Florida Gov. Rick Scott is stepping up his dispute with Republican lawmakers in a last ditch bid to safeguard Visit Florida’s budget for tourism marketing.
Scott has filmed a 30-second TV ad which will air across the state next week.
In it he calls out ‘Tallahassee politicians who don’t get it’ referring to opponents who are seeking to cut the state tourism marketing agency’s budget by 70% following a recent House vote.
"More than a million Florida families rely on jobs in our tourism industry and are threatened with this massive cut," Gov. Scott said at the time.
"They don’t understand how jobs are created," Scott says in the ad, arguing that a 2% drop in tourism would mean the loss of about 28,000 jobs.
The clampdown on Visit Florida was sparked by criticism over a $1 million payment to rapper Pitbull to promote Florida, which the agency refused to male public.
It eventually led to the resignation of then CEO Will Seccombe.
A Save Florida Tourism online campaign has been set up to fight the changes, asking supporters to share key facts about the benefits tourism brings to the state.
