A.G. Gancarski
On Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott participated in a Milken Institute Global Conference panel with other governors from swing states, on the subject of critical issues facing states, such as jobs, transportation, education, health care, and economic development.
The other participants in the panel at the Beverly Hilton: Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, and John Hickenlooper of Colorado.
Scott’s jobs message, which comprised the bulk of his comments Monday, was familiar to those who have covered the governor since 2010.
“My job is to get jobs for Florida families. I’ve done trade missions around the world, this is my second trip to California,” Scott said early on, when it was mentioned by the moderator that one of the reasons he was in California was to recruit companies to come to Florida.
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From there, the discussion eventually moved to the role of the governor within a state, which Scott addressed with anecdotes.
“I walked in with almost a $4 billion budget deficit,” Scott said of a deficit that was projected to be in the $3.4 to $3.7 billion range.
“Jobs,” of course, were a key to righting the ship. Another key: “downsizing state workers,” from 127,000 to 114,000.
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Scott was not done talking jobs though, noting in a discussion of workforce training that “everything we’ve been able to do as a state is tied to a million new jobs.”
“We still have to worry about jobs,” Scott said, noting that GE CEO Jeff Immelt said 70 percent of his company’s jobs are outside the United States.
Key to Scott’s strategy: creating “long-term” jobs with a strategy that includes yoking educational training, both on the university and technical school level, to the needs of employers.
“The private workforce knows what they want,” said Scott.
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Regarding transportation, Scott noted that Florida has 15 seaports.
“The federal government is not putting money into ports, so we are funding their portion,” Scott said, adding that Florida has put money into Jacksonville, Miami, and other ports, including money that is supposed to be the federal government contribution.
Out of $10.8 billion from transportation in the current state budget, $200 million goes into ports. And ports equal jobs: 33,000 in the case of Miami.
However, there is a case to be made that Florida is not maximizing its proximity to a potentially important trade partner 90 miles from Key West.
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In answering a question related to Cuba, Scott said “we are prevented by law from establishing any significant business operations in Cuba today.
“They’re still arresting innocent protesters … I don’t think we’re going to see any significant change until the Castro brothers are gone.”
In contrast, Gov. McAuliffe noted that trade is robust between Cuba and his Norfolk port, which will lead some to think Florida is leaving money on the table — forfeiting economic opportunity to placate the rhetorical concerns of a Cold War mentality that McAuliffe and others clearly don’t share.
