Scott Powers
The Democratic Senate Majority PAC announced Tuesday it is launching a new Spanish-language television commerical attacking Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rick Scott over the education budget cuts he signed during his first couple of years as governor.
The 30-second commercial, “Dime Con Quien” [“Tell Me Who”], questions who Scott was working for when he pushed through the massive cuts his administration and the Florida Legislature adopted as austerity measures after he took office in 2011 during the tail-end of the great recession.
The commercial continues the multi-million dollar campaign that Senate Majority PAC and its partner Democratic PACs, primarily Majority Forward PAC and Priorities USA have been running in Florida for months, mostly attacking Scott, sometimes supporting his rival, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson‘s re-election bid. Senate Majority PAC so far has spent at least $6 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The latest SMP commercial’s video focuses on the eyes of Scott, young students, and teachers, as a narrator asks, in Spanish, “Well, who was Rick Scott with when he cut more than $1.3 billion from our public schools?”
“Not with our students who now sit in classrooms without A/C and filled with mold,” the narrator continues. “Not our teachers who pay for supplies themselves. If he wasn’t with us, then who was he with?”
Those earlly budget cuts hit schools hard, though Scott’s office and Legislative Republicans argue the spending was restored, and spending increased to record levels, since the economy rebounded.
Still, the original cuts retain their sting for Democrats.
“Rick Scott recklessly cut more than a billion from Florida’s public schools; leaving children to sit in moldy classrooms and teachers to pay out of pocket for necessary school supplies,” Hannah Hurley, spokesperson for SMP, stated in a news release. “Florida families count on quality schools to help their children to learn and grow. Thanks to Rick Scott and his education cuts, these schools are now covered in mold and lack the money for basic supplies and air conditioning. Rick Scott left families across Florida without any options, and that is unacceptable.”
