John Mica: Obama's best cheerleader [VIDEO]

In case you missed it, the Sandy Adams campaign released a hard-hitting ad that highlights comments that her Republican primary opponent, John Mica, made recently, calling himself Obama's "best cheerleader," in addition to Mica's role in passing the recent transportation bill that Obama supported:

Being a Congressman has its perks - ask John Mica!

Congress is awesome! Why do
 you think I stayed for 20 years?

Getting elected to Congress brings a lot of really cool perks. Besides having people address you as Representative and getting to shape the future of our country, there's the salary, excellent health insurance, multi-million dollar international vacations...

Wait, what? Multi-million dollar international vacations?

Adams vs. Mica race heats up

Rep. Sandy Adams
(FL-24...soon to be FL-7?)

The battle royale for Florida's Seventh Congressional District continues to intensify as long-time incumbent and Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica works to build an immense war chest, and first-term Congresswoman Sandy Adams reaches out to her conservative base. The redistricting process left both Republicans living in the same district, as well as creating a new district to the north.

The race is drawing comparisons to 2010's race between Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio, with Mica viewed as more of a big government moderate and Adams attracting support from staunch fiscal conservatives and tea partiers.

Yeah, Scott still doesn't like high speed rail

Posted on Governor Scott's Facebook page at 4:59 pm today (link to message here):

My position on High Speed Rail remains unchanged.  I believe High Speed Rail is a federal boondoggle, as I said more than a week ago.  This morning I communicated to Secretary LaHood that as long as Florida remains on the hook for cost overruns, operating costs and paybacks in the case of default, I will vigorously oppose this project.

Since that time, Secretary LaHood has extended his own deadline for coming up with a way to alleviate Florida’s risk on High Speed Rail.  While I appreciate his continued efforts to keep the project alive in Florida, it is important to note that I have yet to see any proposal that accomplishes my goal of eliminating risk to Florida’s taxpayers.

Yep. He still doesn't like the train. Guess our Governor isn't scared of Senator Nelson. 

I continue to be amused by this story. The fact that politicians - both at the state and federal level - think they can bully or intimidate Rick Scott (who, as we all know, does not need this job) into changing his mind, is one of the more hysterical things I've seen in awhile.

Another side to the high speed rail debate

Rick Geller, a local attorney who is on the Orange County Planning and Zoning Board and has local government blog, emailed me a response to my blog post last week on Governor Scott's rejection of the high speed rail money. He's given me permission to reprint it:

Hi, Sarah - I enjoyed reading your recent post, but please consider my thoughts on the Governor's high speed rail decision:

http://rickgellerforcc.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
http://rickgellerforcc.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

There's no indication the Governor considered a report estimating a return on investment for the Orlando area at well over $2 billion annually. http://www.edrgroup.com/attachments/-01_Forbes-PRNewswire-HSR.pdf. These systems produce operator profits all over the world.  Links are at my blog.

The Governor's decision will not reduce the Federal deficit. His alternative--expanding highways--is billions more costly. Florida taxpayers would bear at least 10 percent of the cost, even assuming DOT would fund such a proposal after this high profile snub. The reality is that shifting dedicated rail funds to highways is unlawful.

I've rarely seen more public criticism of a sitting Republican governor by members of our own party.  Florida taxpayer out-of-pocket exposure was close to zero, with private industry bearing the risk of cost overruns, as well as operations and maintenance. Governor Scott apparently is unfamiliar with performance bonds in public contracts, given his reliance on a worst case scenario operator default, unprecedented among high speed rail systems worldwide, to my knowledge. 

I hope the Governor gives Congressman Mica's latest proposal--a shortened airport to Disney World line--the consideration it warrants.  We have close to 50 million tourists annually to sustain such a line.  That's double the population of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston combined.  John Mica has studied rail for years and would not lead us in a fiscally risky direction. 

Rick 

What do you think? Geller presents some interesting numbers and issues to debate. This is a highly complicated topic, and anyone who presents a simplistic answer is not being honest. Building a high speed rail system is neither the solution to all our problems nor the worst thing that could ever happen to us.

I don't consider myself necessarily "anti-rail," but I'm not really "pro-rail" either. As I said last week, building a hundred lanes on I-4 won't solve our traffic problems, and I also believe that increasing density in certain metropolitan cores is the only way to preserve as much of our green spaces as possible. Strip malls and other sprawling developments threaten our  state's water table, indigenous plant and animal species, and the natural beauty that not only draws millions of tourists here every year, but also makes Florida a wonderful place to live.

An honest discussion about how our state should grow should include a frank and open discussion about mass transit at some point. Maybe high speed rail will be a part of the solution, maybe not. But even if rail is the right solution, maybe now isn't the time. I must say that I am skeptical of the promised job numbers associated with the rail projects.

It really bugs the heck out of me how the White House has decided that now - during the worst economy since the Great Depression and the highest levels our national debt has ever reached - is the time to build a lot of high speed rail systems all over the country. You and I would never buy a new car or build an addition on our house if we had just lost our job, so why is this government so obsessed with finding new and exciting ways to spend a crapload of money?

Have you listened to a darn word that Rick Scott has said?

...because if you had, Governor Scott's announcement that Florida would forgo the federal high speed rail funds would not have been so shocking.

Rick Scott promised during his entire campaign that he would do things differently, look at government with a new eye, run the state like a business, "Let's get to work," etc. He's got the courage and confidence that comes with complete financial independence: not only is Scott voluntarily only taking a penny salary, but we all know that he doesn't "need" this job.

