Florida Governor Rick Scott may have arrived in Tallahassee as an outsider but if his influence on the Florida Legislature is any indication, he has become a Capitol insider. James Call reports, Scott pretty much got everything he wanted from the just concluded legislative session, his second as governor.
Scott had three main goals for the 2012 session, an extra billion dollars for public schools, a corporate tax cut and more regulations for PIP, the personal injury protection coverage in auto insurance. He got them all. Scott lobbied for a PIP bill on the Session’s final night. After it passed, standing in the Capitol Rotunda Scott thanked lawmakers for their support.
"We did something that everyone thought we couldn’t do. We changed direction of fraud in our state. We passed a great PIP reform bill that is going to lower the cost of insurance for all Floridians. We’re going to get rid of this fraud."
Scott’s use of the pronoun WE is indicative of the road he has traveled in two legislative sessions, from outsider to leader of the Republican establishment.