by Meteor Blades
Florida Gov. Rick Scott made two big mistakes when he rejected $2.4 federal stimulus money for building the Tampa-to-Orlando leg of high-speed rail system that would eventually link Tampa to Miami with bullet trains.
First, he rejected the money, which would not only pay for 90 percent of the nation's first truly HSR line but also generate thousands of jobs in a state where unemployment is above the national average. And, second, the newbie governor, serving in his first elected office, failed to give advance notice of his intentions to the powers-that-be in the state legislature, including fellow Republicans. Along with much of the rest of the political and business establishments in Florida, those legislators were appalled at the first decision and irked at the second.
Twenty-six of them — 11 Democrats and 15 Republicans — sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him not to divvy up the money and send it to other states while they tried to decide whether the governor had exceeded his constitutional authority.
For the past two weeks, cajoling and debating with the governor failed to get him to change his mind. So today, two of those legislators, Arthenia Joyner (D-Tampa) and Thad Altman (R-Melbourne)
sued Scott, arguing that Scott did overstep his bounds by rejecting money for a project that was approved in a special legislative session in December 2009.
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