This particular ruling by PolitiFact Florida (as written by Katie Sanders) concerns the refusal of Federal money by Florida’s new Governor Rick Scott for high speed rail. Corrine Brown, a Democratic representative from Jacksonville, stated that as a result Florida would lose “60,000-plus jobs for Floridians” for which PolitiFact gave her a “False.” But was “60,000-plus jobs” estimate by Brown really so false?
According to Brown’s congressional speech on YouTube, she said specifically that the Florida High Speed Rail program “will put over 60,000 Floridians to work.” So, did Brown preface these jobs by saying:
• “permanently?”
• “permanently?”
• “full time” or “part time”?
• “occurring immediately or over time?”
And she does not use 60,000 in issued statements, as provided by PolitiFact source links: (emphasis added)
Certainly, to offset Florida’s unemployment rate, which is stuck at 12%, investment in our state’s infrastructure system is essential. The reasoning is simple: investment in transportation and infrastructure creates jobs, and, according to the Department of Transportation, for every $1 billion invested in infrastructure projects, over 42,000 well paying jobs are created.
And according to Florida DOT and the Florida High Speed Rail Association, the construction of what was projected to be merely the first high speed rail line, from Tampa-Orlando, was estimated to produce nearly 75,000 construction jobs, as well as numerous positions to operate and maintain the trains once the system was in place.
