A new sheriff vs. Legislature’s ‘old bulls’

TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. J.D. Alexander’s cell phone buzzed with a six-word text message: “We just killed high-speed rail.”

The terse note from Gov. Rick Scott’s top policy adviser, Mary Anne Carter, understated the explosive decision to stop a politically sensitive $3 billion project dead in its tracks.

And the casual conveyance to the powerful Senate budget chief, accustomed to being deferred to, underscored the challenge that Scott, 58, could face massaging his ambitious agenda through a veto-proof Legislature that naturally bristles at the executive branch.

“Governors have among the biggest egos in the state of Florida. But so do members of the House and Senate,” said former state Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach. “I do foresee some problems here.”

In his first two months in office, Scott has shown two very different sides of himself in his approach to the Legislature.

At times, the Kansas City native exudes Midwestern politeness. He asks lawmakers about their families, insists on pictures during meetings in his office and invites fellow Republicans to private dinners prepared by the Governor’s Mansion chef.

But other times Scott, a former CEO at the nation’s largest hospital chain in the 1990s and a leader in the rebellious tea party movement, moves through the Capitol like a boardroom where his decisions should be rubber-stamped.

Lobbyists complain only a select few can schedule meetings in the governor’s office; Scott’s press office threatens media outlets before unflattering stories are published; and, in the Legislature, Scott temporarily barred his aides from a committee after the chairman peppered them with aggressive questions.

The Legislature has already shown signs of pushing back. Alexander suggested Scott violated the state Constitution with the sale of two state planes and has filed a public records request for documents related to the move. One of Scott’s earliest supporters, Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland, authored a letter signed by a veto-proof majority of 26 senators rebuking Scott for his high-speed rail decision.

“We now see what the outsider perspective looks like,” Republican consultant David Johnson of Tallahassee said. “And it’s going to take some getting used to by the old bulls of the Legislature.”

Scott’s first-year agenda can largely be found within his controversial budget proposal, which he unveiled at a tea party rally in Eustis. Sen. Mike Bennett, a Sarasota Republican and supporter of Scott’s, said Scott “sent the wrong message” by unrolling the budget to a select group of Floridians.

Scott, however, has shown little interest in appealing to the 51 percent who voted for the other candidates for governor.

The staggering $4.6 billion spending cut in Scott’s budget was applauded by tea party leaders. But even conservative lawmakers who have made budget cuts a top goal say some of Scott’s spending priorities might not be welcomed.

For example, conservative leaders are unlikely to cut public school spending by 10 percent while paying for tax cuts on corporate income and pollutants. Scott has recommended both.

“I doubt we’re going to have 100 percent agreement, but we’re going to find a lot of common ground,” said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, a Merritt Island Republican and 2012 U.S. Senate candidate. “He’s a very good salesman.”

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