Florida Governor’s Trip to Poach Philly Jobs Cost $40,000

And Rick Scott came away mostly empty-handed.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott waves after the swearing in for his second term as governor of Florida at the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. The inauguration took place in front of the Old Capitol. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)

Florida Gov. Rick Scott waves after the swearing in for his second term as governor of Florida at the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. The inauguration took place in front of the Old Capitol. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)

From the schadenfreude files….

Remember when Florida Gov. Rick Scott came to Philadelphia to poach our jobs? Turns out A) the trip was kind of expensive and B) he didn’t come away with much.

WTSP in Tampa Bay reports that after Scott’s visit to Pennsylvania and California, “the only jobs announced are the expansion of two companies, Wawa and Nestle, already in Florida.”

Scott flew to Philadelphia in February with staffers and agency leaders for two days. The trip’s hotel, airfare, meals and events costs about $40,000 and were funded by taxpayers and Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership aimed at helping to create jobs in the state.

Records show the governor and his crew stayed at an Embassy Suites, but made a late cancellation at the Four Seasons, a five-star hotel, costing Enterprise Florida more than $3,000.

The Wawa expansion, by the way, simply means the company is adding more stores in Florida — not the kind of jobs you mount high-profile trips to attract, frankly. It’s an expansion, not a relocation, so good for Wawa!

But it does sound like Scott’s Florida colleagues are ready to rein in the costs of his job-hunting trips: “”I’m not aware of how much the trips to Pennsylvania and California costs and I suspect that that’s something that will be on the agenda for Enterprise Florida at the next meeting,” said a member of he EFI board.