Walter "Skip" Campbell resigns as chairman of the Finance and Tax Committee.
By ALISA ULFERTS
Published May 29, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - Fed up with being a "nice boy" for Senate Republicans, Democratic Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell resigned the powerful post of chairman of the Finance and Tax Committee, distancing himself from the GOP as he prepares for a possible run for statewide office.
Sen. President Jim King accepted Campbell's resignation Wednesday, said spokeswoman Sarah Bascom. King "doesn't want someone to stay if he doesn't want to be there," Bascom said.
Campbell, a Tamarac Democrat who said will likely run for chief financial officer in 2006, said leaving the Finance and Tax Committee could work out for the best, given next year's bleak financial outlook.
"Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, because I won't have that onus hanging around my neck," Campbell said.
Campbell tried to block a bill that revamps the state's workers' compensation laws late Tuesday by rallying the Senate's 14 Democrats against it. That left the Republicans short of the two-thirds majority they needed.
King responded by asking for his resignation, but relented after Gov. Jeb Bush added the bill to the special session, eliminating the need for a two-thirds vote.
King later said Campbell could stay. "I didn't fire Campbell," King said. "When he came and said he was going to block the extension of the session, I said you can do that but if you do, you'll bring everything down."
But Campbell had already taken King at his word.
"I was asked to resign, and I resigned," Campbell said. "As far as I'm concerned, he's accepted the resignation."
Bascom stressed that King asked for the resignation because Campbell actively sought to block the bill.
King now must replace Campbell, and Bascom said he hasn't said whether he will replace him with another Democrat. King also has talked to Sen. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Weston, who is considering a congressional run, about resigning her post as vice chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.
