Planes, Trains, and ...

Rick Scott's the gift that keeps on giving.

He can disagree all he wants, but he's still wrong:

Scott announced the sale of the state’s two airplanes — a 2000 King Air 350 and a 2003 Cessna Citation Bravo jet — on Feb. 11. The King Air sold for $1.77 million, the Cessna for $1.9 million; $3.67 million all together.

Most of the proceeds paid off $3.4 million the state still owed on the Cessna. The money flowed from the buyers to the bank, bypassing the state treasury. What was left over went to the state’s Aircraft Trust Fund.

Alexander doesn’t oppose the sale. Just how it happened, arguing it violates the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches.

It's a little complicated, but the gist is that the governor's getting into the habit of just doing whatever he wants without paying attention to what's legal.

Here's the latest on the train debacle:

Then came Friday’s shocker. At 2 p.m., U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood issued a statement saying he had given Florida one more week to work out the deal.

“This morning I met with Governor Rick Scott to discuss the high speed rail project that will create jobs and economic development for the entire state of Florida,” LaHood said. “He asked me for additional information about the state’s role in this project, the responsibilities of the Florida Department of Transportation, as well as how the state would be protected from liability....“He has committed to making a final decision by the end of next week. I feel we owe it to the people of Florida, who have been working to bring high speed rail to their state for the last 20 years, to go the extra mile.”

Scott said he did not ask for additional time.

It's another slightly convoluted saga, but basically, the FL legislature voted in favor of building a high-speed rail between Orlando and Tampa. FL gets $2.4 billion from the federal government for the project. Scott's rejecting the money and the train, meaning another state will get the billions. Scott's made up some ridiculous excuse about the state ultimately being on the hook financially, but advocates have already come up with a solution that would make sure that doesn't happen.

It also looks like Scott may get sued:

The additional time comes as good news to one Republican state senator, Thad Altman of Melbourne, who is considering taking legal action against the governor to save the project.

Altman said he believes Scott violated the Constitutional limits of his executive authority by killing the project after the Legislature had voted to move forward with it.

We'll see how this shakes out next week. Could be entertaining.