Guest AuthorSenator Myers was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1964, as a part of a large group of urban area legislators first elected to serve in Tallahassee. The 1960 census reflected large population growth in the urban areas of the state, particularly South Florida, resulting in the U. S. Supreme Court mandating that Florida apportion its’ legislature on the basis of one person, one vote. The incumbent Pork Chop Gang, then the controlling political power in the Capitol, was largely replaced by well educated, reformers like Myers.
Senator Myers moved up to the Senate in 1968, serving in the legislature for 16 consecutive years. He made his mark in social service reforms and education. The Myers Act, a model for national legislation bearing his name, recognizes mental health as a factor within judicial criminal sentencing. Ken Myers was a successful counsellor of law in Miami, and served as an advisor to his friends and former senate colleagues, Democratic Governors Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, and Lawton Chiles during the ’70s and ’80’s.
