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Posted on Thu, Jan 6, 2011 : 5:55 a.m.

Tale of two Ricks: Michigan's governor and Florida's share more than just a first name

By Rick Haglund

Call it a tale of two Ricks.

Rick Snyder and Rick Scott are the new governors of Michigan and Florida, respectively. They and the states they lead share a number of similarities.

Both men are wealthy venture capitalists who have never before held elective office and who campaigned as political outsiders.

Michigan and Florida are peninsula states struggling with sluggish economies and high unemployment. Michigan's jobless rate is 12.4 percent. Florida's not far behind at 12 percent.

Before I get too far along with these analogies, I should point out some major differences between Snyder and Scott.

Prior to getting into the venture capital game, Snyder was a mostly successful computer industry executive whose business ethics were never seriously questioned.

Scott, on the other hand, was forced out as CEO of hospital giant Columbia/HCA in 1997 in the midst of a massive health care fraud scandal. The company later pleaded guilty to overbilling state and federal health programs and paid $1.7 billion in fines.

Snyder and Scott differ in style as well. Snyder's inaugural was a low-key affair that did not include a formal ball.

Scott planned a lavish inaugural that featured a black-tie dinner for 2,100 people, including oysters Rockefeller and fried calamari served in mini-martini glasses, according to the New York Times.

But both men are Republicans who came into office promising big changes in the way their economically hard-hit states operate.

Their plans are nearly identical: cut taxes, trim government costs, ease regulations on business and institute performance-based budgeting.

Spend some time in Florida absorbing information about Scott and the state economy, as I did recently, and you might wonder if you've left home. (The palm trees are a giveaway, but there are plenty of vacant buildings in both states.)

Snyder and Scott's gubernatorial transition websites could have been written by the same person.

While Snyder has a 10-point plan to transform Michigan, Scott has a seven-point plan to create 700,000 jobs in seven years.

Snyder wants to replace Michigan's convoluted gross-receipts tax with a 6 percent corporate income tax. Scott proposes eliminating business income taxes altogether.

Upon taking office, Scott said he would immediately kick off an initiative called Florida 2.0, a sort of online suggestion box in which citizens can offer their ideas to reform state government.

Sound familiar? Snyder promotes Michigan 3.0, his term for the knowledge-based, post-industrial era.

While Snyder so far has spoken mostly in generalities about how he would reinvent Michigan, Scott has issued some specifics that might offer hints about where Snyder is heading.

He already has received recommendations from 18 advisory committees that would, among other things, implement a public works jobs program for the chronically unemployed and merge various police agencies.

Scott's committee on health care costs suggested that Medicaid recipients be given vouchers to buy their own health insurance.

On the surface, Scott appears to be far more politically conservative than Snyder. He has taken some hard-right positions, such as opposing the new federal health care law and supporting private-school vouchers.

Snyder has cast himself as a moderate, Bill Milliken-style Republican. But what we see may not be what we'll get. He could turn out to be a John Engler Republican in Milliken clothing (sans tie).

It will be fascinating to see how the tale of two Ricks plays out.

E-mail Rick Haglund at haglund.rick@gmail.com.