Governor Scott vetos "Turkeys"

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On Thursday at the Villages to sign the 2012 budget, Governor Rick Scott used the line item veto to eliminate 87% of the “Turkeys” identified by Florida TaxWatch. The “Turkey List” annually identifies those dubious projects that are slipped into bills under cover of darkness – sometimes in confernce committees, sometimes by the leadership after the conference delivers their bill. Used by the more influential legislators to “bring home the bacon” to their districts, these “Turkeys” are the Florida equivalent of earmarks in the US Congress – those questionable appropriations that the Republicans in Washington have sworn to eliminate.

To his credit, our local Representative Pat Rooney did not participate, and when asked about the practice at an RCPB lunch this week he indicated he thought their use was questionable, even if some projects did benefit their communities.

See the whole story in “Scott Line-Item Vetoes Parallel TaxWatch ‘Turkeys'” in the Sunshine State News.