Rand Paul Anoints Himself Civil Rights Champion Of The World
Rand Paul's bending over backwards ahead of 2016 to try to appear as though he can expand the GOP's ever-shrinking base. He has even anointed himself something of a civil rights champion, saying yesterday that nobody in Congress is "doing more for minority rights" than he is. Unfortunately for Rand, facts still matter. And he has a long record that contradicts that preposterous claim.
Background:
Civil Rights Act
Paul Opposed The Part Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 That Banned Discrimination In Privately-Owned Businesses. According to Mother Jones, “In 2010, during an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal flagged by ThinkProgress, Paul made it very clear that he opposed a key part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination on the basis of race in ‘places of public accommodation,’ such as privately owned businesses that are open to the public.” [Mother Jones, 4/10/14]All Aboard The Rick Scott Scandal Train
Rick Scott's campaign has been plagued by an embarrassing number of scandals and constant reminders that he answers to special interests before Floridians. And it just keeps getting worse. This weekend, news of yet another special interest-driven scandal within the Scott administration broke, this one involving his current chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, an adviser on the Scott transition team at the time, played an instrumental role in Scott's decision to reject $2.4 billion in federal money for high-speed rail. Then, he accepted a job at Parallel Infrastructure, and turned around and lobbied Scott to move forward on a rail project with Parallel's sister company, All Aboard Florida, breaking Scott's self-imposed one-year lobbying ban for his transition team. Scott embraced the All Aboard Florida plan, which received millions in Florida taxpayer dollars, and Hollingsworth later rejoined the Scott administration as his chief of staff. It's a disturbing development but not a surprising one. Scott has already come under fire for approving plans from Florida Power & Light, a major campaign donor, to build obtrusive new nuclear plants. He flip-flopped on state funding for rowing facilities after receiving donations from developers. His Department of Economic Opportunity is taking heat for allegations that they fraudulently referred 19,000 Floridians to collection agencies and retaliated against the whistleblower for exposing the cover-up. And his staff has been marred by one scandal after the next. Rick Scott has a lot of questions to answer. But then again, answering questions isn't really his thing.
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