A week ago, we received a call asking if the tea party leaders wanted to meet with Governor Scott and hear his budget before anyone else.  We said “Yes” and quickly put together an event in central Florida.  The town of Eustis welcomed more than 1,000 tea party leaders and members along with dozens of cameramen, satellite trucks and state and city law enforcement officials.

The plan was to have lunch with tea party leaders and then meet outside on the grassy area overlooking the lake.  A deluge of rain changed the plans and the local tea party leader moved the event inside First Baptist Church – the only place in Eustis big enough to handle the crowd.

After a brief meeting with tea party leaders, Governor Scott unveiled his plans.  The crowd cheered with a renewed hope that our state would once again be a competitive place for businesses to set up shop, thereby returning jobs to a state with 12% unemployment.

Immediately after his presentation, the Nay-sayers began their normal talking points:

• The rich will get richer and the poor will suffer
• Education cannot afford any more cuts, we are working on bare bones money now
• This will stagnate Florida’s economy
• Public safety will be at risk
• This is a “pie-in-the-sky” budget – no reality here
• You can’t apply business principles to government
• This will be “dead on arrival” when it hits the Legislature

I don’t know about you, but I have grown tired of hearing these same old talking points from the same ones who put us into this mess.  It is time for Floridians to work together to fix our state and create an environment that attracts people to its shores. 

Here are a few comments from Governor Scott’s speech.  The naysayers say this is impossible, what say you?

• This "jobs budget" is focused on the goal of shrinking government, reducing your taxes, creating private sector jobs and holding government accountable.
• It's not a budget that dabbles. It doesn't offer a little something for every special interest or sweeteners for certain people.
• The fact is that government has to get back to its core functions. Only its core functions!
• As long as 1.1 million Floridians are out of work, we can't afford a government that runs wild with taxes, regulations and excessive spending.
• We can't spend more than we take in. And we take-in enough from hardworking Floridians.
• That level of spending was never wise and simply cannot be sustained.  To those who suggest that we meet those new unsustainable expectations with higher taxes, I want to send a clear signal.  That is NOT the answer. We will not increase taxes.
• Floridians shouldn't have to send more of their MONEY to Tallahassee to pay for non-essential government programs or solely fund the retirement programs of government employees.
• This "jobs budget" will reduce the business tax from 5.5 percent to 3 percent, completely phasing it out by 2018. And we will cut property taxes by $1.4 billion over the two year term. Together we will cut taxes by over $4 billion over two years.
• State government buys a lot of things, enters into a lot of contracts, and negotiates a lot of leases. By taking a fresh look at these purchases and by renegotiating contracts and leases, along with prioritizing and eliminating wasteful spending we can save the taxpayers more than $660 million over two years.
• We will save money by streamlining state agencies and consolidating overlapping functions.
• This budget constrains the growth of entitlements, offering better ways to serve Floridians receiving Medicaid, the health care safety net for the poor.
• This budget also saves $500 million by innovating the management of juvenile offenders and the management of our state prisons.
• For the first time, this "jobs budget" provides a measurable goal for every single line item so that we can track and assess whether it is cost-effective and achieving its mission.
• We will reduce state spending by over $5 billion while returning $2 billion directly to the taxpayers.
• For the entire speech and a copy of his budget go to:  www.letsgettowork.net

I don’t know about you, but call me crazy – I like this budget! 

I like the fact Governor Scott is willing to do what it takes to ensure our state is financially sound and will not be asking the Federal government for a bailout.  Remember this:  The Federal government gets their money from us!  It’s a crazy cycle of insanity and the only way to stop it is to do the hard stuff and break the cycle.

I look at this budget as an “Intervention.”  Governor Scott had the courage to look us in the eye and tell us our state was sick with overspending and relying on the Federal government to sustain us.  He didn't just tell us we were sick, he had a way to fix it.  

Now, it’s up to the State Legislators to approve it and move on.  It will not be easy and the special interests will be in the back pockets of many of them.  They will fight to the end to keep their special interests happy.  If they don’t keep them happy, how will they win the next election?

The only special interests that need to be heard are We the People.  If we do not stand up and support this budget, special interests will run our state as they have our Federal government. 

Are you willing to help?  Do you really want to be a part of a competitive race against other states who are doing the same thing?  Or, do we want business as usual in Florida and watch as our unemployment figures shoot up?

If you are with us on this budget, get ready.  The work begins now.  Call your Representative (http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/) and let them know you support the Governor’s budget and expect them to do so too.  Tell your neighbors and friends to do the same.  Let’s make an all out effort to return jobs to Florida and it starts with supporting our Governor’s budget.

When you hear the Naysayers use their talking points, tell them this:

“It’s big-boy-pants time.  Do you have any?  We had to put ours on at home so you need to do it too.”

OR IF YOU HAVE A BETTER ANSWER, LEAVE IT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS BLOG. 

We know how to do this – so “let’s get to work!”