Rick Scott's Playboy Connection Gets Him In Trouble With Conservative Group

Florida's Christian Family Coalition, a Miami-based social conservative group, raised concern Thursday that newly elected Governor Rick Scott has financial ties to adult entertainment giant Playboy.

According to a recent report by Orlando's WESH, Scott has somewhere around two million shares of Latino social networking site QuePasa, nearly 15 percent of the company -- and worth approximately $6-8 million. QuePasa has a partnership with Playboy Mexico.

"We cannot have a governor in the state of Florida that invests in companies that sell pornography," Rev. Mark D. Boykin, a spokesman for the group, said recently. "We are asking that before he takes the oath of office, Gov.-elect Scott gets rid of his stocks from QuePasa Corporation. The governor of the state of Florida should not be benefiting or have an interest in pornography. It goes against our family values."

Scott complied with the request -- sort of.

"Mr. Scott will move his money into a blind trust and will remove himself from the decision-making when it comes to his investments," Scott spokesman Brian Burgess told WESH, though he admitted that he couldn't guarantee that the new fund wouldn't continue to invest in QuePasa or Playboy, for that matter.

Politifact reports on the QuePasa-Playboy connection:

Quepasa and Playboy began partnering in 2009 to find and identify "Cyber Chicas" for the magazine's Mexico edition. Quepasa created an online community that features models wanting to be included in Playboy. Users of the website can go to the Playboy community to vote for and rank the women. Three finalists are forwarded each month to Playboy, which selects a winner. A 24-year-old Brazilian, Fernanda Schonardie, was selected as the first "Cyber Chica" and was featured in a full-page layout in the March 2009 edition of Playboy México.

Comments

[draconius]

03:31 PM on 12/20/2010

Honestly, I can't stand the guy, loathe everything he stands for and ran to the polls to try to defeat this rapacious robber baron in posing meek sheep's clothing as some weird new type of populist...
I fell into almost a black despair when he somehow won the election. But this story leads me to think that maybe he secretly is a slightly more fun person than we thought!

[cdecisneros]

06:33 AM on 11/22/2010

Do you see where he hired a New York search firm? What there are no Florida search firms? Is this bring jobs to Florida? Oh I cannot wait for this administration get going.

[DARK STAR]

11:58 PM on 11/21/2010

Hey, I have no idea how this guy got into office, I voted against him and thought he was, once again, the worst of two bad choices.

So he gets elected and answers this conservative clown group by putting money in a blind trust as though that matters.

[Sandfan]

10:53 PM on 11/21/2010

I am so disappointed that my fellow electorate in Florida elected a candidate who was either criminally culpable or negligent to office. Where was Florida's Christian Family Coalition in the run-up to the election?

[bellestarr21445]

07:04 PM on 11/21/2010

Breasts bad, stealing good.

[bluguy8]

05:08 PM on 11/21/2010

is that him on the cover ?

[Shawnie1673]

04:25 PM on 11/21/2010

Him being a crook is more offensive than Playboy stock.

[kareemachan]

04:15 PM on 11/21/2010

You are kidding me. They didn't know about this *before* the election?.... Their research skills seem to be rather, um, lacking.

[SPacific]

04:03 PM on 11/21/2010

All conservatives will be forgiven by the religious right......After all, they're republicans........

[acacia72]

03:01 PM on 11/21/2010

This guy makes a good argument for gov't taking over because the electorate doesn't know what's good for them. Wait a minute... Oh, my head hurts!

[RockyMissouri]

02:17 PM on 11/21/2010

Against famiy values??????? What about denying healthcare coverage to millions of Americans- is THAT a family value..????

[rynomannnnnn]

03:16 PM on 11/21/2010

and retirement, and vacations, and unemployment, and a house, and a car, and....

[whirlybird]

09:21 AM on 11/22/2010

stoopid

[Pamela Lake]

03:24 PM on 11/22/2010

No. Not according to Rick Scott, The Christian Family Coalition, the Tea Party or the Republicans. The only "family values" they adhere to is free market capitalism.

[mw21]

02:07 PM on 11/21/2010

How stupid is this? Christian Conservatives will be okay if he sells his shares in a porn related business. Yup. Selling those shares will prove that he isn't interested in the porn world. Yup selling those shares will show that he is "born again?" How stupid (read hypocritical) are these people? Hey, they deserve what they vote for I guess. Too bad for everyone else.

[bellestarr21445]

07:07 PM on 11/21/2010

Yeah, I'm a Floridian and I am totally disgusted by this man. Besides looking like a death head, he is a thief and a fraud. As if owning stocks in a porn company is his only fault. Dayuum bunch of fools. Doubt if they will learn anything from this - way too dense.

[TRex86]

01:13 PM on 11/21/2010

I don't care about the Playboy connection. BFD. I do care that this guy is a big time crook. What happened to the Florida voters' brains?

[bluguy8]

05:09 PM on 11/21/2010

the sun has dried them up

[RockyMissouri]

05:16 PM on 11/21/2010

They never had them in the first place..!

[rifraf1001]

01:01 PM on 11/21/2010

This is what they are worried over? Not the massive Medicare fraud he engaged in before becoming governor? Shaking head.

[RockyMissouri]

08:34 PM on 11/21/2010

Nope....they're just interested in appearances, not actual integrity or character..

[ThomasPaineWeNeedYou]

12:26 PM on 11/21/2010

Great Scott what a great start. I am sure it will only get better for the citizens of Florida that voted for this criminal. For those who didn't get that recall petition going soon before it is too late.