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.

DC Deadlock

By Joe Gruters

Nothing like watching malicious ineptitude at a staggering level in Washington, D.C. make us grateful for a responsible, functioning, productive state government in Tallahassee.

And by “functioning,” we mean:

A government that gets out of the way of citizens and protects the rights of all its residents to pursue dreams in business, with private property, in religious activity;

A government that protects rights rather than continually erodes them;

A government that allows its citizens to protect themselves;

A government that does not nanny every Floridian as though we are incapable toddlers, but expects a certain degree of personal responsibility;

A government that at least tries to keep dangerous criminals off the streets and aggressively goes after pill mills, bath salts, drug dealers, gangs and human traffickers;

A government that attempts to ensure only legal voters cast ballots in a democracy instead of pursing policies that will ensure voter fraud on a broad scale;

A government that actually is open, transparent and in the sunshine, not one that just blathers on about it but consistently acts in secret;

A government that is reducing its onerous drag on the productive and the law-abiding;

A government that spends at most only the money that it brings in and lives within its budget!

That is a functioning government.

The non-functioning part of what is going on in D.C. right now is not that there is a government shutdown or a looming debt ceiling. Those are only symptoms that have come about because of a government that is aloof, elitist and not answerable to the American people, aided and abetted by a Beltway media establishment that has lost in watchdog ways.

What should be crystal clear is that this “crisis” has resulted from a government led by Democrats that is incapable of restraining spending. In the sequestration, we are still spending far more than we bring in. Now, in the quasi, kind of, sort of, partial government shutdown and attack on veterans, Democrats refuse to negotiate on anything until they get everything.

That is dysfunctional because it is utterly irresponsible and in opposition to the best interests of the American people, and has been for many years.

Florida can’t save the union, but at least it is doing things right for the state in every measurable category. And the reason is simple: Florida is run on conservative principles led by a competent Gov. Rick Scott. D.C. is run on liberal principles led by a with less-than-competent President Obama.

Thanks for being informed and engaged.

Republican Party of Florida Greets Obama

By Steve Parkhurst

The Republican Party of Florida has run a great full-page ad in a local Jacksonville newspaper today to greet the current President. The ad promotes the great work done by Governor Rick Scott on jobs and the economy in Florida.

Kudos to the Florida GOP.

Governor Scott Is On The Rise

By Joe Gruters

Not even relentlessly negative media coverage is stopping Floridians from seeing the tangible value of having Rick Scott for governor.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that Scott’s approval rating continuing to grow by hitting an all-time high of 43%, up steadily from the low of 29% in 2011. His approval and disapproval ratings are essentially even now.

While his opponents paint his re-election as a steep uphill battle, his approval ratings are flowing against that narrative. It was his unpopularity driving those speculations. But he is popularity keeps rising, and probably will continue to.

It’s not surprising. Scott was elected to grow the economy and keep state government living within its means. He kept both promises with tough and unpopular spending cuts in the first year, coupled with tax cuts that he then used to go out and pitch the state.

He has worked tirelessly, personally calling CEOs around the country to pitch Florida’s economic and quality of life benefits while going abroad on trade missions to our best trade partners in South America and Europe.

The result?

Jobs up, taxes down, state debt down and Floridians better off. It’s that simple.

Moody Investor Services rated Florida Aa1 with a stable outlook even though it “was one of hardest hit states in the recent recession, with unemployment spiking to 11.4%.” Unemployment is now down to 7.1%, a half of a percentage point below the national average, which was lower than Florida’s when Scott came into office.

The report gives Florida high marks for its fiscal discipline.

According to Moody’s Analytics, Florida’s 2013 employment growth is expected to increase 1.9% — again, far surpassing the national rate of 1.3%.

In the past two years, Scott has paid down $2 billion of Florida’s debt, nearly half of what former Gov. Charlie 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 and no one doubts that he will reduce it again this year. That lightens the burden on all hard-working Floridians, who now have the fourth lowest debt per person in the nation.

So the burden of government on average Floridians is reduced. More jobs are available and the expectation for far more jobs coming is offered by objective outsiders such as Moody’s.

These things don’t happen accidentally or all on their own. The are the result of strong, principled, conservative leadership.

It is no wonder that with 17 months before election day, Democrats have no serious opponents lined up yet to run against Scott. There will be no easy pickings here.

However, the Democrats will eventually coalesce around someone and it will become a huge fight. Because not only is the governor’s mansion up for grabs, but Florida is a bellwether state for the nation.

We cannot let anyone make the case that Florida is a blue state. It must remain red and then vote conservative for president in 2016. That starts with the 2014 governor’s race.

We must continue to make the case for conservatism and a conservative governor, for the good of our state and for the good of the country.

Thanks for being informed and engaged.

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.

Scott Explained

By Joe Gruters

Republicans and Conservatives,

Predictably enough, the media is having a heyday with Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to accept three years of federal funding for Medicaid under Obamacare, suggesting flip flops and crass political maneuvering for re-election — moving to the center.

That is their spin. Some conservatives are understandably upset with Scott for not standing against the expansion on principle, feeling like he has betrayed them.

But here is a more full context. Painful as it is to admit, the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, is the law of the land. With Obama’s re-election and the U.S. Supreme Court decision, the idea of it being overturned is now all but a pipe dream. However, if Republicans can win the White House and Congress, the worst parts may yet be able to be unwound.

