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LUCY MORGANA portrait of Sean Connery is revealed as an inside joke before state Sen. Jim King joins his predecessors around the chamber.
TALLAHASSEE - Senate President Jim King was praised by his colleagues Monday as they unveiled his official portrait.
"You'll be remembered as a man with a big heart," said Senate Rules Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon. "You've had a lot of grace under fire, sometimes too much grace."
King's greatest legacy may be the things he stopped, added Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua.
Then a solemn group of senators and Gov. Jeb Bush looked on with King and his wife, Lynda, as a red velvet cloth was removed to reveal - a portrait of Sean Connery as the Russian submarine captain in the movie The Hunt for Red October.
It was an inside joke: When he was elected president two years ago, King said many people compare him to Jackie Gleason, but when he looks in the mirror, he sees Sean Connery.
The room erupted in laughter. Sergeant at arms Don Severance then replaced Connery with the official portrait of King, R-Jacksonville, standing in front of an American flag.
King thanked his lieutenants and called Lee, who will become Senate president in November, "a good street fighter."
"Even when we lost, we could be proud of the casualties we left behind," King joked.
The portrait will hang beside Senate presidents dating back to 1907. The paintings surround the chamber in a semicircle that ends with the latest president. Every two years, one portrait shifts to the Historic Old Capitol to make room for the new one. This year the portrait that disappeared was of former Sen. Park Trammel, who later became the state's attorney general and governor.
King has two more years to serve in his Senate term. He had promised his wife this would be "the last political hurrah," King said. "Well, baby, who knows? I guess we'll just have to wait and see."