Joe Henderson
Members of the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus gathered last week at the Governor’s Club in Tallahassee for dinner and business.
The dinner was scrumptious. The business was to elect Sen. Lauren Book as their next Leader, effective in November 2022, and they accomplished that.
However, things quickly went off the rails when Sen. Gary Farmer, then the Leader, objected. He claimed the meeting wasn’t valid because only he could call for an official gathering like that.
Farmer and Book have a history. In 2018, when Book opposed Farmer for the job as Leader-designate, he openly suggested she wouldn’t be able to devote the necessary time because of her two young children.
After hearing Farmer’s objection, Sen. Janet Cruz of Tampa decided enough was enough.
“The only reason he did that was to try and humiliate (Book) again,” she told Florida Politics. “I was not going to sit there and let that happen. I stood up and asked Gary, ‘Why are you doing this?’ And then I left the meeting. I wasn’t going to listen to that anymore.”
By that point, Farmer was losing his grip on the job of Senate Minority Leader. On Wednesday morning, it became official.
The headline on the main page of Florida Politics said it all.
“Gary Farmer resigns as Leader, plunges Senate Democrats into chaos.”
Those same Senate Democrats unanimously gave Farmer a no-confidence vote. Well, sure. His short reign has been — um, how shall I put this — a flaming disaster.
“I think he’s dismissive of women. But it’s not just women,” Cruz said. “He operated in a vacuum, and you can’t do that. I mean, seriously, the no-confidence vote against him was unanimous.”
This forced exit is proof of Cruz’s point, and the “chaos” description is fair. It’s also fleeting. At this point, it’s less about optics and more about putting the right person in charge because, six months (or days, or hours) from now, only political nerds will care about this.
“This is painful and messy, but this has been brewing for a while,” Cruz said. “And honestly, I think the average voter couldn’t care less about this. It won’t even register.”
If that’s true — and it probably is — to invoke the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Dems might look back on ousting Farmer as good trouble.
It all depends on what happens next.
Not long after the vote, Farmer formally resigned as Leader, but he lost the moment. Rather than accept the decision and allow Book to take over, Farmer tossed a grenade on his way out the door.
He declared that Sen. Bobby Powell, the Leader Pro Tempore, “shall assume the role and responsibilities of the Senate Democratic Leader, effective immediately.”
Farmer said Senate and Caucus rules call for that. Cruz doesn’t agree, and Powell said that twist caught him by surprise. Besides, the rumor is that Powell may get in the race to succeed the late Alcee Hastings in Congress.
It was a petty, petulant move.
While that works itself out, though, there is no doubt that Democrats have a lot of healing and reconfiguring to do. That needs to happen before they can think about having a stronger presence in Tallahassee. They can start with the question of how someone like Farmer advanced this far.
First, answer that, and then move on.
Book, meanwhile, wins wide praise for her determined bridge-building. Colleagues say she is focused, respectful, and knows how to work constructively with people who hold differing views.
Oh, and she does that while juggling her demands as a mother.
“For Senate Democrats to effect real and meaningful change without leaving anything on the table, we must fight for our strongly held Democratic values that benefit everyday people,” Book said in a prepared statement.
“I believe that through effective consensus building, Senate Democrats can be powerfully pragmatic without compromising our principles, and there is no doubt the people of Florida deserve that much from their elected leaders.”
Democrats had a painful reckoning after the spanking they took in November 2020, and they made changes. Manny Diaz took over as FDP Chair with renewed purpose and vision. And now Book stands poised to bring new focus and purpose to the Senate.
Yeah, this is messy and for a few hours we’ll wag a finger at the discombobulated Democrats. But in Wednesday’s move, they also showed promise that they understand what must be fixed.
This is a good start.
One comment
Ron Ogden
April 29, 2021 at 8:36 am
And they think they can run the government, whether it’s St. Pete, Tallahassee or Washington. Vote them all back to the town highway board where we don’t have to read about them getting into trouble.
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