Middle class Floridians rally against extreme agenda of Rick Scott and Republican-led legislature

CONTACT: Damien Filer
850-212-1858
Damien@ProgressFlorida.org

TALLAHASSEE - Thousands of Floridians rallied across the state today in opposition to the extremist anti-middle class agenda of Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led legislature. The rallies took place in 19 cities and coincided with the beginning of the 2012 legislative session in Tallahassee. Concerned Floridians demanded that policymakers focus on protecting and expanding Florida's middle class rather than continuing to enact harmful, job-killing budget cuts, while refusing to demand that corporations and the wealthiest among us pay their fair share.

"We will continue to fight Rick Scott and his extremist allies in the state legislature until we see an end to their relentless, corporate campaign cash motivated attacks on Florida's middle-class," said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida.

Although Gov. Scott struck a cooperative tone in his State of the State speech, many Floridians expressed concern about his recently proposed budget. Scott wants a $1 billion increase to education, but only in exchange for sharp cuts to health and human service programs. Moreover, the $1 billion dollar increase is less than he and the Republican legislature cut from education last year.

"Pink Slip Rick is funding education at the expense of sick people and senior citizens while letting wealthy CEO's and corporations get away without paying their fair share," said Susannah Randolph, executive director of Florida Watch Action.

Florida's tax structure already forces middle class families to pay a higher tax rate than the rich and corporations.  More unnecessary tax giveaways to corporations who barely pay any taxes in Florida won't help anyone except the very wealthy.

"Rick Scott and extreme partisan Republicans in the legislature have demonstrated that they care more about big companies and wealthy CEOs than they do about you and me," added Randolph. "Awake The State represents working Floridians and middle class families who play by the rules but continue to face higher costs of living, lower wages, and reduced benefits."

As part of the protest, groups are handing out a flyer highlighting a "Dirty Thirty" list of legislators who voted 100% with Gov. Rick Scott's job-killing, anti-middle class agenda along with a "Dirty Dozen" list of businesses that financially supported Rick Scott's 2010 campaign. The flyers will be distributed in each of the 19 cities hosting rallies across the state. The list of legislators can be found at www.pinksliprick.com/dirtythirty.

The Awake The State movement began on March 8, 2011. Thousands of Floridians attended local Awake The State rallies from Pensacola to Key West and delivered a clear message to Florida's political leaders: we can't afford more budget cuts for the middle class to pay for billions in breaks for giant corporations. And still, Gov. Rick Scott and his extremist allies in the legislature cut more than one billion dollars from our already cash-strapped schools and picked the pockets of our nurses, police and firefighters to further pad the pockets of corporate CEOs.

"Floridians are fed up with Tallahassee politicians balancing the budget on the backs of hard-working working families to fund giant giveaways for their big business buddies," said Ferrulo. "We demand policymakers work to create a fair economy where wealthy corporations don't get special treatment at the expense of protecting and expanding Florida's middle class."

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www.AwakeTheState.com