An economic development organization run by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has launched a new radio ad on the other side of the country, bashing California's minimum wage increase and urging businesses to move to Florida instead.
"It's time to leave California. ... This place is beautiful, but you just can't afford to live here," says a woman in the one-minute spot, which is airing in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership devoted to the Sunshine State's economic development, released the ad in advance of Scott's upcoming trip to California, where he will try to woo business leaders to his state. Scott is chairman of Enterprise Florida.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation this month that raises the state minimum wage from $10 to $15 an hour. The change will go into effect gradually, reaching the full $15 an hour by 2022. "This is about economic justice, it's about people, it's about creating a little, tiny balance in a system that every day becomes more unbalanced," Brown said.
But the woman in the Enterprise Florida ad claims that California's "minimum wage hike hurts the same people it was supposed to help."
"Ready to leave California?" the ad's narrator asks. "Go to Florida instead -- no state income tax, and Gov. Scott has cut regulations. Now Florida is adding one million jobs, not losing them."
Florida's minimum wage is $8.05 an hour.
Brown's office didn't seem particularly worried about Scott luring people away.
"As one of the millions of tourists flocking to the Golden State this time of year, we’d like to extend a warm welcome to the Governor," Brown press secretary Evan Westrup said. "We can understand why he's coming back -- there's lots to do and plenty to learn. In fact, since his last 2,000 mile cross-country jaunt, California has added twice as many jobs as Florida, while paying down debt, building a robust rainy-day fund and taking bold action on issues Governor Scott continues to ignore, like climate change and poverty."
Scott has also recently tried to attract businesses from Connecticut, even suggesting that Yale University move to his state. Yale declined, and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy's (D) office suggested that Scott was targeting Democratic states for political reasons.
"Has Governor Scott sent out a press release claiming to recruit companies from North Carolina after its Republican Governor just signed a discriminatory, anti-gay law," Malloy spokesman Devon Puglia said in a statement, "or is this more about partisan politics than anything else?"
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