It's hard to think of anyone in Florida who's more deserving of the label "career politician" than Tom Gallagher. He served 12 years in the Legislature and was state insurance commissioner, education commissioner and a two-time candidate for governor. He's now the state's elected chief financial officer.
Nobody in state government has been there longer.
But Gallagher's brother, Doug, is beating up on career politicians with a new TV ad that generically portrays U.S. senators as automatons who think and act alike but never seem to accomplish anything in Washington.
Asked whether he had his brother in mind when he launched the attack on politicians, Doug Gallagher flashed that toothy Gallagher grin.
"No, I'm not ashamed of Tom. I think he's done a wonderful job," Doug Gallagher said.
Doug Gallagher may or may not get to the Senate, but Tom Gallagher wants to run for governor in two years. It doesn't take a career politician to imagine another would-be governor attacking Tom Gallagher with his brother's own ad.
WITH ALL THE hubbub over Bill Clinton's forthcoming memoirs, it might seem poor timing for releasing Sen. Bob Graham's book, Intelligence Matters, about problems in America's national security system. Nonetheless, the publicity machine has started for the book, which is to be released by Random House on Sept. 7. Graham's wife, Adele, and colleague Sen. Bill Nelson predict the insider's account by the former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman will play a role in the presidential debate.
"Graham is judicious and measured as he sifts through the details, but his conclusions are disturbing and his call for action compelling," Random House editor-in-chief Jon Karp said in a statement.
THE NEWLY RELEASED grades for Florida schools highlighted the contradictions between Florida's accountability system and the federal No Child Left Behind law. The state found more than two-thirds of Florida schools "high performing," while the federal government labels more than three-quarters as failures.
Communities for Quality Education, an arm of the National Education Association teachers' union, is wasting no time jumping on those contrasts. Starting Tuesday, Tampa Bay television viewers may see a new ad criticizing the president for not spending more on education.
"Confused by George Bush's No Child Left Behind law? Jeb Bush may be, too," a narrator says in the spot. "Jeb says 68 percent of Florida schools are rated A or B. George Bush says even our best schools are failures. . . . Tell Gov. Bush to call President Bush. Fix No Child Left Behind so Florida's kids can get ahead."
Earlier this month, the same group paid for ads featuring Florida teachers calling for changes to No Child Left Behind.
FRESH OFF A WEEK where the Interstate 4 corridor saw visits from Vice President Dick Cheney, President Bush and GOP strategist Karl Rove, the attention on Florida continues this week courtesy of Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of presidential candidate John Kerry. She will be discussing women and the economy, with stops at Miami-Dade Community College on Tuesday and in Orlando on Wednesday with Latino Leadership, a nonprofit organization.
Former House Speaker Hyatt Brown of Daytona Beach will be honored in Tallahassee this week by state leaders and old friends who served with him in the Legislature.
Brown was speaker from 1978 to 1980, one of only a few lawmakers to make it to the top spot after only six years of legislative service.
Elected in 1972, Brown and several of the men who followed him as speaker presided over what political observers often dubbed "the golden years." He left elective office in 1980 when his term in the house ended and returned to run a family insurance business that has grown into one of the nation's most successful companies.
As speaker, Brown successfully pushed for an appointed Public Service Commission, reforms in workers' compensation insurance, the first tourist development tax, the state's conservation land-buying program and a dedicated source of funding for school construction.
Brown and many of those who served with him will gather Tuesday at Tallahassee Community College for lunch.
THREE LAWYERS from the Tampa Bay area were honored last week by the Florida Bar for a half century of dedication to the practice of law.
The lawyers were among 68 honored at the Bar's annual meeting in Boca Raton on Friday night. They are former Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney James T. Russell; Richard C. Williams of New Port Richey and George Baker Thomson of Gulfport.
- Times staff writers Anita Kumar, Steve Bousquet, Lucy Morgan and Adam C. Smith contributed to this week's column. Got a tip? E-mail bousquet@sptimes.com
