Progressive Puerto Rican group launches ad campaign against Florida Gov. Rick Scott

By Bianca Padró Ocasio

A progressive organization in Florida is launching a bilingual campaign targeting Puerto Ricans in Florida, attacking Gov. Rick Scott’s treatment of Puerto Ricans in the state and his denial of climate change.

The multimedia campaign launching on Wednesday is paid for by Alianza for Progress, a new group that advocates for Puerto Ricans in Florida. For the next two weeks, Alianza said it will air ads on Spanish television stations, on social media and in print publications, slamming Scott’s connections to oil companies and his refusal to treat Puerto Ricans in the state as climate refugees.

“Rick Scott says he’s our ally, but he refuses to acknowledge climate change destruction,” according to one of the organization’s Spanish-language television ads. “Rick Scott, you can’t fool us.”

The ads also call Scott an ally to President Donald Trump, tying him to the president’s position on climate change and highlighting Trump’s treatment of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and of child migrants on the border fleeing from Central America.

“Climate change can make hurricanes more destructive,” the group writes on a website created for the campaign, hurricanescott.com. “Yet Donald Trump and Rick Scott deny climate change is real. They side with big oil like Exxon and the giant power companies whose products contribute to climate change.”

A recent survey of 1,000 Puerto Ricans in the state found that 75 percent of them viewed Scott favorably, compared to 62 percent who had a positive opinion of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat and Scott’s opponent in one of this year’s highest-profile federal elections.

(From the Orlando Sentinel)