Let's face it: there are much easier projects that Scott could have tackled than Florida's budget problems. I can only assume that he's truly, deeply motivated by this challenge and views righting Florida's economic ship as some sort of personal holy mission.

If Governor Scott starts wearing sunglasses all the time and
driving a classic Cadillac, we'll know for sure.

And let's look at how Scott has approached the entire budgetary process. From the beginning, his transition team has allowed no "sacred cows," attacking the budget with not a scalpel, but a chainsaw and a blowtorch. Entire agencies and departments have been slated for demolition. He released his budget, not in Tallahassee, but in sleepy little Eustis, and caused an amusing level of panic as people realized their pet projects had been killed. So I find it hysterical that anyone pretends to be shocked that Scott is rejecting the high speed rail money.

Personally, I've honestly had mixed feelings about the rail issue. Florida has beautiful weather and no state income tax; as the economy recovers, our growth challenges will return. Building a hundred lanes on I-4 is not the answer and at some point I hope we can have an honest discussion about mass transit and building for density in our metropolitan cores so we can preserve as much of our green spaces as possible.

I've also been annoyed at what seems to me to be intellectual dishonesty from some of the rail opponents, especially the argument that a rail project will "lose money." Well, duh. Government infrastructure is not meant to be profitable. Does the interstate highway system turn a profit? How about your local elementary school? Of course not. The real question for a government-funded project is not whether it will be profitable, but whether the project is a worthwhile expenditure of taxpayer funds.

Clearly, here, Governor Scott has looked at the facts and figures for the high speed rail proposal and decided that Florida taxpayers' funds are better spent elsewhere right now. The benefits of improved transportation infrastructure and construction jobs are, in the Governor's view, not justified by the extremely large price tag for this project. Let's also keep in mind that there's no such thing as "free money" - the promised federal funds are our taxpayer funds too, and federal money always comes with a lot of strings attached.

Well, Scott's announcement was predictably met with a lot of screeching and wailing and rending of garments. A group of Florida State Senators, led by one of the biggest hypocrites on the rail issue ever, Paula Dockery (aka, "Little Miss I-don't-like-rail-projects-unless-my-husband-gets-a-share-of-the-profits!"), reacted by throwing a public temper tantrum. They sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, asking him to circumvent Governor Scott and send the high speed rail funds to a state commission.

Apryl Marie Fogel, the Florida state director for Americans for Prosperity, issued the following statement and action alert:

Members of Florida's Congressional Delegation and the Florida Legislature are plotting to circumvent Governor Scott's decision to reject $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a high speed rail from Orlando to Tampa.  Unlikely bedfellows were made today when a group of 26 State Senators, including ten democrats and led by high speed rail supporter Paula Dockery, sent a letter to Obama’s Transportation Secretary asking him to circumvent Gov. Scott and send the dollars directly to a state commission created in 2009. They noted that politics should have no place in the future of Florida’s transportation, but they are doing exactly that with this political power play to quiet your voice and that of your elected Governor.

Governor Scott's decision to reject the federal stimulus dollars is backed by sound economic policy and represents the voice of fiscal conservatives - he doesn't think it is in the best interest of the state to commit to a project we can't afford down the road.  The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed a plan for Florida that will cost an estimated $11 billion to build, and it is projected that along with SunRail and Tri-Rail it will cost $100 million per year to operate once completed.  With unknown ridership numbers and a budget shortfall of $3.5 billion and growing, the state of Florida simply can't afford Obama and Dockery's High Speed Rail plan.

Click here to contact your state and congressional representatives to tell them that we can't afford to play politics over High Speed Rail.

For Prosperity,

Apryl Marie Fogel
State Director
Americans for Prosperity - Florida

UPDATE: Here's a link to some additional commentary by Javier Manjarres at The Shark Tank:

The Shark Tank | Governor Scott Kills High-Speed Rail, Takes Heat From Senate Republicans

It’s not often that common sense and fiscal discipline wins the day at any level of government, but Governor Rick Scott deserves big kudos from you (and your kids if you have them) for doing the right thing for Florida and its long-term fiscal health, as he effectively killed the so-called High-Speed Rail (HSR) project which was planned to connect Tampa to Orlando.  Governor Scott, like most other clear thinking people who understand the value of a dollar and what a cost/benefit analysis is, looked over the horizon and saw that Florida would have been saddled with an enormous long term fiscal loser in exchange for what?- maybe 20,000 jobs over the next five years, many of them temporary, that would be paid for with more borrowed federal money.  Consider it yet another “stimulus” project that wouldn’t stimulate anything but our debt and the growth of government.

It’s a pretty good bet that either a Governor McCollum or a Governor Sink would have approved the HSR project regardless of its bleak long term fiscal projections, as that’s the very short-term thinking we’ve come to expect from politicians of all stripes.  But as is typically the case in government, no good deed goes unpunished, and Scott is getting blowback from every direction, including a somewhat unexpected source, as a veto-proof group of State Senators have issued a public rebuke of Scott’s decision to kill HSR.

It’s almost embarrassing to read the letter this group of 26 State Senators sent to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood practically begging him not to give these rejected federal monies to another state as if it were somehow their birthright.  Their letter deadpans that "Politics should have no place in the future of Florida’s transportation, as evidenced by this letter of bipartisan support."

Come again, Senators?  Governor Scott’s decision to kill HSR is based on his very sober cost/benefit analysis of the project.  You can agree or disagree with Governor Scott’s decision, but your support of HSR is as every bit “political” as his decision was to kill the project.