State: Jennings, Bush have clashed

Jennings, Bush have clashed

But she will keep future disagreements with the governor to herself, she says.

By LUCY MORGAN, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief

TALLAHASSEE -- As Senate President, Toni Jennings didn't like it when Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed part of the state budget.

So she sued him. And won.

Four years later, Bush turned to Jennings to be his lieutenant governor. And Jennings promised to be a loyal soldier in the Bush administration.

Jennings said she will keep any future disagreements with the governor to herself.

A moderate Republican, Jennings gained a reputation as an independent thinker during a 24-year career in the Legislature and as a businesswoman in a field traditionally dominated by men, construction.

She left the Senate in 2000, forced out by term limits after serving four years as president. She is one of only two women to become president of the Florida Senate and the only person in modern times to serve more than one two-year term as Senate president.

Her experience as president of Jack Jennings & Sons Inc., general contractors in Orlando, was among the accomplishments Bush cited Monday as he named her lieutenant governor.

A former schoolteacher, Jennings has been an outspoken advocate of early childhood readiness programs. She also clashed with Bush over limiting soft money in campaigns and frequently won favor with state teacher unions and environmentalists who have generally opposed Republicans.

Her politics are decidedly conservative, but she has been criticized by the Christian Coalition of Florida for not making abortion restrictions and school prayer top priorities.

She has toyed with the idea of running for governor and for a time sought the state insurance commissioners' job in 2000 but backed out of the race at the last minute.

Jennings and Bush emphasized things they have agreed on Monday, but they have frequently disagreed, prompting Bush to once jokingly question whether Republicans were running the Senate when she was president.

As Senate president, Jennings took Bush to court over his veto of a portion of the state budget. The Florida Supreme Court eventually ruled that Bush's veto was unconstitutional.

Jennings said she filed the lawsuit in defense of the legislative branch. Now her loyalties will be with the executive branch, she said.

On the surface, Jennings appeared to get along much better with Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles than she did with fellow Republican Bush. Chiles frequently praised her work to reach compromises that often drew criticism from Republicans, especially when she included Democrats and teacher union officials in the conversation.

In those days, Jennings was the moderate bridge between Chiles and the Republican Legislature.

Born Antoinette, Jennings has always been known as Toni. She runs a business started by her father and has never married. She started working for her father in the 1970s after graduating from a women's college in Georgia and teaching school in Florida for two years.

Her younger twin brothers work for her in the family business.