Rick Scott Challenges GOP Establishment
Politico looks into Rick Scott's challenge in the Florida GOP primary race for Governor, and reports on how the war of words between the candidates is escalating:
Senior Florida Republicans have plunged into a state of all-but-open war with former hospital executive Rick Scott, the wealthy candidate for governor who’s threatening to torch the state’s political establishment in a self-funded march to the GOP nomination.
Scott is running against state Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Aug. 24 primary for the top job in the nation’s most important political swing state, spending his way into what looks like a frontunner’s position.
But Scott brings to the race almost as many liabilities as dollars – both accumulated during his tenure as CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital chain – and party leaders in Florida and beyond have rushed to aid McCollum. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have endorsed the former congressman’s campaign in the last month, and former Gov. Jeb Bush cut an ad for his campaign.
The already-ugly feud between Scott and Republican officialdom took a venomous turn this week, after Scott launched a fresh offensive linking McCollum to Jim Greer, the former state party chairman and longtime booster of outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist who was indicted on multiple fraud charges related to his state party activities.
Seizing on the news that Greer might summon McCollum as a witness in his trial, Scott called for an independent probe into the state party scandal and cast aspersions on McCollum’s conduct as Florida’s top law enforcement official.
“No matter how far removed McCollum says he is from the investigation being conducted by his employees, it cannot be truly independent so long as McCollum is their boss,” Scott said in a statement. His campaign also posted old video online that showed Greer calling McCollum “the next Republican governor of the state of Florida.”
