The same schoolyard-style back-and-forth that has marked the Republican gubernatorial primary in TV ads dominated a debate between Bill McCollum and Rick Scott Thursday, with both appearing exasperated with the other and little discussion of actual policy issues.
Scott, ahead in most polls, held to his themes of being an outsider running against a career politician in McCollum, while the attorney general continued to hammer Scott’s business background and charged that Scott, as an outsider, doesn’t know enough to run the state.
“I know what I’m doing, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” McCollum said in a testy remark that was typical of the entire debate.
Scott, in turn, called McCollum a “desperate career politician” who will “say anything to get elected.”
The insider-outsider theme that has become one of the main features of the race played out extensively, with Scott trying to paint McCollum as a mooch off the taxpayers who hasn’t solved any problems.
“My opponent is clearly the Tallahassee insider, the Washington insider,” Scott said. “I’m not. I’m the conservative outsider.”
McCollum tried to turn that on its head, responding that he was proud of his long record – and that Scott wasn’t up to being governor precisely because he didn’t have much experience, or at least hasn’t done his homework.
“I have a long record and I’m proud of that,” McCollum said. “Bill McCollum is not a career politician. He’s a career public servant.”
Scott then attacked one element of McCollum’s record, saying that in his years in Congress, McCollum voted to raise taxes “42 times,” which McCollum denied, owning up to one tax increase vote, saying he regretted going along with the Reagan tax increase of the 1980s.
Scott countered by asking whether McCollum had supported fee increases.
“Of course I voted for user fees,” responded a perturbed McCollum. “You don’t think that impacts anybody?” Scott responded.
McCollum said the exchange showed Scott’s lack of realistic understanding of the way government works, which came up a couple of other times during the one-hour debate as well.
That exchange – with Scott ending up saying that he wouldn’t support any tax or fee increases because he can find ways to cut government spending and McCollum acknowledging that sometimes fees may need to be increased – actually showed one of the few real differences between the two candidates on a policy question. For the most part, they argued about each others’ pasts, and attacked each others’ motives.
Actually, McCollum said he didn’t know what Scott’s motives were.
“Who are you? Why are you running for governor? Who are you, really, Rick Scott?” McCollum asked at one point during the debate, after wondering out loud why Scott would spend millions of his own money to “buy the governor’s race.”
In fact, the candidates were asked almost no questions about where they stood on particular policy issues – despite a montage shown by debate hosts FoxTampa Bay with viewers who said they wanted to hear less of the candidates attacking each other and more of their stances on policy. In fact, one of the few real policy questions the two fielded came from a viewer who E-mailed the question in. It was on amnesty for illegal immigrants – a federal issue that the governor has almost no control over – but still, a policy issue – and the two Republicans agreed, both saying they’re against amnesty.
McCollum alluded to the fact that they generally appear in campaign literature to agree on economic policies – even accusing Scott of plagiarizing his plans from the McCollum campaign.
Scott said the state needs him because he has a proven record of building jobs, and has run private sector companies, while McCollum attacked him for just that – trying to hammer Scott on his time at Columbia/HCA health care, which was found guilty of federal health care fraud, although Scott wasn’t charged.
Scott repeated a line from his commercials, saying he took responsibility for the company’s shortcomings and would do the same when mistakes are made on his watch as governor.
McCollum then repeated a line he used in an earlier debate, saying the only thing Scott took was $300 million that Columbia/HCA was accused of getting by way of fraud. “You ripped off the taxpayers, you ripped off the citizens,” McCollum said. “When you left it went down the tubes and you call that a success?”
Scott replied that “my opponent has no concern for the facts. My opponent is a desperate career politician that will say anything to get elected.”
In their openings, both did get to talk some about their own policy plans. McCollum said he would reduce corporate income taxes and eliminate sales tax requirements on certain equipment that could jump start high tech job creation.
Scott said he would have “accountability budgeting” looking at every agency for where its budget can be cut, reduce property taxes and cut business taxes.
By David Royse
The News Service of Florida
