Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) suffered through more bad news last week when evidence emerged that his chief of staff lied repeatedly about his educational background. But under the circumstances, it was easy to cut the governor at least a little slack -- it's unlikely Scott knew about his aide's dishonesty.
That said, a larger pattern appears to be emerging, and American Bridge captured it in a pretty brutal video montage.
Amid the outfall over chief of staff Adam Hollingsworth's admission he lied about his degree years ago, Gov. Rick Scott is again the target of a video montage made by American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal group that has an extensive media-tracker network. This video -- a greatest-hits list of resignations, controversies and scandals that have nagged at Scott -- juxtaposes how the governor stands by appointees and insists they've done a "great job," only to see them resign.
I knew the Florida governor had a problem-plagued team, but I didn't appreciate just how sweeping the trouble has been.
Scott's current chief of staff is caught up in a controversy; Scott's former chief of staff resigned after being accused of giving no-bid contracts to his friends; Scott's education chief resigned amid corruption allegations; Scott's head of economic development resigned amid allegations he received improper unemployment benefits; and Scott's lieutenant governor resigned as part of a scandal involving a charity defrauding veterans.
In fairness to the Republican governor, there's no evidence to connect Scott directly to any of these controversies. But (a) the governor doesn't look good hiring a scandal-plagued team; (b) it doesn't help that he kept saying these folks did a "great job"; and (c) these controversies only serve as a reminder that Scott himself was plagued by his own scandals before he even took office.
It's a safe bet Floridians will be hearing more about this during the governor's re-election campaign next year.