Peter Schorsch
Florida Senators were in the state capital for committee meetings just three days before the first story about “Who Will Be Senate President — Maybe?” was written.
Matt Dixon of the Naples Daily News, and the preferred reporter of the I-10 Republican consultant consortium, scooped that Joe Negron is now saying he has a majority of Senate Republicans backing his bid to become leader of that chamber for a two-year term starting in 2017. Negron’s announcement is the first time either has said they have majority support with at least 14 votes.
Negron’s rival, Jack Latvala called bullish*t.
“I’ll kiss his feet on the Capitol steps if he can show me he has more than 12 pledge cards from current members of the Senate,” Latvala said, offering a ready-made press skit to the Capitol Press Corps.
In December, this website, occasionally derided as Jack Latvala’s tout sheet, questioned whether it was time for Latvala to abandon his presidential ambitions.
This past November, the senior state senator from Pinellas County lost a high-profile proxy battle in Senate District 34 pitting his ally, Republican Ellyn Bogdanoff, against Democratic incumbent Maria Sachs. Latvala had painted himself into a corner, framing the race almost like a loser-leaves-town fight between him and his rival for the Senate presidency, state Sen. Joe Negron. Had Bogdanoff won in SD 34, Latvala may have had an edge over Negron, but since she didn’t, he was, at best, tied with Negron in how many secret pledges he had from Senate colleagues. It’s more likely Latvala is down a pledge (or even two) to Negron.
Negron’s statement on Wednesday suggests that Latvala is actually down a field goal rather than a point.
If Negron’s telling the truth, and, by gosh, Senator Anite Flores says he is, how did this come about?
Negronworld, if there is such a thing, says that one senator flipped from Latvala to Negron, while another undecided colleague signed up with the Man from Stuart.
Speculation points to Tampa’s Tom Lee being the pledge switcher.
Et tu, Tom Lee, the fellow Bay area lawmaker who once headlined a major fundraiser for Latvala’s presidential campaign?
A political advisor close to Lee says they recently spoke with the former Senate President but the topic of Negron vs. Latvala did not come up. Yet, the Greek Chorus on Adams Street can’t stop from singing Lee’s name.
As someone who has paid close attention to this story for half-a-decade and as a Latvala supporter who has swatted down previous wolf tickets about him being down for the count, something about this latest development feels more real than previous ones. Not necessarily the part about Lee being the one who switched his pledge, but about the matter being settled.
Of course, as soon as I post this, I’ll probably get a text message from a certain someone telling me how, per usual, I don’t know what the hell I’m writing about.
