A.G. Gancarski
Monday evening, Florida’s CFO Jeff Atwater addressed the Greater Arlington Republican Club in Jacksonville, offering remarks that were intended to rally the troops while reminding GARC attendees of Republican first principles.
“I’m from South Florida,” Atwater said, “and I’m used to sitting at the table with people who don’t get it.”
In this case, “it” is the Republican message, which Atwater laid out in terms of economic opportunity, contrasting the ephemeral economic boom of 2006 with the crash, reflected in 2009 numbers, and the bounce back, reflected in 2016 economic numbers.
In 2009, Atwater noted, Florida’s AAA credit rating was downgraded. Yet there was a caveat.
“At that same time,” CFO Atwater said, “49 other states are facing the same problems.”
Atwater then noted the media — the Tampa Bay Times, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel — wanted a tax raise during the recession, to fill a hole created by a $6 billion decline in state revenue from 2009 to 2006.
However, Atwater said, “the answer was to lower expenses.”
“Required” programs were funded. “Desired” programs? Put on the back burner, as Florida “reduced taxes, reduced spending, began to pay down debt.”
The end result? $28.5 billion of revenue for the state in 2016, “without raising taxes,” with an additional 1.2 million private sector jobs, and a GDP growth rate 2/3 faster than the rest of the country.
The AAA credit rating? Intact.
“Only one state has a lower tax burden per capita,” Atwater said.
That state? New Hampshire.
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Despite Atwater’s bullishness about the Florida economy, his tone was tempered when he discussed the national debt, in response to an audience question.
Atwater noted the country is “18 years away” from having all of its revenue go to the debt and entitlements.
Right now, the CFO said, the country is spending “$630 million a day on interest,” as federal spending and services expected from the federal government have “gone beyond constitutional boundaries.”
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Ultimately, it’s that message of economic realism that animates Atwater, even as he realizes the Republican nominee may be a distraction.
To those assembled in Jacksonville, he posted the rhetorical question: “Can I distract you by talking about your standard bearer?”
He added, “any one of us” are “going to have a misstep,” a seeming allusion to Donald Trump and his latest round of questionable rhetoric in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
“Stand strong, be confident,” Atwater urged, after reminding those in attendance of Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi bungle.
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While many Republicans have become contortionists when it comes to the Trump era, Florida Republicans seem comfortable with the presumptive nominee.
Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke at the Tampa Trump rally, held less than 24 hours before Pulse was shot up by Omar Mateen.
And when asked about Trump after his Q&A in Jacksonville, Atwater had no issue describing him as a “conservative in the traditional sense in that he expects outcomes” for spending and policy decisions.
Atwater didn’t quite go into Trump territory in describing what happened at Pulse: however, he did frame the “American tragedy” as one of the “warning signs” and “acts of terror in a long war.”
“The country is going to have to have a serious conversation,” Atwater said, regarding this war on terror, and these actions driven by a “distorted” and “contorted” vision of Islam.
Atwater also expressed hope Marco Rubio would, after all, run for Senate again … a possibility that seems more plausible with each passing news cycle.
Sen. Rubio, said Atwater, is an “outstanding conservative talent” who “understands the international narrative.”
