NYT editorial: Scott's rejection of rail funds 'thoughtless'

The New York Times, in a scathing editorial, said Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) was one of a crop of Republican governors "so rigidly opposed to the Obama administration that they are willing to harm their states to score points." 

The editorial was referring to Scott's decision to reject $2.4 billion in rail money — funds that were given to other states on Monday, including New York.

Scott has said he is protecting his state's taxpayers, arguing that the train that would have been built with those funds was a "federal boondoggle." But The Times argued he deprived his state of much-needed infrastructure.

"After Gov. Rick Scott of Florida thoughtlessly rejected $2.4 billion in federal aid for a high-speed rail line, he claimed last month that he was doing a huge favor for the national Treasury, which he expected would give away the money in tax cuts," the paper's editorial board wrote Tuesday. "That was nonsense, of course; Mr. Scott was really doing a favor for train passengers in the Northeast, Midwest and California, which were given $2 billion of his money on Monday for better service.

"Florida voters might want to think about that decision as they sit in traffic jams, burning up $4-a-gallon gasoline," the editorial continued. "In fact, some of them clearly have thought about it because Mr. Scott now has some of the worst approval ratings of a Florida official in the last decade."

Along with Scott, the liberal-leaning editorial board also criticized Govs. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) and John Kasich (R-Ohio), who also turned away federal rail funds, are "Refusenik Republicans" who "glorify shopworn principles like smaller government and states' rights."

Scott has not yet commented on the money he rejected being redirected to other states. But when it was announced that Congress was cutting $1.5 billion in high-speed rail money in its deal to avert a government shutdown, Scott took credit for being prescient.

"This weekend as Washington, D.C., insiders struggled to find billions to prevent a government shutdown, they found $1.5 billion worth of taxpayer money exactly where Governor Rick Scott left it:  in the boondoggle high speed rail proposal," his office said in a statement in early April.

Several supporters of rail projects in other states sarcastically thanked Scott for the money that was awarded to their states Monday.