It's been 2 years - time for the mighty to fall again
By Times staff writers
Published November 21, 2004
Fame is fleeting in the Florida Legislature.
Case in point: former Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville.
"I was walking back from a Commerce Committee meeting and I was alone," King told fellow senators at an Education Committee meeting Wednesday, a day after he was no longer top dog in the Senate. "There was no entourage, no blonds throwing rose petals, no press. Even the janitor kept on polishing."
The entourage now follows Senate President Tom Lee.
That's how it is in a Legislature where leaders change jobs every two years, and it may explain why so many people want to be Senate president.
King's counterpart, Johnnie Byrd, was back at the House speaker's rostrum Tuesday. But he was there as a visitor, and he wasn't there long.
The Plant City lawyer, who capped his rocky two-year speakership with an unsuccessful race for U.S. Senate, ran part of the program as his successor, Allan Bense of Panama City, was sworn in as speaker for the next two years.
Byrd got applause for his service, but it had an obligatory feel to it. Then he was eased out of the picture as Bense opted to have a former Democratic speaker, Hyatt Brown, serve as ringmaster for the next hour. Remarkably, it was Brown, not Byrd, who joined Bense in the ceremonial passing of the gavel from one speaker to the next.
After listening to audiotapes of ex-speakers, Bense said he liked Brown's style and asked the Daytona Beach insurance executive to take part.
"I coaxed him out of retirement," said Bense, who has done business with Brown.
Brown said it was only his second time back to the Capitol since he left office in 1982.
Another rare bird sighting: Former Gov. Bob Martinez of Tampa was watching from the Senate gallery Tuesday as a fellow Hillsborough County resident, Lee, of Brandon, was sworn in as president.
"I haven't been here in 14 years," Martinez said of his visit to an organizational session. "I came for Tom Lee. We were both University of Tampa graduates."
Martinez noted the differences since he left office in 1990 when Democrats dominated the House and Senate.
"Clearly it looks a lot different," said Martinez, Florida's second Republican governor in modern times. "It was a stunning year in Florida and the nation. It will be a good year for the people of Florida."
It was lonely being a Republican governor in 1987, Martinez recalled.
"I was here during the missionary stage," he said.
After another election cycle that saw them lose a U.S. Senate seat and three more state House seats, could things get any worse for Florida Democrats?
Yes, says one of the party's rising stars.
Rep. Chris Smith, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer who was sworn in as House Democratic leader on Tuesday, said he worries what might happen in the 2006 election cycle. He disagreed with his friend, Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, who had told House Democrats: "I think we've hit rock-bottom this time."
Not so, Smith said. Rep. Dwight Stansel of Wellborn, possibly the most conservative member of the 36-member House Democratic caucus, is term-limited in 2006.
"We could easily lose that one," Smith said. He said he expected Republicans to target two other seats, one in Palm Beach County where Democrat Shelley Vana narrowly won on Nov. 2, and a swing district in St. Petersburg held by Democrat Charlie Justice.
"With their 527s and millions of dollars, you see what they can do," Smith said of the Republicans.
There's a new lobbyist on the block.
Former Sen. Ron Silver, a Democrat from North Miami Beach, left the Senate two years ago. Having waited the mandatory two years state law requires of former legislators, he can now legally lobby for the first time.
He has signed up to work for Calder Race Course, the consulting firm Maximus, Mount Sinai Hospital and a few other clients.
Newly installed Rep. Everett Rice, R-Treasure Island, is bringing a familiar face back into state government. His chief legislative aide will be Bobby Somers, former chief investigator for the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office.
Somers, 63, was a detective sergeant in the Pinellas Sheriff's Office when Rice was a sergeant in charge of vice investigations. The two have been close friends for more than 30 years.
Somers worked for former State Attorney James T. Russell and State Attorney Bernie McCabe for more than 20 years before retiring in 2002.
"My wife told me I need to find something to do," Somers joked.
Times staff writers Lucy Morgan and Steve Bousquet contributed to this week's column.
