Democratic State Rep. Scott Randolph is no stranger to expressing his grievances against Gov. Rick Scott and his "get-to-work days."
First he complained about the governor "pretending to be a working Floridian" at the Tampa doughnut shop at the beginning of the month, and now he's moved on to Scott's playing lunch lady at an Orlando elementary school today.
"Gov. Rick Scott's visit to Audubon Park Elementary School in Orlando is like a grave robber coming back to dance on the grave," Randolph says.
In the eighth month of his governorship, Scott's visit marks the second time he's stepped foot inside an actual public school, although he's made appearances at charter schools several times.
Governor Scott has chosen to do so not to assess the plight of our public schools, but as a bus stop on his tour around the state to improve his image.
After originally proposing to cut $3.3 billion from public education; after refusing to fund public school construction while funding $55 million for the construction of private charter schools; after championing private charter schools despite more and more reports about the lack of accountability and transparency; after leading rallies to hand our public tax dollars over to for-profit corporate schools, Rick Scott has the audacity to serve lunch to the school children he stole from in a publicity stunt to improve his image.
Ouch.
The governor helped serve food to the kids and reportedly "taste-tested" a few food items they're planning on putting in kids' lunches.
As you could imagine, the governor's explanation of today's events were a bit different from Randolph's:
Mirroring the jobs he performed as a young man, Governor Scott worked with Audubon Park's cafeteria crew just like he did as a middle school student when he worked in his school's kitchen during lunch in exchange for eating the hot meal he helped prepare and serve to fellow students...
"Ensuring our students get the nutrition they need to learn and achieve in the classroom is critically important," said Governor Scott. "I was fortunate to have the opportunity to earn nutritious meals by working in the cafeteria when my family was struggling, and I am honored to be here today doing this important work alongside Marsha Herrin and her great team. I am committed to making sure every student has a chance for a great education and every parent has the chance to get a job and feed their family."
Contrary to Randolph's advice, Scott did not take the opportunity after serving lunch to "spend some time reading to public school kids the part of the state budget where he cut $1.3 billion from their future."
Last time around, when the governor was playing doughnut salesman, Randolph put out a statement asking the store's employees to ask Scott the following questions:
1. Why did you and the Florida Chamber of Commerce want to lower my minimum wage?
2. Why are you and Pam Bondi trying to stop me from getting affordable health care?
3. Why did you cut my child's education instead of making big corporations pay their fair share?
4. Why did you make it harder for my spouse to get unemployment when he/she got laid off from work?
5. Why did you make it harder for me to vote during a busy workweek with long hours?
6. Why did you make it hard for Floridians to get jobs by rejecting billions for high-speed rail?
The governor's spokesman, Lane Wright, then submitted a "response" to the questions, which didn't actually answer several of the questions posed.
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