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TIM GRANTThe governor renounces a staffer's e-mail that suggested retaliation against Republican senators who oppose Bush on medical malpractice.
TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush says he has no "hit list" of Republican senators in the next election, disavowing a top aide's e-mail about possible retribution against senators who oppose Bush on medical malpractice.
The aide who wrote the e-mail, deputy chief of staff Alan Levine, has apologized, and Bush said Friday it should not have been sent on a state computer and e-mail account.
"There is no hit list," Bush said after visiting the Moffitt Cancer Center.
The visit was part of Bush's continuing efforts to focus public attention on soaring malpractice insurance rates that have prompted some doctors to stop treating patients.
But the governor offered no apologies for the hardball approach he has taken in recent weeks. Politics, he said, can be "blood sport."
As for his criticism of some Republican senators, Bush said: "I hope people don't take it personal, because it's not personal."
Also Friday, a group of doctors held a midday protest outside the district office of Sen. Tom Lee. The Brandon Republican - one of those mentioned in the Levine e-mail - was in the state Capitol at the time.
The protest was organized by the medical staff of Brandon Regional Hospital, where Lee is a member of the board of directors. After the protest, Lee offered his resignation from the board in a letter to Mike Fencel, the hospital's chief executive officer.
"Given recent events, it occurs to me that my presence on your board may no longer be helpful to your organization," Lee wrote.
Levine apologized to Lee for his controversial e-mail, which urged the kind of pressure on Lee that took place on Friday. Wrote Levine: "Mike Fencel and his board really need to work on him."
At the Capitol, meanwhile, lawmakers remain far apart on a malpractice solution, but both chambers report continuing progress.
Lee suggested the Senate might eventually embrace a $3-million cap on damages for pain and suffering.
Bush had insisted on a $250,000 cap, but he now supports a House bill with a maximum of $1-million in damages in cases involving multiple claimants.
At a Senate GOP caucus meeting, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who opposes the Senate bill, nevertheless said she thought pressure from the governor, doctors and insurance companies was counterproductive.
Earlier this year, Dockery found 14 votes for the smaller limits the House favors.
"But today, it's less," Dockery said. "The political pressures that are being put on this body are working just the opposite."
Bush went to the Moffitt Cancer Center on Friday and made an emotional plea to end what he called a crisis caused by skyrocketing premiums for medical malpractice liability insurance.
He told a story of a doctor who is leaving the state because of it. "I'm either going to cry or get angry and I can't tell which," Bush said. "People shouldn't have to leave important positions.
The Senate passed a bill 27 to 8 Friday that allows many victims to win as much as $1.5-million in noneconomic damages, but allows the most catastrophically injured to collect as much as $6-million.
The House on Thursday passed a measure that prevents any one doctor for being sued for more than $500,000 in non-economic damages, but allows for victims and their relatives to collect up to $1 million in such awards by suing multiple defendants.
Although still far apart, the two chambers are much closer than they were when the session began on Wednesday. The breakthrough came Thursday when the House indicated for the first time its willingness to compromise on the size of the cap.
The Legislature is in the midst of its second special session on the issue after failing to agree on a bill during the regular session that ended in May.
The Senate will beging taking sworn testimony on the issue Monday in Tallahassee.
- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report, and information from the Associated Press was used.