Scott's promises: Mostly delivered but some course corrections

Even Gov. Rick Scott's most ardent critics tend to agree that the governor has remained mostly faithful to his campaign pledges.

Reform the state pension system: check. Drug-test welfare applicants: check. Cut taxes and government spending: check and check.

Still, Scott has also made numerous course corrections along the way.

Some have been technical, like retooling his executive order requiring state contractors to use E-Verify to confirm their workers' immigration status. Others are more substantial, like directing all agencies to randomly drug-test their employees, then postponing implementation of the order at all but one agency.

Scott signed off this spring on a state prescription drug database to combat painkiller abuse, after opposing the database earlier in the year. When his proposal to allow camping at Honeymoon Island in Pinellas County triggered heavy public protest last month, Scott nixed the plan, saying he would tread more carefully when pursuing such policy changes in the future.

Scott also backed off his controversial public records policy in July, announcing that he would slim down the hefty fees he was charging to fulfill records requests.

"I think it's unusual," said Lance deHaven-Smith, political science professor at Florida State University. "I can't think of another governor that's had so many false starts."

But some veterans of past administrations say the intense public scrutiny under which Scott is governing has magnified any apparent trend of shifting direction. Whether political rookies or veterans, all governors have to adjust to the office, they say.

"It's an enormous job, running the fourth-largest state," said Ron Sachs, who was communications director for former Gov. Lawton Chiles. "You're responsible for the lives of everyone in the state, the quality of life, and of business -- it's a Herculean task. Any administration in the first year, and sometimes for the first couple of years, is going to go through growing pains.

"The fact of the matter is, the shifting sands of policy and politics make it difficult to find firm footing."

A former health care executive, Scott arrived in Tallahassee as a political newcomer and initially filled many of the key positions in his office with fellow outsiders to the sphere of state government.

As Scott noted Friday in an interview on C-SPAN, he has since made a number of staff changes, including the hiring of Tallahassee political veteran Stephen MacNamara as his chief of staff.

"I had great people working with me in the beginning, but it's different being a candidate, it's different being a CEO of a company, than it is as governor," Scott said.

To some extent, Scott's reversals and corrections reflect inexperience, deHaven-Smith said.

On the one hand, he said, it shows the governor is willing to make changes based on new information or changes of situation. That's to Scott's credit, deHaven-Smith said. But, "if people begin thinking that, whatever he says, he's going to back down later, that could, ultimately, undermine his ability to govern."

Not necessarily, said Eric Eikenberg, former chief of staff for Gov Charlie Crist.

Eikenberg said Scott's pattern so far is neither surprising nor unique.

"It's just the nature of the governor's office, the give-and-take and how things constantly change. It's all very fluid on a daily basis; there are so many moving pieces. You have to respond and act quickly on a lot of matters."

Scott, Eikenberg stressed, is only about seven months into his term. "It's still a learning process. I don't read anything into it."

Asked recently about his decision-making thus far, Scott said, "I have a belief about where the state should go. And it's never a straight path. … One thing I think anyone making decisions should be doing is constantly evaluating the decision they're making. And if you can improve it, you keep improving it.

"One thing I always tried to teach my daughters is … go do things," he said. "You're going to learn from those things, and you'll get better and better and better."

Reversing course can also be strategic. In March, Scott ordered a 15 percent spending cut for the state's agency serving people with developmental disabilities, to prevent the agency from spending $174 million over its budget.

Deficit spending was nothing new at the Agency for Persons With Disabilities, which has struggled for years to meet consumer demand for services on a balanced budget. But Scott insisted his emergency order was necessary -- putting the pressure on lawmakers to come up with the money to avoid service cuts.

After a storm of protest ensued from horrified families of people with disabilities, lawmakers pledged to fill the agency's budget gap. The governor then rescinded his order, thanking House and Senate leaders for "joining me to protect the community APD serves."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida made much of Scott's decision in June to postpone drug-testing for most state employees.

Scott had issued the provocative order in March to start randomly testing all state employees, regardless of their job description or whether there was reason to suspect they were using drugs. But after the ACLU filed suit in federal court over the issue, the governor notified agency heads that only the state Department of Corrections would implement the policy for the time being.

That agency was already randomly testing 21,000 of its 27,000 employees, based on the public safety concerns surrounding their jobs.

Scott said in his memo to agencies that he was confident he was within his rights to require the tests. But with the ongoing legal challenge, he said, it didn't make sense for the agencies "to move forward with the logistical issues involved in instituting the new policy."

ACLU spokesman Derek Newton said it was perhaps the most dramatic example yet of Scott "governing by proclamation, and then when it comes time to act, making a significant retreat."

Scott has not retreated at all, argued spokesman Lane Wright. The governor, he said, remains committed to implementing the rule at all agencies under his authority.

In his C-SPAN interview, Scott said he has never regretted a decision he has made as governor. However, as he also told state reporters this month, "everything can't work."

"It would be nice," he added. "But it's not going to be that way."