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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 1, 2003
TALLAHASSEE -- When the 39 Democrats in the Florida House recently held a retreat, they spoke of the need to stick together. They didn't mean it literally.
But Republican House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is doing his part by sequestering Democrats in offices on the upper floors of the Capitol tower, away from the action and at the mercy of the Capitol's balky elevators.
To some Democrats, being kicked upstairs is just one more sign of how far the once-mighty have fallen.
"It's a little thing, but it's an indication of the kind of respect we're going to get as Democrats," said Rep. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale. "We're not even in the House Office Building anymore."
Smith, himself, is one of only four House Democrats who still has a prime third-floor office as a member of the minority party's leadership team. Everyone else will find their offices on the 10th, 12th and 14th floor when they arrive next week for meetings.
A couple dozen Democrats previously had offices in the tower, but now they are all there, except for the four leaders. Democrats knew they were not going to chair any committees or subcommittees, but some weren't ready for this.
"We're out of circulation. We're in a Democratic ghetto," said Rep. Ron Greenstein, D-Coconut Creek, stripped of his second-floor office. "It's depressing."
Byrd said Tuesday it was unavoidable. With 81 Republicans in the House, all of them lining up for choice office space, there wasn't room for everybody in the more coveted spaces in the five-story House Office Building and the lower floors of the Capitol, the Plant City lawmaker said.
"With 81 Republicans, you fill up the House Office Building pretty quickly," Byrd said. "You've got to be somewhere."
The party in power controls access to office space and parking spaces for each two-year legislative cycle. Republicans get most of the prime real estate on the second, third and fourth floors, close to lobbyists and legislative staffers who direct the flow of so much information during legislative sessions.
Byrd wanted to move more members of the House's staff downstairs, which eliminated some space, and a few offices were lost when the Capitol police expanded their quarters. He said there was no attempt to punish the minority, and that some Republicans will be in the upstairs tower, too. Byrd said he gave Rep. Doug Wiles of St. Augustine, the House Democratic leader, a block of rooms and let Wiles assign offices to Democrats. Said Byrd: "We're trying really, really hard to empower Doug and support him."
Wiles said he didn't think the location of members' offices was a "big deal," but that it was a "matter of perception."
"The Democratic caucus is removed from much of the process and the perception is if they are removed by location, they will be removed by voice," Wiles said.