Rick Scott has Democrats kicked out of
budget signing. Of course, it was at his one and only hangout, The Villages.
THE VILLAGES — Each detail of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's first budget signing was painstakingly considered.
From the location — a conservative retirement community in Central Florida — to the mini-red "veto" Sharpie pens Scott handed out as keepsakes.
From the music that would announce Scott's arrival to the stage, to, it turns out, who could be there.
At the urging of Scott officials, Sumter County sheriff's deputies escorted a group of more than a dozen Democrats — mainly retirees who live in The Villages — from Thursday's event at the town square.
The reason?
The $69 billion state budget signing ceremony was a "private event."
Staffers and Republican operatives searched the crowd of about 200 looking for people holding anti-Scott signs. They were noted and asked to leave. Those with pro-Scott signs were allowed to stay.
The Republican Party of Florida rented the town square for the ceremony, which gave party officials the right to say who stays and who goes, deputies said.
"We came here to say what we support," said Lawrence Shipley, 68, one of the Democrats removed from the event. Shipley is president of The Villages Democratic Club, which he says has about 275 members.
"We support the police," he said. "We support public education."
Shipley said the group did not intend to heckle or harass Scott, but it did not matter. Deputies moved them across the street.
"Signs that support the governor are allowed to stay, but signs that don't are told to leave?" asked Bud Webber, 73, of Orlando, who came to watch the budget signing but was not with the protesters. "Come on. That's ridiculous."
Republican Party of Florida chairman David Bitner defended the decision, saying the event was meant to celebrate the 2011-12 state budget.
"The people who protested against this budget are the people whose ox got gored," Bitner said.
Typically, state budgets have been signed in Tallahassee at a low-key ceremony with little pomp. Not this year.
Representatives from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, Bitner and Republican legislators Alan Hays of Umatilla and Marlene O'Toole of nearby Lady Lake warmed up the crowd before Scott bounced onto the stage after 1 p.m.
He was surrounded by red, white and blue bunting as Elvis Presley's A Little Less Conversation blared from the speakers.
