A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Rick Scott‘s finances continue to be a focus this summer, as the Governor runs for Senate.
The latest revelations came from the Miami Herald this week, which reported that Scott, who killed Florida’s chance at federally funded high-speed rail early in his term, has investments in a credit fund run by the parent company of All Aboard Florida, which is running rail from Miami to Orlando and, eventually, to Tampa.
According to the Herald’s report, Scott is banking from this fund: profits exceeded $150,000 last year alone.
Moreover, some of Scott’s administration members helped with the plan, which raises questions for the Herald even as Scott’s Senate campaign insisted the investment is in an “unrelated debt financing fund,” an answer that didn’t exactly address what appears to be another in a series of conflicts of interest.
In St. Augustine Friday, we asked Scott to address the latest in a series of controversies. Scott pushed back.
“First of all,” Scott said, “that’s absurd.”
Scott noted that when he was elected in 2010, he “put his assets in a blind trust so that I didn’t have any conflicts.”
“I wanted to put myself in a position where I didn’t know what I had investments in. I didn’t make investments. I didn’t buy assets, I didn’t sell assets. Most people who get elected don’t do that,” Scott said, but he “did it because [he] didn’t want to have a conflict.”
“I don’t know what’s in those investments,” Scott said before pivoting to “high-speed rail.”
“It’s horrible for our state the way it was set up. It was going to cost billions of dollars. California took the money, Connecticut took the money, and look what it’s done,” Scott urged.
“They’re behind budget, there [are] delays. It cost more than they thought. Those projects are not getting done. And their state economies [are] in shambles,” Scott said, contrasting those states to Florida.
“We’ve paid off $10.5 billion in debt. We’ve cut taxes by $10 billion a year. Record funding for the environment … for transportation … for education,” Scott added.
“We’ve been able to do the right thing for our state,” Scott added.
We asked Scott’s campaign to elaborate on the statement provided to the Miami Herald on Thursday. Spokeswoman Lauren Schenone offered the following denunciation of the paper’s claims:
“It is completely untrue that the Governor or First Lady has any investment in All Aboard Florida. Both the Governor’s and the First Lady’s investments are in an unrelated debt-financing fund. As such, the success or failure of All Aboard Florida or any rail project within the State of Florida will have no effect on this investment.”
