Records show Trump aides plotted political win for Rick Scott
The governor had cast the decision to give Florida relief from offshore drilling as a spontaneous triumph.
By MATT DIXON 03/27/2018 05:05 AM EDT Updated 03/27/2018 10:22 AM EDT
TALLAHASSEE — When Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced on Jan. 9 that Florida was “off the table” for offshore oil drilling, the governor cast the hastily arranged news conference at the Tallahassee airport as unplanned and the Trump administration’s decision as something Scott had influenced at the eleventh hour.
In fact, Zinke’s top advance staffer, whose job it is to plan ahead for such events, was in Tallahassee the previous day. And top officials from the offices of both Scott and the secretary were in regular contact for several days leading up to the announcement, according to more than 1,200 documents reviewed by POLITICO Florida as part of a public records request.
The documents, which include phone records, text messages, and emails, contradict the supposed spontaneous event that portrayed Scott as single-handedly securing a politically popular win for Florida’s environmental future only days after the administration had spelled out a controversial new national five-year plan to boost offshore oil drilling. The event left Scott, at least for the moment, with a big victory to hold over Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), whom the term-limited Scott is almost assuredly challenging in 2018.
The records reaffirm the perception at the time that the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course and remove Florida from the list was carefully choreographed to give Scott a political win in his widely expected challenge this year to unseat Nelson.
“Whatever Rick needs, they [Trump administration] will do. There will be net more offshore drilling, but the governor will get what he needs,” one Republican who spoke directly with Zinke told POLITICO at the time, a prediction that came true.
It will “be a big win, and it won’t be Bill Nelson bringing it home,” the Republican added.
Turns out all the optics were orchestrated long before that January day.
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https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/03/26/records-zinkes-office-refute-scott-framing-of-impromptu-oil-drilling-reversal-330060
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