Florida

Palm Beach County Woman Yells at Gov. Rick Scott at Gainesville Starbucks

A video racking up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube captured a Palm Beach County former city commissioner confronting Florida Gov. Rick Scott as he stopped for coffee Tuesday at a Starbucks in Gainesville.

According to NBC affiliate WPTV in West Palm Beach, the woman in the video is Cara Jennings, a resident who served two terms as a Lake Worth city commissioner between 2006 and 2010.

"You cut Medicaid, so I couldn't get Obamacare," Jennings is seen yelling at Scott. She then calls Scott a derogatory word.

"You don't care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here," she says. A woman who appears to be a Scott staffer attempts to diffuse the situation, but the woman dismisses the staffer, saying, "I'm not talking to you," and continuing with her verbal assault on the governor.

Scott, whose voice is somewhat muffled in the video, expresses disagreement with the woman and is heard referring to the more than 1 million jobs created by Florida's private sector since December 2010, figures his administration announced last December.

The woman did not appear to be impressed.

"A million jobs?" she asked. "Great, who here has a great job? Or is looking forward to finishing school, you really feel like you have a job coming up?"

"You should," Scott is heard saying as he and his staff prepare to exit the Starbucks.

Not finished, the woman continues to call after the governor as he and his team walk out of the front door.

"You stripped women of public access to health care," she yells. "Shame on you, Rick Scott! We depend on those services. Rich people like you don't know what to do when poor people like us need health services, and you cut them."

"Shame on you, Rick Scott," she continues. "You're an embarrassment to our state!"

WPTV reports that Jennings is a stay-at-home mother in Palm Beach County who works part-time, and that she just happened to be in Gainesville working that day.

After the video spread across social media, Jennings spoke out about the incident, "I proceeded to explain to him that that decision is damaging to low-income women, such as myself, who rely on public healthcare options."

When asked about the program during a visit to Boca Raton Wednesday, Gov. Scott said, "This is a federal program that President Obama wanted. If he wants to have a program, he should go fund that program. We have 300,000 job openings. As we all know, the best way to get health insurance, get to work."

Jennings was not apologetic about the Starbucks incident, "The bill that Gov. Scott passed, is very serious and is gonna have real impact on women's lives and I think it's worth getting upset."

The incident was uploaded by YouTube user "stephen bender" on Tuesday. Since then, it's racked up more than 800,000 views.

Melissa Sellers, consultant for Gov. Scott, released the following statement:

"People with radical views tend to not like civil debate. A self-proclaimed anarchist rudely yelled and cursed at the Governor. She also refused to Pledge Allegiance to the flag. It's a free country, but it's not at all surprising that an anarchist prefers shouting over conversation."

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