Florida Gov. lashes out at GOP leader over jobs money

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Scott, a former health care executive who is mulling his own run for U.S. Senate in 2018, has often had tensions with fellow Republicans during his six years as governor, but this marks one of the few times he has been so openly disdainful. He ramped up his criticism even though the House proposals haven’t had their first hearing yet. The session formally starts in March.

Corcoran wasted little time in responding forcefully to the governor’s comments – and raised questions as to whether the state’s support of business incentives has produced substantive results as Scott contends.

“We were elected to do what is right and clean up government, put an end to the waste of taxpayer money, and end the culture of corruption,” Corcoran said in a statement. “The governor cannot be surprised that we will do the right thing regardless of the consequences.”

The two main agencies targeted by the House are Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida. Both have seen increased scrutiny over their spending, including a Visit Florida deal where rap star Pitbull was paid $1 million to promote the state. The leaders of both organizations have been replaced in the past year. Last week Corcoran compared Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida to “cockroaches” that come out in the middle of the night.