FL Gov. Rick Scott to meet today with controversial and secretive Council for National Policy

WASHINGTON — A mantra from the young administration of Gov. Rick Scott is the phrase “let’s get to work” — a credo the rookie governor plans to follow on Friday.

Just not in Florida. And not necessarily for everyone in his home state. And likely not in keeping with Florida’s emphasis on transparency.

On Scott’s agenda — released tonight — is a meeting at a Ritz Carlton in northern Virginia with the Council for National Policy, a group of conservative leaders that describes itself as a defender of limited government, a strong military and Judeo-Christian values.

The group also has a reputation for secrecy, rarely making its meetings public and generally keeping quiet about its membership. A good primer on the group, by ABC News, is available here.

On its website, however, it does publish some guest speeches and remarks (which the group notes should “not be construed as the views” of the Council for National Policy).

Among the more recent: Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of “Son of Hamas” and a Christian convert, on the topic: “Islam: Can We Coexist?”

His conclusion was as follows:

“Today I am standing here and I know that the problem is not Muslims. The problem is Islam itself and we are working to expose the real nature of Islam, to our people first of all, because our people don’t know what Islam is all about. And so on the one hand, we want to educate them about the real nature of Islam. On the second hand, we want to give them the love of Christ. This is the best solution for the Middle East crisis.”

Full remarks available here.