Jim Rosica
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Florida House Speaker-Designate Richard Corcoran was big on high concepts but stingy with detail on how he would press his wide-ranging agenda of ethical reform.
Corcoran, a Land O’ Lakes Republican, had just been selected Speaker of the GOP-controlled House of Representatives by his colleagues for the 2016-18 term.
The speaker-to-be was pointedly challenged by Florida Times-Union reporter Tia Mitchell on his notion of political courage, especially because he had former state Rep. Jack Mashburn as a guest of honor.
Mashburn held only one term in the House representing Panama City Beach in the 1950s because he had called for racial integration at the state’s beaches, Corcoran had said in his speech.
He told reporters he met Mashburn, a relative of Corcoran’s wife Ann, at a family reunion two years ago in the Panhandle.
“Jack’s story is important because it is a test of character,” Corcoran said in the prepared version of his remarks.
“Not Jack’s character, but our character,” he said. “Because, either you hear that story as a cautionary tale, or you hear it how I hear it – as a story of a person who put principle over politics, who understood that what is wrong must be put right, and that change can’t wait for a more convenient time.”
Mitchell was skeptical, however, noting that many of the reforms Corcoran was calling for – judicial term limits, restraints on lobbying – were “populist or conservative bread-and-butter.”
On the other hand, Mashburn “stood up and stood alone,” she said.
But Corcoran equated courage with controversy, referring to his call to analyze prosecution and sentencing outcomes by race and county.
“Make no mistake, when we start drafting that legislation, it will be one of the most controversial we draft,” he said. “It will be fought by state attorneys, judges, public defenders, because nobody wants to be held accountable.”
He added: “When we start getting those metrics, we will find out – unfortunately – that justice is not blind in this state. And we are going to fix that.”
He also said his proposal for 12-year term limit on elected judges was not in response to adverse court rulings, including one that found Republicans had gerrymandered the state’s new congressional districts to benefit the GOP.
“It’s nothing about that at all,” Corcoran said.
He quickly spun again to his interest in what he calls “metrics,” court data that would show whether minorities receive harsher punishment for the same crime as whites in certain counties.
“In order to do something transformational, you have to confront the brutal facts,” he said.
But he had no interest in reviving some of the draconian measures introduced by former Speaker Dean Cannon, who tried to gut the Supreme Court by dividing it into two bodies, one for criminal appeals and another for civil.
“The concept of splitting the court, no, that’s not on the table,” he said.
As to his stance against special interests, Corcoran was reminded of a slew of political fundraisers held by many of those same interests, many for House members, scheduled this week in Tallahassee.
“We can never create a perfect society,” he said. “Our burden is to do as many checks and balances to make the process as pure as it can be.”
