Scott Takes Office As New Governor Of Florida

In front of a crowd of about 3000 people, Governor-elect Rick Scott took the Oath of Office Tuesday.  The ceremony featured a performance by Lee Greenwood and a fly-over by the Florida National Guard.  Here are several quotes from Scott’s inaugural address:

-“Left uncorrected, high unemployment leads to a spiral down into hopelessness.  We will not let that happen in Florida.”

- “A lean and limited government has a rule to play in providing a safety net.”

-“Unless they are pruned, regulations grow like weeds…Today I will sign an Executive Order creating a State Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform; to review all proposed and existing regulations to determine their impact on job creation.”

-“To capture the world’s best jobs, we have to offer businesses the world’s best educated workforce, and we will do it.”

-“Government does the buying and the government chooses what services are available. The truth is, ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune.’ Now we’re going to call the tune, not the government.”

-“In every decade we’ve had to rebuild after horrific hurricanes.  After adversity Florida has always come back stronger. Our current problems are absolutely solvable, and our future is in our hands, we are resilient people.”

At one point in the speech, Scott was talking about eliminating policies and programs that don’t work, but he mistakenly said he’ll eliminate, “agencies that don’t work.”

Scott paused to laugh before telling the crowd, “That’ll be in the papers.  That wasn’t part of the script.”