Credit Office of Gov. Rick Scott

Governor Rick Scott is continuing his tradition of trying to lure business from Democratically led states. Scott is targeting California, but  it doesn’t look like he’s getting a warm welcome.

______________________________________________________________

Scott released a radio ad in advance of his trip. It claims a minimum wage increase in California will lead to 700-thousand lost jobs.

But California Governor Gerry Brown isn’t taking Scott’s overtures sitting down. Brown released a statement pushing back against the ad. In the statement Brown sarcastically welcomes Scott as one of, in his words, “millions of tourists flocking to the Golden State.” He also says California has added twice as many jobs as Florida and claims Scott has been ignoring issues like climate change and poverty.  

Florida State University Political science professor Charles Barrilleaux. He says while some might read Brown’s response as a zinger, he doubts Scott has given it much thought.

“For the governor’s kind of core constituency this is good politics. They don’t think it looks foolish at all for their governor to do that. You know, Gerry Brown doesn’t like it. I think a lot of the governor’s constituent’s say, well of course they don’t like Gerry Brown anyway,” Barrilleaux says.

And Barrilleaux’s analysis seemed to ring true when, during a conversation with journalists, Scott brushed off Brown’s statements.

"Let’s look at the facts. I got elected on a campaign to get our state back to work. In 2010 I said there’d be 700-thousand jobs over 7 years and now we’re at a million 61-thousand jobs. Our labor force is going faster than California, our wage growth, our job growth rate is faster than California,” Scott says.

This isn’t the first time Scott’s gotten pushback from states where he’s trying to recruit jobs. The governor’s pitch to get Yale University to move met with a bit of incredulity from the school and even journalists.

But FSU’s Barrileaux points out Scott’s not the first to use the tactic. He says former Texas Governor Rick Perry and other business-focused governors have also gone job hunting in Democratic states. Scott wraps his trip up on the third.

Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit WFSU.