In an insanely petty use of resources, Florida Governor Rick Scott’s PAC has released an ad attacking the lady who yelled at him in a Starbucks. The woman, Cara Jennings, isn’t a current elected official or a public figure. She was just pissed at Rick Scott and he was right there.
The ad was released by Scott’s official political action committee, Let’s Get to Work, which backs him and funded his reelection. The the ad is titled—really—“Latte Liberal Gets an Earful.” (For accuracy’s sake, of course, let’s be clear about the fact that it was Scott who got an earful—beating a retreat so hasty he didn’t even get any coffee, while Jennings scolded him like a Voldemort-looking, dick-resembling disobedient puppy.)
A voiceover calls Jennings “terribly rude,” adding, “That woman clearly has a problem. Turns out she’s a former government official who refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and calls herself an anarchist.” Don’t know about you, but I’m liking Cara better all the time!
Jennings, a former Lake Worth city commissioner who doesn’t currently hold elected office, memorably called Scott an asshole, which he indisputably is, and asked, “A million jobs? Great, who here has a great job?”
The ads’ voiceover answers: “Well, almost everybody—except those that are sitting around coffee shops, demanding public assistance, surfing the Internet, and cursing at customers who come in.”
Using PAC money to attack a non-public figure is low and sleazy, and would be even if the ad weren’t so pitifully bad. Jennings released a remarkably restrained statement to the the Sun-Sentinel:
Jennings said she was at the coffee shop working on a freelance job for the Service Employees International Union. She said she doesn’t receive public assistance right now, but even if she did, it shouldn’t matter.
“Gov. Scott and his PAC are bullies,” she said. “Instead of addressing the issues I brought up he’s using the power of his PAC to try to intimidate someone who spoke out against his policies.”
Jennings also invited Scott to meet her at the coffee shop of his choosing on April 20, the Sentinel adds, to discuss “Planned Parenthood, voting disenfranchisement, increasing the minimum wage, climate change and deaths in Florida’s prison system.” Sounds like the date is probably off, Cara, but there are likely millions of people in Florida alone who are more deserving of having a cup with.