Henderson: Scott figures out he's in a messy business

Column

It took him long enough, but Rick Scott appears to finally understand the citizens of Florida elected him governor, not God.

That's the only logical explanation for the conciliatory, uniting chord Scott struck in his speech to open the new session of the Florida Legislature. After spending a year as Florida's high-speed rube, Governor "My Way Or No Way" now says we're all in this together.

"No person, profession or party has a monopoly on all the good ideas," Scott said in his state of the state address. "The commitment I make to those here today is to keep open, clear lines of communication so that together our time in the Capitol can best be spent in the service of those who sent us here."

As proof, the governor says he wants an extra $1 billion in the state budget for education and he won't bend on that. Of course, schools saw $1.35 billion cut from their budget last year, so putting some of that back sounds more like self-preservation than policy.

Scott also may have decided that governing would be easier if large pockets of the state don't hate him.

One of his themes during the campaign was that government should run like a business. It's a simple slogan and a great sound bite, but the truth is government is not a business. It's a democracy.

Government does things private enterprise can't. It is mandated to educate the population — the whole population, not just those who can afford to pay. It builds roads, provides for public safety, protects the environment and enforces the law.

People loved it when candidate Scott called for major cuts in spending. That was before they realized the cuts included them.

The governor's first year was marked by his clumsy rejection of federal money for high-speed rail. He infuriated teachers by pressing for changes in how they are evaluated, tried to jam through mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients and state employees, gutted a program vital to disabled citizens, and had apparent disdain for government in the sunshine.

Some of his ideas, like rejecting rail money, arguably had merit, but he was so isolated that he did a miserable job making his case.

In December, Public Policy Polling declared him to be the nation's most disliked governor, with a 26 percent approval rating. A Quinnipiac poll released this week showed that number had climbed to 38 percent, but carried a warning that Floridians oppose by 67-24 percent any Medicaid cuts to pay for Scott's education goals.

You see, governor, that's how it works. The state is running a big-time budget deficit, and solving one problem usually creates another. So you build consensus, find common ground, and all those other clichés that help politicians stay employed.

It's messy, complicated, and it happens to be your job.

Scott proved being an outsider can be an advantage in an election, but he also discovered it's a liability when trying to govern. How well he applies that lesson will set the tone for the remaining three years in his term.