An interesting article in the Miami Herald today reported that Bill McCollum has dropped the ball when it comes to cracking down on Medicaid fraud. As Attorney General, McCollum has done such a poor job that he even admitted today that "there is room for improvement" and one of his fellow Republicans said McCollum "needs to get his butt in gear."
So, what does Bill McCollum's failure on Medicaid fraud mean for you? It means that he has failed to effectively recover our tax dollars defrauded from Medicaid that could reach up to $3.2 billion in taxpayer money defrauded from the state's Medicaid budget.
Yes, you are reading that right. Criminals stole up to $3,200,000,000 from Florida taxpayers--and Bill McCollum dropped the ball.
That is a lot more zeros than I am used to seeing. So, I started thinking, if he had recovered it all, what could we do with it? What should we do with it? I wanted to ask Floridians what they think and let Bill McCollum know.
Join me in voting for what you think should Florida have done with the $3.2 billion in Medicaid fraud if Bill McCollum more aggressively tackled the problem.
His Medicaid fraud unit is the second largest of its kind in the country, but was ranked 25th for fraud recovery and 39th in convictions. Their team deserves a new leader.
In times like these, there is no excuse for not cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse.
After talking with a few people and doing some research, I've found just a few ways we could used the money if Bill McCollum had recovered it. We could:

• Erase Florida's budget shortfall and put the state on solid financial footing
• Build 168 Miles of light rail construction and create 100,408 jobs
• Build 21 Solar power plants providing clean energy for 63,000 homes
• Offer a Brand new Mac laptop for every child in Florida's K-12 public schools
• Lay 640 miles of highways, and create 128,000 jobs as a result

Yes, that's right. If Bill McCollum would do his job, we could be creating jobs for Floridians, while investing in our state's future.
Join me in telling Bill McCollum how you would like to see your tax dollars spent, if he worked harder to recover that $3.2 Billion.
Thank you for offering your thoughts -- and we'll share what you and everyone else says next week.
Thanks,
Eric Jotkoff
Communications Director
Florida Democratic Party