The GOP’s Rick Scott: Cupidity or Stupidity

BY SAM FIELDS
Guest Columnist

Until three months ago, few if any of us had heard of  Rick Scott

Fifteen million dollars later, everyone knows the name of the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for governor. He is burying the previous frontrunner Attorney General Bill McCollum in the polls.

But even a cursory look into Scott’s background makes it clear that he is a combination of the worst of Tricky Dick Nixon and Bill “Slick Willy” Clinton.

Nixon excused himself with: “I am not a crook.”

When asked about his sexcapades, Clinton uttered the infamous: “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

Scott’s excuse for running a company charged with stealing massives amounts of Medicare money from taxpayers: 

“The company made mistakes. But that’s not what matters-

Hey, Slick Ricky, it was not mistakes.

It was fraud. 

While Slick Rick presided over The Hospital Corporation of America, well over a billion dollars in Medicare dollars were stolen from the American taxpayer.  The scheme was bold and simple. 

Granma came in with a bunion and the government was billed for a heart transplant.

Slick Rick should know the difference between mistakes and fraud.

Mistakes are unintentional. 

Fraud is defined in the United States Criminal Code as someone who “knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact.

HCA was forced to pay the Feds $1.7 billion in fines for “FRAUD not “mistakes.

That’s not all.  Let’s look at Slick Rick’s defensive:  “The company made mistakes.” 

First of all, the responsibility does not fall on a “company.  How does a company make a mistakeor the largest Medicare fraud in history? 

Companies can’t commit fraud on their own. Your people did it, Slick Rick.

With any luck, they will be going to jail for a long time. 

 SLICK RICK’S ROLE

These fraudsters worked for Slick Scott.   They were people he knew. It is hard to swallow that he didn’t have an idea of what was going on. 

It’s possible that he didn’t understand that, for years, right under his nose, he presided over a massive fraud.  A massive fraud that had to involve hundreds of people from top executives to doctors down to computer operators that were imputing false claims.

Is that the kind of management skills Slick Rick will bring to the Governor’s mansion? 

Do we want a governor whose defense for cupidity is stupidity?

Seondly, he tells us: “that’s not what matters.

Says who?

 AN ISSUE OF CHARACTER

 

Republicans love to run on the issue of “character.

There can be no denying that Slick Rick is a “real character and one without one ounce of shame.

He has not yet selected a running mate. 

I have an idea for him.

Running on the slogan “Two Scotts Are Better Than One he makes Scott Rothstein his running mate.  He’s another guy full of excusess who wants us to believe simply that “mistakes were made.



14 Responses to “The GOP’s Rick Scott: Cupidity or Stupidity”

  1. ScubaDiver says:

    You are right on target! As CEO he must take all the responsibility for all of the fraud which occurred under his position. To dismiss so lightly indicates his lack of leadership and his inability to oversee his departments. These are not characteristics I would expect of a Publix manager, certainly not of a person who desires to oversee the state.

  2. Mister Courthouse says:

    I must be losing my mind. I agree with Sam Fields.

    Any chief executive who uses the excuse Rick Scott has been using should be fired and not hired by the voters.

  3. InHealth says:

    Medicare makes no distinction between mistakes and fraud. You are right to point out that there is a difference, but to Medicare there is not. If I give my grandma a free examination, since she has Medicare this is defined as Enticement. No joke. If you aren’t in the healthcare it may be difficult to grasp the idiocy of Medicare. A collegue of mine recently got a check by Medicare for services rendered 6 years ago! I would love to see more in-depth coverage of the investigation. He was never charged with anything, meaning they found no evidence linking him personally.

  4. InHealth says:

    SIC

  5. ScubaDiver says:

    InHealth, do you not hold Scott responsible at all? 10 years under his leadership this fraud, which he benefited, continued. Who told those minimum-wage clerks to defraud the govt? Since they did not benefit, it certainly wasn’t their brainchild and one must look much higher up the food chain.
    His poor administration of a business for 10 years shows poor management skills at best, and acknowledgment of criminal activity for personal gain at the worst.

  6. Sam Fields says:

    Dear Inhealth

    Medicare may not distinguish the difference between mistakes and fraud for clawing back improper payment but the U.S. Attorney certainly does.

    You don’t get indicted or go to Federal prison for mistakes. That takes the willful and knowing act of FRAUD—crooks

  7. mustbecrazy says:

    I had wondered “who is this guy(Rick Scott) and where did he come from”. Having read numerous articles recently in the paper and on line, which I have not heard were refuted by Mr. Scott: I will say that someone who cannot oversee a sizable company cannot oversee the state.

  8. SimpleMan says:

    McCollum or Scott?
    Really? Those are my choices?
    Really?

    FROM BUDDY: Only in the Republican primary.

  9. Seth Platt says:

    Um what about his golden parachute? Millions of dollar$ he took with him at the expense of policy holders. Money he is now using to run for office. HE IS A CROOK IN THE FIRST ORDER. Nothing new for GOP in Florida.

  10. What Would Reagan Do? says:

    A candidate who bilked millions out of the pockets of taxpayers? Sounds wholely qualified to be a politician.

  11. James says:

    In my perfect world Scott beats McCollum.. and Sink beats Scott.

  12. Yaki says:

    Scott is a crook; McCollum I hear is a sick weirdo; Sink is bor-ring! I guess I’m with Charlie Crist.

  13. Yaki says:

    Scott is a crook; McCollum I hear is a sick weirdo; Sink is bor-ring! I guess I’m with Charlie Crist..he’s very photogenic =D

  14. Robert says:

    Now Rick Scott is Governor of Florida. Florida voters must not have a problem with medicare fraud.