And here is the point. The Medicaid expansion is not the worst part of the law. It was an existing program and the expansion is voluntary. Most states, Republican and Democrat, are going to accept the Medicaid expansion because it makes financial sense for the state.

While Obamacare overall remains unpopular — and Scott remains opposed to the law and its intrusive elements — the Medicaid expansion element of it is actually quite popular. It’s very popular in Florida, depending on how the poll question is asked.

About 1.3 million Floridians will get coverage, meaning billions of dollars will flow into the state’s already robust health care economy. That means jobs. Plus, Florida got a waiver it had been seeking to continue privatizing Medicaid for beneficiaries — an important conservative principle.

Is Washington, D.C. totally irresponsible fiscally? Yes. Out of control? Obviously. That question answers itself. But Gov. Scott has no control over destructive, spend-happy politicians in D.C.

Hospitals throughout Florida routinely absorb the costs of providing health care to low-income people not on Medicaid who cannot or do not pay their bills. That drives up costs for everyone else and hurts hospitals financially. According to the hospitals, the Medicaid expansion should alleviate many of those costs while creating new jobs.

Scott has said that much of his opposition to the expansion in the past was based on the federal money running out after three years, and not wanting the state saddled with those expenses. A reasonable caution. But the state has the freedom under the law to back out in three years if the finances don’t work. That might be politically difficult, but if we work hard enough to get Scott re-elected, he will be in Tallahassee to make that call.

Further, because of the Governor’s tough and sometimes unpopular choices in his first two years in office, the state is now looking at a surplus this year — after having billions in deficits the previous years.

Scott does not get much credit in the media for balancing the budget that Gov. Charlie Crist left in shambles. He never will. But we know what he has accomplished with Republicans in the Legislature.

Scott’s own success with fiscally responsible decisions is what makes the Medicaid expansion an option now.

Simply stated: From a state point of view, the positives far outweighed the negatives:

billions of dollars flowing into the state;
thousands of jobs created;
people getting health care that may not have;
hospitals getting reimbursements they were not, making them healthier;
and an issue taken off the table that Democrats would surely have demagogued.

Gov. Scott has done a terrific job with what he promised to do. Reigning in irresponsible federal spending was not among those promises.

Thanks for being informed and engaged.

Letter From Joe Gruters

Joe Gruters wrote this letter in response to the State Of The Union on Tuesday night.

Republicans and Conservatives,

President Obama’s State of the Union address was as predictably empty and vacuous of new ideas as the Party he leads. It’s also probably forgotten already. It was just that memorable.

But Republicans should remember a few critical points. The president focused on jobs and the need for middle class jobs — apparently assuming that poor people will always be poor and reliant on him and government. Why help poor people get jobs? But somebody has to pay for all the new government spending he wants, and there are not enough rich people. So it falls to the middle class to get jobs so they can fund the ever-expanding black hole that is the federal government.

Unfortunately, Obama has already proved himself a complete and historic failure on the economy.

In Obama’s first term — four years worth of evidence — the annual growth in GDP was an incredibly paltry and embarrassing 0.8%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Democrats can blame the first 6-12 months of the economy on the previous president (if he’s a Republican.) But four years? No, this economy is the result of liberal, borrow-and-spend-and-tax-and-borrow-some-more policies.

Just how bad were the president’s four years economically? They tallied one-quarter of Jimmy Carter’s four years in office — which many will recall were not exactly boom years. In fact, we may be sliding backwards again as the fourth quarter of last year had negative GDP. It’s mind-boggling just how bad the economy is, but it also is completely the result of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi-Krugman policies.

In his first State of the Union address four years ago, the president said: “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” The GDP numbers make clear that he failed in that promise. His policies failed. And they will continue to fail.

Let’s look specifically at jobs. More, let’s look at jobs among core Democrat constituencies that helped re-elect him.

When Obama was sworn in to office in January 2009, the unemployment rate among African-Americans was 12.7 percent. Right now, after four years of Democrat policies and the “recovery” supposedly well under way, it has risen to 13.8 percent. And that is after 1.2 million African-Americans left the workforce entirely. They gave up job-hunting during Obama’s first term.

For Hispanics, the unemployment rate in 2009 was 9.7 percent. Four years of Democrat policies and their economic “recovery” has left it stagnant at 9.7 percent. For women, the unemployment rate was 6.9 percent in January 2009. The rate has also risen, now at 7.8 percent.

Total employment dropped 2.4 percentage points, from 61% when Obama took office to 58.6% now. Fewer people employed, fewer people working, unemployment higher and the GDP at a fraction of the Carter years.

Bad ideas have consequences and the Democrats’ ideas for the economy are bad, very bad. The proof is in the facts. It’s just reality.

Let’s face it, if not for states such as Florida, the U.S. economy would be a train wreck. Personal income in the 23 states that were leaning red before the election, after adjusting for inflation, rose 4.6% since the start of the recession in 2007. In the 15 blue states, income has increased only 0.5%.

Florida created 68,000 jobs in Gov. Rick Scott’s first year in office and 200,000 jobs last year, people are moving to the state again and eliminating regulations is making it better for businesses to grow and hire people. Scott and Republicans in the Legislature have even closed budget deficits and paid down the state debt Scott inherited from Charlie Crist.

Obama has proved again that liberal policies do not work for creating jobs and bettering futures. Scott has proved that conservative policies do.

Thanks for being informed and engaged.