Rick Scott's troubling story of convenience

The top priority for Florida's next governor will be fostering an economic climate that makes it easier for businesses to grow, prosper and create jobs. Florida is suffering from one of the country's highest unemployment rates, and it will take years to replace the more than 900,000 jobs the state has lost during this deep recession.

It is for this reason, among others, that I am supporting Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican gubernatorial primary. His economic plan will accelerate Florida's recovery and facilitate the creation of more than half a million jobs over the next six years.

I've known Bill for many years, since his days as a congressman representing Orlando. He's an experienced leader with a fine record on the issues that matter to Florida Republicans. When he says he will cut business taxes and remove regulatory roadblocks to job creation - he's going to do it.

In contrast, it's hard to know what to make of Bill's primary opponent. Rick Scott boasts about his experience building HCA/Columbia, a massive network of for-profit hospitals that at one time employed one in every 1,000 American workers. For some reason, he doesn't like to talk about how that story ends - being ousted as CEO by his board of directors, massive federal fraud charges and unprecedented company fines totaling $1.7 billion.

After years investigating HCA, federal law enforcement officials found evidence that Scott's hospitals kept two sets of books. The first tracked actual expenses, while the second contained inflated figures that were submitted to the government for reimbursement. By the time charges were filed, HCA officials admitted to systematically overcharging the government - and by extension taxpayers - with fraudulent claims, including exaggerating the treatment of Medicare patients to increase billings.

It should be noted that while HCA agreed to plead guilty to 14 felonies in five states, Scott himself was never charged with any crimes due to differences in the laws at the time. But there's a higher standard than just indictment here, and it's one that requires all Republican voters to ask themselves: "What did Scott know about HCA's criminal conduct, and when did he know it?"

Scott's story is that "the company made mistakes," but as CEO, he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. Scott would explain that he was in charge while HCA defrauded both the government and shareholders on a massive scale for years, but not once did he have even a hint there was a problem. Nor can he be blamed for what occurred. Sounds like the CEO of BP ducking responsibility for the safety of BP's offshore oil rigs.

If this convenient story is true, the next question is obvious. In the face of such stunning managerial incompetence, how could anyone decide Scott was qualified to run a lemonade stand, let alone the nation's fourth-largest state?

When these allegations have come up in the past, Rick Scott has tried to change the subject by saying he wants to talk about issues instead. Unfortunately for Scott, his background is the issue. And if state Republicans hand him the nomination, its one Democrats are sure to focus on this fall in an election where voters are paying a lot more attention.