Rick Scott hated illegal immigrants when he was sucking up to the Tea Party base in 2010.
Suddenly, with Crist STILL leading Scott by 10 points in the polls, the "tea partier" is getting very soft on illegals.
And students who are in the USA LEGALLY will have to pay MORE for classes than those sneaking across the border. UNREAL.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — When Rick Scott made his maverick push for Florida governor four years ago, the Republican took a hard line against illegal immigration that he used to assail his main GOP rival for the job. But with a likely tight re-election campaign looming, the incumbent is making a concentrated push to win over Hispanic voters.
Scott's latest bid to redo his image came Monday when Florida joined more than three dozen other states in the nation that offer in-state tuition rates to high school students living in the country illegally.
He has framed his support as an effort to keep the cost of college affordable for aspiring students. The tuition rate paid by those in the country illegally is about four times higher than it is for other residents. The bill also restricts the ability of most state universities to charge tuition higher than the rate set by the state Legislature.
"Signing this historic legislation today will keep tuition low, and allow all students who grew up in Florida to have the same access to affordable higher education," Scott said in a statement.
But the new law also gives Scott a way to try to win over Hispanic voters.
Democrats, who have backed the push for in-state tuition for several years only to watch it die under previous Republican administrations, have sharply criticized Scott's about-face as a "deathbed conversion." Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, called Scott's decision to back the bill a "remarkable turn-around."
And Scott's decision to embrace the in-state tuition law comes at the same time his re-election campaign is actively targeting Hispanic votes. It launched a Spanish radio ad this week, which followed a Spanish-language ad that was aired on television in late April. The ads came earlier than those from past candidates.
