Fox News anchor and celebrity attorney Greta Van Susteren has been tapped to deliver the keynote speech at Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s inaugural Salute to Women event in Tallahassee next week. #
The event, being held at Florida State University, is billed as nonpartisan and will also feature Jennifer Carroll, the state’s first African-American lieutenant governor, and Pam Bondi, Florida’s first female attorney general, and a regular Fox News contributor. #
The event will kick off a dozen events planned by Scott’s inaugural committee for Jan. 3 and 4, which are slated to cost upwards of $2.5 million — less than half the amount outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist had planned to spend in 2006 before scrapping the festivities altogether. #
“Upon reflection, it doesn’t feel right to me when there are people having trouble paying their insurance bills and making ends meet,” Crist told the St. Petersburg Times in 2006. “When I was a child, my grandfather told me every pencil has an eraser for a reason. It’s a good lesson. I’m not perfect.” #
Scott’s transition team maintains that the money funding the inaugural events has been raised through private donations, and will not cost taxpayers a dime, while the Florida Chamber of Commerce notes that the thousands of people expected to travel to Tallahassee for the events will result in a boon for the local economy. #
Via Sunshine State News: #
“As Florida transitions to a new year and toward a new economy, the private sector will be leading the way,” said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “There’s no better way to jump-start Florida’s economy than by holding inaugural day festivities that pump more than $4.5 million into Florida’s economy – and will do so without spending taxpayer dollars.” #
Scott’s announcement: #
Acclaimed journalist Greta Van Susteren will be the keynote speaker at the Salute to Women in Leadership Breakfast, as announced today by the 2011 Florida Inaugural Committee. Van Susteren, a Fox News Channel anchor, will speak at the Monday, January 3, 2011 non-partisan breakfast, the first of a dozen events occurring in Tallahassee surrounding the inauguration of Governor-Elect Rick Scott. #
The Salute to Women in Leadership Breakfast will honor the contributions of many great Florida women, including the historic election of Jennifer Carroll as Florida’s next Lieutenant Governor and Pam Bondi, the state’s first woman elected to serve as Attorney General. #
Greta Van Susteren is the host of Fox News Channel’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” which launched in February 2002 and is the highest rated cable news program in the 10 p.m. timeslot. Prior to joining FNC, Van Susteren served as host of CNN’s prime-time news and analysis show, “The Point with Greta Van Susteren,” as well as the network’s daily legal program, “Burden of Proof.” Van Susteren joined CNN in 1991 as a legal analyst. She played an integral role in the legal analysis of CNN’s coverage of Election 2000, for which she earned the American Bar Association’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Journalism. #
Recently dubbed one of the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes Magazine, Van Susteren is the recipient of both the 2000-2001 Sandra Day O’Connor Medal of Honor from Seton Hall University and the American Bar Association Presidential Award for “Excellence in Journalism.” (2001). She was also awarded the first place 2002 National Headliners Award as part of an investigative team covering the “Attack on America.” #
Van Susteren graduated from the University of Wisconsin with distinction in economics. She earned a Juris Doctor and a Master of Law from Georgetown Law. Van Susteren was the first Stuart Stiller Fellow at Georgetown Law Center and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Stetson Law School. She served as an adjunct professor at the Law Center from 1984 through 1999. #
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