Political theater played out at Rick Scott Jobs Summit

Gov. Rick Scott’s jobs speech in Orlando on Thursday was a classic moment of political theater.

He was gathered with business leaders and the state’s tourism marketing machine, Visit Florida, at the Caribe Royale resort near Disney World for his annual Jobs Summit. He was set to make a keynote speech at 1 p.m.

Before that could happen, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran dropped a bomb in Tallahassee: the House budget proposal would kill Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida, which focus on job creation and business relocations.

Scott’s battle with lawmakers over incentive programs isn’t new, but Corcoran’s move on the same day as the Jobs Summit opened a notable new chapter. He addressed it head on in his speech.

“The latest is the legislature’s decision not to fund Visit Florida,” Scott said. “Anyone that believes we can cut economic incentives and keep growing jobs, they’re wrong, they’re flat wrong.”

Right after his speech, a panel of speakers tackled the controversy, condemning the effort to defund incentives. It includes representatives from different regions and companies in Florida.

They agreed that a sustainable pipeline of funding for incentives is needed to keep attracting companies to Florida. Last year, Florida didn’t fund it’s quick action closing fund, which was to offer money to large companies looking at Florida and other states for relocating.

“Other areas are offering that funding, and we can’t compete,” said Kelly Smallridge, president and CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County.

There are plenty of good arguments for limiting incentives, but they weren’t really voiced at the summit anywhere. The closest anyone came to criticizing incentives, there, was describing them as a necessary evil.

Strong words were also offered at the summit by Johnathan Grella, executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association.

He said some states have slashed their budgets over the years, and then spent years trying to restart their marketing programs.

Cutting all incentives and marketing, he said, “might as well be a Christmas present to California.”

“When you’re in an arms race, you can afford to unilaterally disarm,” Grella said. “Other states won’t be slashing their budgets, and likely won’t be upset that you’re slashing yours.”

Contact me with a business news tip at pbrinkmann@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5660; Twitter is @PaulBrinkmann

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