With so many vying for the title of “Most Stupid Teabag Governor” there is a perpetual traffic jam between Chris Christie, Scott, Walker, Rick Perry, and Florida’s Rick Scott. Florida Gov. Rick Scott’ decision to rejected high speed rail, jobs, and $28 million a year put him out in front temporarily a few weeks ago, but now we find that Scott’s teabag-onomics will keep him in the running for years to come.
by Mark Sumner
Of all the strange things Republicans hate, the GOP’s siderodromophobia may be the hardest to explain. Spend tens of billions on highways? Yeah! Spend a fraction of that amount on trains? Boo! Maybe it’s just that they like seeing their names on all those highway construction signs. Or maybe it’s that modern trains are clean and efficient — two things that Republicans can’t stand.
In any case, three weeks ago Florida Gov. Rick Scott said no thanks to $2.4 billion that had been awarded to his state for a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. He claimed that he did so because he worried that tax payers could be stuck paying the money back if the line failed… which is odd, since he’d been told that would not happen.
But Scott licked the envelope and mailed back that giant check — giving away thousands of jobs in the process.
Which could mean that Floridians won’t be too keen on the just completed study that says not only would they not have been on the hook for big payments, the rail line would have been profitable from day one.
Three weeks after Gov. Rick Scott put the brakes on high-speed rail, the Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a study showing the line connecting Tampa to Orlando would have had a $10.2 million operating surplus in 2015, its first year of operation. The study showed the line would have had a $28.6 million surplus in its 10th year.
So, Rick Scott turned down not only $2.4 billion in direct stimulus for the state, but another $150 million over the next ten years. Plus Floridians miss out on a piece of infrastructure which would have been handy for them, and would have lured additional tourists to the state (which just might be important in Florida).