Two Complete Monsters. Both Held Fundraisers for Rick Scott.

In April, Rick Scott attended a fundraiser by Mel Sembler. To put it mildly, he is a monster. His clinics are responsible for widespread massive abuse of literally 100s of young patients who were mentally, physically, and sexually abused. Two state investigations verified the abuse and that, along with several large civil suits, finally forced these horror clinics to close. Mel's wife, Betty, a co-founding member of those awful clinics, soon afterwards opened the Drug Free America Foundation. Under Rick Scott, this organization has flourished, winning contracts and getting funding from large pharmaceutical corporations. Rick Scott even gave Betty an award naming her one of the 23 greatest Floridians, alongside Ponce de Leon and Walt Disney.

As appalling as that was, Rick outdid himself today.

Rick Scott attended a fundraiser George Zoley, who also ran a Mississippi facility that engaged in widespread abuse. The abuse was so bad at the GEO Group, that a federal judge actually had it closed down because Zoley "allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate". That is not the kind of person I would think a politician would want to associate with, but Rick Scott isn't your ordinary person. Rick Scott wants to emulate Zoley's model for his prison privatization scheme. He even gave Zoley an award for his "bold and innovative cost-saving practices".

"When the state of Florida gives you an award, that award is basically sarcastic"--John Oliver

The guy who must feel really awful about all of this is the one guy Rick Scott canceled on the day of the fundraiser. A convicted felon was hosting a fundraiser but had an abrupt cancellation by Scott after MotherJones ran a story about it. Apparently, Rick Scott's campaign thought the optics of a convicted felon raising money for someone who should have gone to prison wouldn't look good. But seriously, how bad do you have to be to get a cancellation from Rick Scott?

After all, we are talking about a man so committed to fundraising he will reschedule an execution to get the bennies.

The one and only advantage to being Rick Scott is that you can pretty do what you want since everyone thinks you are scum anyway.