St Augustine senator chairs Rick Scott campaign

St Augustine State Senator, John Thrasher, announced to Historic City News that he has been appointed chairman of the “Rick Scott for Florida” campaign committee; and, as of tomorrow, he will begin airing the first political advertisement featuring the governor talking about his humble roots and commitment to bringing job-generating new business to Florida.

Thrasher told local news reporters that a $2.2 million ad campaign starts tomorrow on television and online. The 30-second spot is a re-introduction of the candidate as a successful executive who knows what it’s like to cope with hard times.

“The governor’s jobs and education policies come directly from his life experience,” Senator Thrasher told reporters. “Rick’s story speaks to why no one works harder than he does to make Florida the best in the country for families and job creators.”

The Scott campaign and Florida Republican Party released a copy of the advertisement to Historic City News editor Michael Gold yesterday and Scott briefly discussed the ad with reporters in Tallahassee. You can watch the ad on YouTube.

“What the ad does is talk about my background, why I care so much about jobs,” said Scott. “Look, I grew up in public housing; I know what it’s like to have parents who lose their car. I know that the most important thing we can do is create an environment where every family can get a job.”

Scott ran for governor, his first political race, in 2010 on a “Let’s Get to Work” slogan. In his “State of the State” speech last week, he repeatedly said “Let’s keep working,” in laying out his $500 million tax-cut plan and other policies before the Legislature.

As a candidate in 2010, Scott promised the state would gain 700,000 jobs in seven years, under his policies of cutting taxes and regulation on business. For months, he has been touring the state, prior to the legislative session, to talk up job gains of more than half that number in his first three years as governor.

“We’ve had a great turnaround in our state but there are still people who need work, and I want to work at that every day,” Scott told reporters.

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Josh Karp said Scott’s advertisement was aimed at making him look like a hard-working, regular guy — rather than the wealthy hospital executive that spent more than $70 million of his own money getting elected three years ago. Karp accused Scott of rigging the rules in favor of the rich and powerful throughout his business career and term as governor.