Marco Rubio’s Plan to Build a Holy Hollywood in Florida

[DonViejo]

Olivia Nuzzi

When he was speaker of the Florida house, the Republican wanted to reward ‘family friendly’ productions.

Before senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio wanted to transform the country, he had a more modest dream: to transform Florida into Hollywood—but with morals!

In 2006, when Rubio was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, he released a book, 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future, that featured within its inspired pages 100 ideas Rubio compiled during town hall-like meetings that he cleverly labeled “Idearaisers.”

The book is supposedly about “how every Floridian can enjoy freedom, opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness and leave for their children a better life than their own,” but there is a caveat: Rubio wanted Floridians who were in the entertainment industry to enjoy their freedom, opportunity, and pursuit of happiness in a “family friendly” way.

“IDEA 90”: “Create a Family-Friendly Hollywood in Florida.”

There is a Hollywood, Florida—but not it’s not really what Rubio seems to have had in mind here. It’s sandwiched between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, a cramped seaside waiting room populated by condominiums, motels, personal injury attorneys, and pawn shops. But funnily enough, Hollywood is where I happened to be when I read “IDEA 90” on Wednesday.

It does seem unlikely that if Rubio were to have succeeded in building his own Hollywood in Florida, he could have avoided doing it anywhere except Hollywood, Florida. Where else was he going to build it, Tallahassee? Then you’d have Hollywood, Florida, and Tallahassee, Florida (now with more Hollywood!). It would get confusing. He would have had to spend a lot of taxpayer funds reissuing maps. I asked Rubio’s campaign about this issue and received no response.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/07/marco-rubio-s-holy-hollywood-plan-for-florida.html