“We Could Do Business With One of Those Southern States Where the Governor is a Crook!”

Flordia governor and Medicare fraudster Rick Scott brings some of that sweet, sweet tea party freedom:

Scott and Florida Republicans are currently trying to enact a sweeping Medicaid reform bill that would give HMOs and other private health care companies unprecedented control over the government health care program for the poor. Among the companies that stand to benefit from the bill is Solantic, a chain of urgent-care clinics aimed at providing emergency services to walk-in customers. The Florida governor founded Solantic in 2001, only a few years after he resigned as the CEO of hospital giant Columbia/HCA amid a massive Medicare fraud scandal. In January, according to the Palm Beach Post, he transferred his $62 million stake in Solantic to his wife, Ann Scott, a homemaker involved in various charitable organizations.

[…]

In the meantime, Scott has moved forward on another front that could also bring new business to Solantic. On Tuesday, he signed an executive order requiring random drug testing of many state employees and applicants for state jobs. He’s also urged state legislators to pass a similar bill that would require drug testing of poor Floridians applying for welfare.

Among the services that Solantic offers: drug testing.

I’m so old I remember people asserting with a straight face that Tea Party conservatism had something to do with “small government.” I guess we have to turn things over to noted Trotskyite Antonin Scalia:

In my view, the [drug-testing programs similar to Scott’s] are a kind of immolation of privacy and human dignity in symbolic opposition to drug use.