MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Immigration

Interview

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Joining me tonight, Charlie Crist. Democratic candidate for governor in Florida. Charlie, good to have you with us tonight, I appreciate it. I`m told by friends in Florida that these ads are absolutely non-stop against you.

CHARLIE CRIST, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR, FLORIDA: They are.

SCHULTZ: What is the issue? Is Rick Scott running a dirty campaign against you?

CRIST: I don`t think there`s any question about it. I mean, you know, he`s running scared and I can understand why. He`s one of the least popular governors in the country and he`s had policies that have hurt our people, hurt our children in school, hurt our teachers in the class room.

You know, when you`re not supporting education, when you`re not supporting the environment, when you`re supporting fat cat friends and not helping the middle class to have a better opportunity for a brighter future of your state, you got to try to teardown the other guy because you don`t have anything good to talk about in the four years that you`ve .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CRIST: . been governor already. So, that`s what we have.

SCHULTZ: Can you match him in money?

CRIST: No. We can`t.

SCHULTZ: How ...

CRIST: No.

SCHULTZ: OK.

CRIST: So now, he is already spending about -- yeah. Go ahead.

SCHULTZ: Well, they`re saying that you haven`t release your taxes. Clarify that for us tonight.

CRIST: Well, I have. In have I`ve released 10 years of my tax returns and Rick Scott has release two years of his. He said three, but he got an extension of the 2013. So he really hasn`t done that either. So he`s being fraudulent about that. But I released, you know, three times what he has released.

So, it`s a lie. It`s not true. It`s what he does. I mean, this is the kind of campaign that we kind to expect from Rick Scott.

SCHULTZ: They want your wife to release her taxes. Is that going to happen and is that important as you see it?

CRIST: It`s not important, you know, women have a right to choose, Ed. And my wife is included on that category. She has the right to choice and it`s her decision to make. We file separately, you know, and so I`m required not to release my tax returns but to put forward my assets in my network and I did that. And I added to it by releasing my tax returns, which I`ve always done any time I`ve run for office back in 1992.

SCHULTZ: OK.

CRIST: So, I`m Mr. Transparent in this race. I`m running against a guy who, plead the fifth 75 times so he won`t have to answer questions. So, he`s the un-transparent money candidate and mudslinging candidate. I`m the transparent candidate who`s released three times as many of his tax returns as income with Rick Scott. Listen, but it`s about people. It`s really about him or me.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CRIST: It`s about people in our state. And they need a better chance. They need somebody who`s got their back. They need somebody who will fight for the middle class. Fight for our school teachers. Make sure that we work hand in hand with our friends and the administration in Washington to do what`s right for people like take high-speed rail, Rick Scott rejected it. That would`ve been about 30,000 jobs .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CRIST: . about $2.5 billion of investment. You know, he`s just wrong, (inaudible).

SCHULTZ: Yeah. Now, the White House released data this week saying that Medicaid expansion would create more than 63 thousand jobs in Florida, mainly in healthcare for 2014 to 2017. Will this be a factor in the race?

CRIST: A huge factor Ed. There`s no question about. Rick Scott has not lifted a finger to get Medicate expansion done in our state. And as a result to that, almost a million of my fellow Floridians, again today, are not getting the health care that they deserve.

It would create over 60, 000 jobs as already you have mentioned. In addition to that, it would invest over $51 billion in Florida, over the next 10 years. Money that Floridians have sent to Washington and deserve to have sent back, but Rick Scott doesn`t believe in that because he doesn`t like the President and also in him to get any credit for doing anything right.

And so he blocks everything ...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CRIST: ... that he`s trying to do to help Florida. It doesn`t make any sense, its nonsense. It`s time for comments (ph) that (inaudible).

SCHULTZ: I see that the Republican Governors Association contributed more than $2.5 million to Scott, more than any other candidate for governor. Quickly, why is that?

CRIST: Because he needs it. You know, he`s going to attempt to try to make, you know, lemonade out of lemons I mean, you know, his four years have been a disaster here. He`s cut education, he`s hurt the environment. He`s not fighting for the middle class. He`s giving tax break for the rich. I mean it`s a nightmare Tea Party administration. And Florida deserves better.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CRIST: That`s not what Floridians want. That`s why I`m running ...

SCHULTZ: All right.

CRIST: ... to give a brighter future and a better way.

SCHULTZ: Charlie Crist, we`ll spend a lot of time in Florida coming up. Great to have you with us tonight, keep up the fight my friend, and thanks so much.

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