Two years ago, Gov. Rick Scott made a priority of overhauling the state’s unemployment system, reducing the number of weeks benefits were available and tightening eligibility rules. He even even changed the name of the payments from unemployment insurance to “re-employment assistance.”
The policy moves suggest the program is increasingly perceived by Scott and other state leaders as an aid program, not an insurance plan for laid-off workers (which, in most cases, is closer to the truth).
A while back, I tried to pin down the Governor’s Office on that issue, asking if Scott saw the payments as public assistance or earned benefits. A spokesman responded with an email that entirely ignored the premise of the question.
It said, “Gov. Scott understands that reemployment assistance is an important program for those who qualify.”
So this week, when the governor was at the Sentinel for an editorial board meeting, I sat in and took another shot at the question. Maybe, I thought, the governor would be more responsive in person than his flak was in an email.
At this point, you should feel free to tousle my hair and say, “Awwww, isn’t it cute when he’s being clueless?”
Because despite two very explicit attempts, the governor didn’t come within a three-iron of answering the question.
First, he said, “I don’t know the right definition,” — that is, earned benefit vs. public assistance — then he said, “I never thought about it that way.”
Really? You never considered the fundamental nature of the payments when you pushed through an overhaul of the state’s unemployment system? All due respect, but that strikes me as a little odd.
The governor was here for about an hour and much of the interview went this way.
The ed board did its best to extract actual news from the governor, and he worked mightily to stay on message and say nothing that could get him in trouble.
Ultimately, his rhetorical sleeper hold was inescapable, and the ed board tapped out with a few minutes still left on the interview clock. Clearly, we need to train much harder.
