Report: Fla. Gov. Rick Scott considered accepting Obama administration rail money

{mosads}” ‘You want this project done,’ ” the magazine reported Scott said, ” ‘I can tell you what I’m interested in. If you want to make it interesting to me, make it interesting to me.’ Scott says that since [Transportation Secretary Ray] LaHood refused to negotiate, his original misgivings carried the day.”

Scott was one of three Republican governors elected in the Tea Party wave elections of 2010 to reject money from the Obama administration, which included $8 billion in the 2009 economic stimulus package for the president’s vision of a nationwide network of high-speed rails.

Since the rejection, Scott has seized on reports about a similar rail proposal in California, which has reportedly had its projected cost triple.

“The news today out of California that high-speed rail cost estimates have now tripled to the $100 billion range reinforces that Florida made the right decision earlier this year to protect taxpayers from just this sort of boondoggle,” he said in a statement when reports surfaced that the California railway would cost $98 billion instead of $33 billion.

“As I said at the time, high-speed rail would be far too costly to taxpayers and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits.”

The Department of Transportation redirected the money that was rejected by Florida to 15 other states, including California.