Backroom Briefing: A caffeinated clash goes viral

By BRANDON LARRABEE AND JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, April 7, 2016..........Gov. Rick Scott likely just wanted a cup of coffee when he walked into a Starbucks on Tuesday --- no word on exactly what he would have ordered. Instead, Scott ended up as the latest example of what happens when politics and technology cause an unexpected moment to go viral.

The story started when Scott ran into Cara Jennings, a former Lake Worth city commissioner whose Facebook page refers to her as a "community activist," at a Starbucks in Gainesville. By the time a nearby observer started recording the scene, the conversation between the two about an abortion bill Scott recently signed had gotten heated.

"You're an a------," Jennings says at the five-second mark of the video. "You don't care about working people."

When one of Scott's aides tried to talk to Jennings, she responded, "I'm not talking to you," then went back to Scott. "You don't care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here."

"Oh, really?" Scott responded, then pointed to the fact that Florida has added a million jobs during his five years as governor.

The video ends with the governor walking out of the shop as Jennings continues to yell at him about abortion and Medicaid expansion.

"Maybe you should say the truth," Scott says in his parting shot.

In the past, there's no telling whether the confrontation between Scott and the woman would have gotten any media attention. But in the era of social media and YouTube, the video quickly ricocheted around the Internet.

By Thursday, a Google search for "Rick Scott Starbucks" brought up 593,000 results --- including items posted by USA Today, the Washington Post, liberal publication Mother Jones, the New York Daily News, conservative websites like Hot Air and on and on. ("Rick Scott Cara Jennings" yielded 436,000 results.) The original YouTube video of the showdown had been viewed almost 1.8 million times.

Jennings' Facebook page also exploded. Her initial post on the incident drew 799 comments. Two follow-up posts got almost 170 comments. Many of the responses (particularly those in opposition) would be unprintable in family-friendly publications.

"Thank you, Cara," wrote Roberta Schwartz Kernan, one supporter. "You are one tough lady whom I admire. You spoke up for us and expressed our exasperation with male leaders who are traveling back in time and are hurting us under the guise of 'protecting us.' "

There were several camps of opponents --- some ripped Jennings for her views on abortion and political issues in general, others pointed to her for standing up to the poor while at a pricey coffee shop, and still others scalded her for the way she addressed Scott.

"How about letting 1 human being get a dang coffee," wrote Jessica Gainey. "Instead of yelling and screaming like an animal, get your point across like a civilized adult. Just because of the way you acted and are happy about treating a human being with such disrespect, I don't care what you had to say. Jeez, people are going to disagree with others and the governor may be a complete ass but can't he get a cup of coffe(e)????"

FOR BRANDES, MANY ROADS LEAD TO DRIVERLESS CARS

Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Brandes' efforts to get legislation approved that would expand the use of autonomous --- driverless --- vehicles on Florida roads paid off this week.

Scott on Tuesday signed the St. Petersburg Republican's latest driverless-car language as part of a wide-ranging transportation bill (HB 7027), which also increases funding for state ports and streamlines the review process for highway projects.

By next Thursday, Scott could also sign another transportation package (HB 7061) that includes the same autonomous-vehicle language.

"It was very important to me," Brandes said.

Brandes, who has been a proponent of driverless cars for several years, had also attached his autonomous vehicle proposal to a highway bill (SB 332) that stalled after reaching the Senate floor.

The language allows anyone with a valid drivers' license to take an autonomous vehicle out on a public road starting July 1.

Until that time, such operations remain limited to licensed drivers designated for testing purposes.

The new language also allows people to watch TV or other streaming content from the driver's seat of vehicles operating in an autonomous mode --- "accident avoidance" technology on, hands off the wheel, feet off the pedals.

Texting while behind the wheel of a vehicle in autonomous mode is already one of the loopholes to the state's ban on using wireless communications devices while operating vehicles.

In December, entrepreneur Elon Musk told Fortune magazine that he expects his electric Tesla Motors vehicles to be autonomous within two years.

Brandes believes it will take a little longer, but not much.

"We're not far away, maybe five years away," Brandes said. "By 2025, they'll become a pretty standard feature in a lot of vehicles."

TWEET OF THE WEEK: "People in Tallahassee never believe me when I tell them I was the moderate on the Lake Worth City Commission."---Sen. Jeff Clemens (@ClemensFL), D-Lake Worth, in response to the video of Jennings and Scott.