This must be the year of challenging the status quo. First there was the surge — the nobody-predicted-it and damn-sure-nobody-thought-it-would-last — surge of Donald Trump. Then the world gave us the joy of watching a self-described socialist give Hillary, the used-to-be presumptive nominee of her party, a very real run for her money.
It’s the year of taking the status quo and slamming it into the ground.
And so maybe that’s why a State Senate candidate from Broward (uber-lawyer Gary Farmer) is all but trying to take out Rick Scott.
I’d say that’s a challenge to the status quo.
So Farmer is making the case that the Governor has teamed up with Tenet Healthcare to (he doesn’t use these words, but you get the picture) cause the death of children. And, he says the Governor did so as the result of political donations made by Tenet to the Governor’s soft money fund.
His logic goes something like this:
- Tenet repeatedly fails to follow state cardiology standards at one of their hospitals.
- As a result, the hospital has an excess number of children deaths.
- Tenet forks over lots of cash.
- Scott’s people remove those standards.
- More kids will die.
He concludes: “Rick Scott: Contributions before Children’s Lives” (That is an actual quote.)
Farmer backs all this up with a few reports and even an on-point CNN investigation.
So if I were advising a candidate running in a Democratic primary in the heart of D Country — Broward County — I’d recommend to let voters know he thinks the sitting GOP governor is a bad guy … bad for public policy, bad for education, bad for the environment … blah blah blah … and that if elected, he would be heading to Tallahassee to stop the big bad GOP Governor.
Would I ever counsel a candidate to say that the Governor contributed to the death of actual children?
I don’t know. I just don’t.
But I do know this … it’s a gutsy move.
And if he can make this case, he sure could make the Governor’s life a touch more difficult.
Let’s keep in mind that Farmer is no bright-eyed bushy-tailed young ambitious lawyer with dreams of taking down a large target. He’s taken down more than his fair share of large targets before (over a billion dollars from Eli Lilly kind of stands out as a rather large takedown) so this sure ain’t his first rodeo.
I don’t know what Gary Farmer is thinking on this one, but I’m guessing this will require a rather large bucket of popcorn and an extra box of Whoppers.
