Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
The state comptroller says failures by the Legislature are forcing him to consider running against Tom Gallagher.
By LUCY MORGAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 17, 2001
TALLAHASSEE -- Call it a Republican nightmare.
Comptroller Bob Milligan, a retired Marine general known for his political independence and clean image, says he is considering running for chief financial officer against Republican Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher.
"That's not what a party chairman wants to see," state Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas said Friday. "It's not my idea of fully using our talent and resources.
Milligan, reached Friday at a luncheon in Chattahoochee, said the Legislature has forced him to consider the race by its failure to act on proposals to govern banking and insurance.
Two years in a row, legislators have failed to agree on a system for regulating banking and insurance that must be in place by January 2003 when the state elects its first chief financial officer. The Cabinet-level position was created by voters in 1998 as part of a plan to reduce the size of the state Cabinet from six to three positions. The chief financial officer will handle the duties previously performed by the comptroller and the treasurer and insurance commissioner.
If legislators fail to act in 2002, Milligan and others think the courts would have to decide how banking and insurance are regulated.
"That's the last thing we need to have happen," Milligan said. "If they don't address it, I'll fight the good fight."
Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher is running for the new Cabinet office and has already raised more than $725,000 in campaign contributions. Asked about Milligan's comments Friday, the normally loquacious Gallagher was almost speechless.
"It's not good for the party," Gallagher said. "But if he wants to run, it's his privilege. I'm running for it either way."
Milligan and Gallagher have been at odds over how the new department should be set up.
Milligan wants the officers who regulate banking and insurance to be insulated from the elected official and subject to appointment by the governor and Cabinet. Gallagher wants the regulators under the control of the elected chief financial officer.
A longtime believer in term limits, Milligan, 68, has frequently said he would not run for the state's top financial job after serving eight years as comptroller. Instead he was expected to run for Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Jim King said he thinks Milligan is just being "militarist -- rattling sabers."
"Milligan has really been concerned," King added. "He doesn't think the foxes should be guarding the henhouses."
King said he is certain the Legislature will approve an organizational plan for the new post.
"We will do something," King said. "It's time for the people who are running to know what they are running for."
Cardenas said he'll be working to see the creation of a congressional district that will attract Milligan to run.