A quarterly newsletter for Florida's Police Benevolent Association contained a surprise for Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and his staff: a column labeling them "shitheads."
Scott's office had been ignoring requests from the local union to contribute a guest article to their newsletter. In response, the editors encouraged their readers to contact the governor and noted that they should look to a column in the newsletter by Executive Director Matt Puckett.
"If you would like to know what we really think of the governor and the staff member who refuses our requests, go back to page four and write down the first letter of each paragraph," the editors wrote. The letters from Puckett's column spell out "shitheads."
Puckett expressed little remorse over the hidden message.
"The governor’s office and the governor, since he ran for that office has closed the door to the PBA," he told the Bradenton Herald. "We’ve reached out to him or his staff and we get no response. His policies have a very important effect on our membership and we get a closed door. Quite frankly, I’m tired of it."
"We want people to look at it and read it," Puckett continued. "The fact that it got some people’s attention that’s good and if it offended some people so be it."
This isn't the first time the PBA has called out Florida's Republican Party. Last year they held a large voter registration drive aimed at dissuading union members -- police officers, firefighters and teachers -- from voting Republican.
"We've been supporting Republican governors for the past 20 years," PBA President Patrick Hanrahan complained to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times last year.
His feelings haven't changed. "We're not behind sending more Republicans to Tallahassee," he told the paper this month.
Scott has come under fire recently for pushing to purge thousands of non-U.S. citizens from Florida's voter lists. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against Florida, calling on it halt the ongoing purge because it is within 90 days of a federal election.
The Justice Department said the list of voters Scott wants to purge has "critical imperfections, which lead to errors that harm and confuse voters."