Sen. Tom Lee says the visit offers hope of resolving differences over jury awards in malpractice cases.
By BRADY DENNIS
Published July 23, 2003
TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush's prop plane cut through dark clouds and lightning Tuesday afternoon and landed at the small Vandenberg Airport east of Tampa.
On the ground, Bush had storms of his own he hoped to quell.
He and state Sen. Tom Lee spent two hours behind closed doors with two goals in mind: working toward a consensus in the divisive medical malpractice debate and mending the personal rift that has developed between Bush and many Senate Republicans.
The Legislature's latest special session ended Monday with no solution to malpractice insurance rates.
After five months of sessions, the House and the Senate still can't resolve their differences on jury awards for pain and suffering in malpractice cases. Bush has called lawmakers back for a third special session Aug. 5.
Along the way, the governor has publicly chided Republican senators for not agreeing to a lower fixed cap on such damages than the one advocated by other legislators.
In fact, the problems Bush sought to patch up Tuesday began on June 11 in Sun City Center. That day Bush criticized Lee and several other Tampa Bay area senators by name, saying they were "not committed to meaningful reform" in malpractice.
"If he's got something to say to me, he can say it to my face," Lee said that day.
On Tuesday, Bush did just that. His willingness to meet Lee on the senator's home turf underscored the urgency of his mission.
In a sense, he was controlling the damage that could block his agenda in other areas for the remaining 31/2 years of his term. Lee is poised to succeed Jim King as Senate president in November 2004, giving the Brandon home builder far more power to shape state policy than he has now.
The two emerged side by side after Tuesday's meeting, shaking hands and smiling.
Bush called the meeting a "good, extensive conversation about the future of our party and making things happen." He promised cooperation with Lee and his fellow senators.
"We're going to keep talking," he said. "It's worth continuing to talk, to reach common ground."
Asked whether they devoted more time talking about policy or mending political fences, Lee replied, "50-50."
He said he and Bush talked at length about the policy and politics of malpractice reform, an issue that has preoccupied the Legislature since March and still defies solution. Lee said they also spoke about a broader issue: the institutional relationship that exists between the executive branch and the Senate.
As for the policy, Bush originally wanted a $250,000 cap on damages for pain and suffering. He insisted Tuesday that he is flexible on that amount but stopped short of supporting the Senate's proposed $500,000 cap.
Lee maintains that a $250,000 cap will not bring down insurance rates. Of much greater significance, Lee said, is a reform of the "bad faith" provisions that will give insurance companies more time to settle than they have now and will result, Lee said, in fewer lawsuits.
Both men acknowledged that a long road remains to reach a consensus. But Lee said Tuesday's meeting offers renewed hope that it can be resolved peacefully, without further invective and name-calling among Republican leaders.
"I am hopeful that we can continue down this path, as opposed to the path of intimidation and threats, which I don't necessarily want to assign to him but which he has the ability to control," Lee said.
Of Bush's impromptu visit, Lee said: "It was a very mature and politically savvy expression of his understanding of the human psychology of legislative politics.
"When someone reaches out with an olive branch . . . you accept the olive branch and try to move forward from there."
- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.
