger the economy will be, the more jobs will be created and the more taxes will flow into Tallahassee.

And that is how good government works for everyone.

Thanks for being informed and engaged.

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Floridians’ lives getting better under Gov. Scott’s leadership

By Joe Gruters

Detroit is defaulting on $2.5 billion in unsecured debt. Spending and taxing and regulating have made Detroit and the state of Michigan an economic basket case. The same types of big-government policies are putting a stranglehold on the economies of  California, Minnesota and many other states sucked into the quagmire. Californians were duped into passing yet another tax on themselves to keep paying for a huge bureaucracy without defaulting — forcing more job-creators to flee the state.

During Gov. Charlie Crist’s tenure as governor, the Florida’s debt increased $5.2 billion. No real surprise when we see that he is now a Democrat, albeit a wet-finger-in-the-wind Democrat.

But Florida’s story under Gov. Rick Scott is the complete opposite. In the past two years, Scott has paid down $2 billion of Florida’s debt, nearly half of what Crist ran up as governor. This is the first time in nearly 30 years that Florida has reduced its debt in back to back years. No one doubts that he will reduce debt again this year and continue to lighten the burden on hard-working Floridians.

Gov. Scott, with the support of Republicans in the Legislature, started these debt reductions even before the economy started pumping again, through good old-fashioned prudent cutbacks and the ability to say no to spend, spend, spend.

Florida’s debt per person of $7,079 is now the fourth lowest in the nation. As the economy recovers, and with Scott’s disciplined spending, expect the state’s debt to continue to decline.

“We have enough revenue. We’ve got to live within our means,” Scott said in an interview on the Fox News Channel recently. So refreshing. If only Washington could grasp this concept.

On Fox Business News, even Democrat-leaning Wayne Rogers, chairman of Wayne Rogers and Co., said “He’s doing a very good job in the sense that he’s reduced the deficit in Florida by $2 billion. That’s amazing in itself.”

The Tampa Bay Times’ and Miami Herald’s PolitiFact, no friend of conservatives, grudgingly concedes Scott has been an effective debt-reducer, even when it quibbles over exactly how much. “No one denies that total debt fell sharply with Scott, who is famously debt-averse,” they write.

Although Florida must balance its operating budget each year under the Florida Constitution, it can borrow money for capital improvement projects such as building roads, buying environmental lands, building university buildings and so on. That is where the long-term debt comes in. That is what Scott is cutting.

Scott’s aggressive action in luring companies from other states — such as government-burdened California and Minnesota — to Florida’s sunnier business climate rubs some people wrong in those states. But mostly just the politicians. It should be nothing but lauded by Floridians who are benefitting from the Governor’s hard work.

Florida has had 330,000 private sector jobs created in past 30 months. (No created or saved nonsense, but real, new jobs.)

Scott is focused on Florida and the top priority for Floridians — jobs and the economy. And that is good for all of us. Shoot, even Democrats’ quality of life is improving under Scott

Thanks for being informed and engaged.