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Connecticut newspaper fires back at Rick Scott: 'Go back to Florida and stay there'

 
Yikes, Connecticut! This image shows the scene of a crash involving as many as 20 vehicles on Interstate 91 in Middletown, Conn., on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017. No serious injuries were reported.
Yikes, Connecticut! This image shows the scene of a crash involving as many as 20 vehicles on Interstate 91 in Middletown, Conn., on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017. No serious injuries were reported.
Published June 21, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott's job-poaching mission in Connecticut left a sour taste in the mouth of the state's largest newspaper.

Scott told a small crowd in Norfolk, Ct., Monday to "go ahead and give up ... capitulate, and come to Florida and make it easier on yourselves," rather than stay in Connecticut with its higher income taxes and lack of palm trees.

The Hartford Courant editorial board fired back in a feisty Wednesday editorial detailing Florida's flaws and telling Scott to shove it:

"Here's some advice for Florida Gov. Rick Scott: Go back to Florida and stay there."

With all due respect, Mr. Scott, no thanks. Promises of a better climate and pictures of palm trees are nice, but there's more to a state than its shrubbery.

Peel the lemon, and the truth is obvious: Florida can't compare to Connecticut.

The ed board responded to Scott's brag about Florida's lack of income tax and influx of Nutmeggers (the Internet said I could use that) with its own statistics showing all is not well in paradise.

Connecticut beats Florida in median income, percent of children attending preschool, percent of high schoolers graduating on time, percent with a college education (44.7 percent, compared to 36.7 percent in Florida), civic engagement, volunteerism and more, according to a recent study. Florida has more poverty, more violent crime and more disconnected youth, the study found.

Even the commute is worse in Florida (an average of 26.4 minutes, compared to 25.4 minutes in Connecticut). A recent Miami Herald editorial begged drivers to consider using turn signals.

...

And even though some 53,000 Connecticut residents moved to Florida between 2010 and 2014, it is by no means a one-way street. The census bureau estimates that 32,774 people moved to Connecticut from Florida during that same time. Many who do take up residence in Florida do so only long enough to qualify for the tax break.

Read the long burn.