American constitution allows states to elect two individuals to represent them in the senate. In line with this, the state of Florida has nominated Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to serve as senior and junior senators respectively. The two are mandated with championing the interests of their constituents. Aside from the states, North America comprises 435 congressional districts that are represented by congressmen or congresswomen.
Frederica Wilson is the congresswoman who stands for Florida’s 24th congressional district. Senators serve their respective states for a 6-year term while districts conduct elections after every two years to nominate their representatives. This paper constitutes a biography of Rick Scott who is the junior senator for the State of Florida. I have chosen this leader due to his current success in American politics despite having no political background.
Previous Occupation
Scott worked as a businessman with interests in venture capital and healthcare before joining politics. In 1988, he joined Richard Rainwater to establish their first business known as Columbia Hospital Corporation (Freudenheim, 1993). They later embarked on a campaign to acquire other health care facilities that were not performing well, and within a year, they had purchased four hospitals that could handle over 833 inpatients (Freudenheim, 1993).
In 1994, Scott was appointed chief executive officer of Columbia/Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) after a merger between his company and HCA. In duration of ten years, he assembled the world’s leading medical organization comprising 550 home health care offices, 350 infirmaries, and an array of other remedial firms (Freudenheim, 1993). In 1997, he left Columbia/HCA and founded Richard L. Scott Investments whose offices were in Naples, Florida.
This company had interests in manufacturing, health care, and technology. In 2003, he bought shares in Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacies; a business that deals in the distribution of herbal medicine, prescriptions, vitamins, and skin care products (Eggen, 2009). Other past occupations include working as George W. Bush’s associate in the management of Texas rangers and running Novasan; A Florida-based firm that sold food supplements.
Political Experience
Scott is considered one of the senators with vast political experience as he previously served as the governor of Florida. He worked under this capacity at a time when the United States experienced challenges attributed to Hurricane Irma. Senator Scott managed to mobilize the biggest crowd evacuation in American history to alleviate the possibility of deaths as a result of the storm (Mitsova et al., 2018).
Additionally, his leadership enabled the state of Florida to reduce the rate crime, boost employment, and minimize taxpayer debt. His governance facilitated the creation of over 1.5 million jobs across Florida which represented 20.3% employment growth (Neumeier, 2018). His tenure as the Governor of Florida gave him an opportunity to interact with constituents and understand their varied needs. Therefore, he is in good position to articulate the concerns of the residents of this state in the senate.
Family
Rick was born in 1952 and was brought up by his mother (Esther) and stepfather. Esther divorced Scott’s biological father for being alcoholic and abusive. Today, Rick is married to Ann, who he met during their high school days. They have been together for over 40 years and are blessed with two daughters (Moewe, 2006). In addition to being a family man, he is a devoted Christian who never fails to go to church. He is also involved in numerous charity programs aimed at helping the less fortunate in his community.
Income
Scott has invested in multiple economic sectors which have enabled his net income to grow significantly over the years. In 2016, his net worth was $149 million (Klas, 2018). However, in 2017, his riches grew considerably, raising concerns about his source of money. There were claims that senator Scott took advantage of his blind trust to accumulate wealth. It was hard for many people to fathom how his family could make over $500 million in a single contract (Klas, 2018).
Nevertheless, some pundits cite proceeds from investment in China, electric car industry, and the sale of Continental Structural Plastics as some of the sources that contributed to the growth of his net worth. In the past, Scott was accused of disclosing false information regarding his net worth. Nonetheless, the court ruled against this lawsuit arguing that state laws protect elected officials from disclosing their fiscal holdings.
Education
Scott pursued his secondary education at North Kansas City High School where he graduated in 1970. He later went to community college for one year before joining armed forces as U.S. navy. In the military, Scott worked as a radar operator for USS Glover (Florida Department of State, 2019). He took advantage of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill) and went back to school. Scott studied business administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and later law at Southern Methodist University (Florida Department of State, 2019). This saw him leave the military and started to work in one of the then major law firms in Dallas City.
Position on Environment
The majority of the Republican politicians criticize Scott for his indecisiveness on matters environment. He is accused of not being able to share his opinions regarding global warming and other ecological issues. Scott is known to be against the scientific agreement on environmental change, arguing that he is not a scientist (Caputo, 2014). As governor of Florida, Scott was castigated for ordering the Department of Environmental Protection to desist from using phrases like “global warming” and “climate change” in its correspondences (Lynch et al., 2019). He also reduced the amount of money allocated to water management, a move that culminated in the state of Florida experiencing contamination problems.
Total votes and Policy Issues
Controversies surrounded the 2018 senate election in the state of Florida which occasioned recounting of the votes cast. It was established that Scott won the election with 50.1% of the ballots, while his closes opponent (Nelson) garnered 49.9% (New York Times.com., 2019). He won the election by a margin of 10,033 ballots, making this one of the most competitive senatorial posts across the country (New York Times.com., 2019). An evaluation of the bills that Scott sponsors reveals that he has keen interest in health and crime and law enforcement. Recently, he introduced a bill that sought to cushion states from the cost of screening Corona Virus.
The bill, which is in the first stage, intends to compel the federal government, through the secretary of health and human services to refund all the money that states will spend in screening persons on transit (GovTrack.US., 2020b). This senator has also proposed a law to secure American military bases by improving training programs (GovTrack.US., 2020a). The bill requires the Department of Sate and Department of Defense to work together towards ensuring that foreign military bases are secure. Scott expresses his believe in the significance of health and security to national development. He regards health as a critical pillar to economic growth; hence, the need to ensure that states have adequate funds to combat the spread of Corona pandemic.
References
Caputo, M. (2014). Rick Scott won’t say if he thinks man-made climate-change is real, significant. Miami Herald. Web.
Eggen, D. (2009). Former hospital CEO Rick Scott leads opposition to Obama on health care. Washington Post. Web.
Florida Department of State. (2019). Richard L. Scott. Web.
Freudenheim, M. (1993). Largest public held hospital chain is planned. The New York Times. Web.
GovTrack.US. (2020a). S. 3409: Secure United States Bases Act. Web.
GovTrack.US. (2020b). S. 3498: A bill to require the secretary of health and human services to reimburse states for the cost of operating drive-through sites for COVID-19 testing. Web.
Klas, M. E. (2018). Rick Scott and family made $550M in one transaction. How ‘blind’ is his blind trust? Miami Herald. Web.
Lynch, M. J., Ozymy, J., & Jarrell, M. (2019). Executive actors and environmental enforcement: Examining the “Rick Scott Effect” in the U.S. state of Florida. Review of Policy Research, 36(3), 395-413.
Mitsova, D., Esnard, A., Sapat, A., & Lai, B. S. (2018). Socioeconomic vulnerability and electric power restoration timelines in Florida: The case of Hurricane Irma. Natural Hazards, 94(1), 689-709.
Moewe, M. C. (2006). Ex-Columbian chief helps grow Solantic. Jacksonville Business Journal. Web.
Neumeier, F. (2018). Do businessmen make good governors? Economic Inquiry, 56(4), 2116-2136.
New York Times. (2019). Florida senate election results: Bill Nelson vs. Rick Scott. New York Times. Web.