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Bush's No. 2 surely knows his place in history
© St. Petersburg Times Does the name Tom Adams ring a bell? If it does, maybe you should be editing these pages, not just reading them. Adams was Gov. Reubin Askew's first lieutenant governor, in 1970. The emphasis is on the word first. Adams came and went, chased away by controversy, and a state senator from Ocala named Jim Williams replaced him when Askew ran for re-election in 1974. Oh, come on. You mean you never heard of Jim Williams, either? That's how it is with lieutenant governors in Florida. Theirs is the only full-time job in state government without a job description. They are neither well-noted nor long remembered. Though the job is a heartbeat away from the governorship, no lieutenant governor has won election as governor since the job was created in 1969. The office may be best known as the home of the couch where two legislators staged an all-night sit-in three years ago. The job itself is a natural stepping stone to, well, how about the presidency of a state university starving for recognition, not to mention state revenue? Frank Brogan, Gov. Jeb Bush's first lieutenant governor (emphasis on the word first) knows his Florida history, all right. He was the right man at the right time when Bush was forced to part ways with his first choice, Secretary of State Sandra Mortham, in 1998. Brogan did what few thought possible or sensible: He gave up the powerful Cabinet post of education commissioner for the do-nothing duties of lieutenant governor. Now the Cincinnati native appears poised to take his finely honed sense of humor and Pepsodent smile to Boca Raton. Trustees at Florida Atlantic University recently decided to buy time and extend their search for a president long enough for Brogan to arrange a graceful exit out of Tallahassee after the Jan. 7 inauguration. For Brogan, who possesses a comic's gift of pacing, the timing appears perfect. He's pushing 50. He recently got married. He's a graduate of FAU, a commuter school growing by leaps and bounds but, much like the region it serves, still developing an identity. The FAU president earns three times as much as the lieutenant governor and gets a rent-free mansion, too. Brogan would instantly raise FAU's profile in Tallahassee. And consider this: the new Senate appropriations chairman, Ken Pruitt of Port St. Lucie, represents the area served by FAU. With Florida State University hiring the politically well-connected T.K. Wetherell as its new president, it behooves FAU to try to compete. Besides, Brogan's steady stream of one-liners will keep them laughing in Boca, where they appreciate a good joke. This, after all, is a school ridiculed for its less-than-terrifying mascot, the burrowing owl. Some students once claimed that FAU stood for "Find Another University." These days, with the school's branch campuses dotting the Florida Gold Coast, it's hard to find another university between Miami and Orlando. Seriously. FAU may be the most politicized university in the system. For years, I reported on how Broward County legislators defined pork in terms of how many new FAU buildings they could acquire for their branch campuses. To this day, the appropriations bill must separately delineate the money and programs for what is known as FAU's "Broward presence." If Brogan leaves, Bush has said he would take his time searching for a successor, perhaps leaving the job vacant for months. That's a tribute only a lieutenant governor can appreciate. One theory is that Bush will let Glenda Hood, the former Orlando mayor and the newly appointed secretary of state, work her way into Brogan's job. By then, Brogan will have presided over his first graduation, and at least one big campus controversy. And just think. Twenty years from now, teachers can stump their students with a simple question: Who was Jeb Bush's first lieutenant governor? -- Steve Bousquet is the Times' deputy capital bureau chief in Tallahassee.
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