Gloves come off in second debate between gov candidates Rick Scott and Bill McCollum

TAMPA — If anyone expected things to cool off in the last pre-election crush, Thursday night left them disappointed.

Rick Scott and Bill McCollum, the two leading candidates in the Republican race for governor, came bouncing off the ropes Thursday night in a feisty debate held in a Tampa television studio.

The head-to-head rehashed many of the issues spotlighted in the ubiquitous campaign ads blanketing the state, mostly from Scott’s stratospheric spending. However, the difference Thursday was the candidates were sitting directly across from one another, allowing them to openly challenge each other, and occasionally get deadlocked in back-and-forths that resembled more schoolyard fight than sit-down debate.

Perhaps the most poignant example came when Fox 13, the television news station sponsoring the debate, aired questions from viewers with the same message: Why all of the negative ads?

Both McCollum and Scott had a hard time keeping their answers positive on that count.

“It’s the fact that you did oversee the greatest fraud in American history,” said McCollum, when justifying the negative bent of his ads. “You were responsible. There was nobody else. You’ve said you will take responsibility. You’ve either — you were either incompetent while running your company, or you were aware of it.”

It was a narrative McCollum retreated to time and again during the debate, calling upon Scott’s time as CEO of mega-hospital chain Columbia/HCA, when the company was fined a record $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. Scott was never questioned in connection with the fraud charges and resigned abruptly from the company when the allegations came to light.

The debate’s tone was set with the first question of the night from moderator and Fox 13 anchor John Wilson, when he gave both candidates an opportunity to respond to a charge or allegation made by his opponent.

Scott singled out McCollum’s allegations of fraud, saying they are not based in fact. McCollum picked out Scott’s questions regarding McCollum’s stance on the Arizona immigration law. However, McCollum spent a small portion of his allotted 90-second response addressing his stance on the Arizona immigration law, and the remainder hammering home the fraud uncovered at Scott’s company in the 1990s.

McCollum says he was against provisions in the first version of the Arizona immigration law because they could have encouraged racial profiling. He says he changed his stance when the questionable portions of the law were amended, and now says the law would be appropriate for Florida.

If McCollum was hung up on Scott’s record at HCA, Scott often retreated back to his economic plan, which he promises will create 700,000 jobs in seven years, largely through property tax cuts, elimination of the corporate tax and cuts to the state prison system. He has consistently tried to shape his image as a successful businessman with experience creating jobs, and McCollum as a man with no experience nurturing the private sector.

Perhaps one of the most heated exchanges came when the issue of campaign spending surfaced.

Scott said he needs to spend a portion of his own $218 million fortune — by McCollum’s estimation, Scott has now spent $40 million — to get his name out. He also chided McCollum for taking $1.7 million in taxpayer money, a small chunk of the public financing McCollum hoped to cash in on when Scott hit spending limits.

A federal court has since struck down Florida’s law, which would have capped campaign spending at $24.9 million and offered public financing to the opponents of a candidate who exceeds the cap.

McCollum responded by accusing Scott of trying to buy the governor’s office with ill-gotten gains earned through fraudulent business practices.

“As you can see, my opponent is desperate,” Scott said. “And he must not like anybody who’s been in business, so I can’t imagine how he’s going to run as a Republican.”

When asked by Wilson about pro-McCollum ads run by political action group the Alliance for America’s Future, McCollum said he had no knowledge of the organization’s fundraising or advertising activities.

“I don’t believe that one iota,” Scott countered.

McCollum came back by fending off an attack from earlier in the debate, when Scott accused him of voting for tax increases 42 times as a U.S. congressman in the 1980s. McCollum said he voted for just one tax increase in Congress, as part of the Reagan tax plan, a vote he says he regrets.

“Of course, I voted for fee increases,” McCollum said.

Scott was quick to fire back: “Oh, of course that’s OK.” Scott spent much of the debate underlining McCollum’s voting record on fee increases, consistently referring to them as tax increases.

When McCollum appeared for a post-debate press conference, he called the debate a “boxing match.” He said he regretted the negative tone, but argued that Scott threw the first punch, leaving him to fight back.

He said he would have liked to spend more time discussing health care, water policy and education. McCollum said he would have signed the controversial Senate Bill 6, which hinged on merit pay for teachers and elimination of tenure, both of which McCollum said he stands behind.

For the second debate in a row, after Tuesday’s Univision debate in Miami, Scott was a no-show after the debate.

Campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said Scott had no intention of attending the post-debate spin session if he won the debate.

“Bill McCollum talked about the same things he’s been talking about for the entire campaign,” Baker said, referring to the fraud allegations. “(Scott has) been talking about jobs, jobs, jobs. I think he well articulated what he’s going to do.”

In Scott’s place, the campaign sent out state representatives Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven, and Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City as well as state Sen. Paula Dockery, a one-time candidate in the governor’s race.

The three defended Scott’s record.

“I thought we were going to view a gubernatorial debate tonight, I didn’t realize this was going to be a debate on HCA,” Dockery said. “I think that the clear message from voters is we want jobs, and we want this economy to turn around, and here’s a man who knows how to create jobs. And that message got lost in his opponent harping and harping.”

Connect with reporter Leslie Williams Hale at naplesnews.com/staff/leslie_hale

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