OPINION: Bill Cotterell: C’mon, John, do it ‘For the people’

: Gov. Claude Kirk made politics fun during his one term in Tallahassee. [State Library and Archives of Florida]

John Morgan probably won’t run for governor and his hope for a third party probably won’t work out, but the famous lawyer could do something no other candidate could do.

He’d make Florida politics fun again.

For the last half-century, we’ve had smart, competent governors who are about as interesting as your average insurance actuary. They get to the governor’s mansion after vicious primaries and general elections, so that by election day it feels like choosing your favorite Menendez brother.

More than 50 years have passed since Florida has had a chief executive who alternately amused, aggravated and horrified the Tallahassee establishment — and seemingly didn’t care which he did, on any occasion. When I moved to Tallahassee in 1969, there was Claude Roy Kirk Jr., a self-described “tree-shaking SOB.”

Kirk did mad, marvelous things that kept the Capitol press corps enthralled with skirmishes between the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, an overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature and an all-Democratic state cabinet. Kirk was contemptuous of both, referring to the cabinet as the “six dwarfs” (it was larger then) and denouncing the planned high-rise capitol as “princely and ponderous palaces for political potentates.”

Morgan might lack Kirk’s alliteration, but he has the same disdain for Tallahassee’s plutocracy. And his speaking style — F-words and all — would be a refreshing change from the plodding efficiency both parties promise every four years. Public meeting laws notwithstanding, you could charge admission to watch this guy work.

“Every time they meet, they screw us over,” Morgan said of the Legislature. “It’s sickening … politicians want to have total control so they can take care of their special interests — cable companies, the fire companies, the sugar people. They don’t want us to have a say, because they know we, the people, are dangerous. We’re dangerous when we get to vote, and they don’t want that.”

Like Kirk, Morgan was a disgruntled Democrat who’d quit the party. Neither man held any public office before running statewide and — if Morgan runs — he, like Kirk, would need a public attitude of “a pox on both your houses” toward the major parties.

State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who recently left the Democratic Party and plans a no-party run for governor, needs that same segment of disgruntled voters. If U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds has a bitterly fought GOP primary with First Lady Casey DeSantis and Pizzo splits the independents, the political landscape late next year might be right for Morgan.

The Democrats, to the extent they’re still a factor, seem likely to pin their dim hopes on former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, an ex-Republican known for never-Trump rhetoric on MSNBC.

Such a splintered scenario is how Kirk won in 1966. Then-Gov. Haydon Burns lost a furious Democratic runoff to Miami Mayor Robert King High and the Democrats couldn’t reunite, so Kirk made history.

He oversaw big changes, mostly imposed on him by the 1968 Florida Constitution and a government reorganization. One innovation was creation of the lieutenant governor’s office, which Morgan says we don’t need. He also questions having a governor’s mansion or an agriculture commissioner.

One difference between the two men is that Morgan favors allowing marijuana use. In one of his more glaring gaffes, Kirk once called the world-famous anthropologist Margaret Mead “this dirty old lady” for endorsing pot legalization.

Their public styles are similar. Kirk said whatever he was thinking and so does Morgan. Reporters showed up at every Kirk event, not so much for the business at hand but for whatever new outrage he might cause.

It would be good to see another “tree-shaker,” such as Morgan, speak seriously to voters about property insurance, health care, education, crime and so many other things that actually matter.

In a rollicking speech to the Capital Tiger Bay Club, Morgan teased Tallahasseeans about running for governor. He said he’ll wait to see how the field develops and how issues are addressed around this time next year, as he prefers a short sprint rather than a marathon.

Morgan emphasized that both major parties are captives of their most extreme fringes, which is why he wants a new party. So, he proposed a name-the-party contest, offering a cash prize to whoever can come up with the best label. That’s a very Kirk-like thing to do.

But it probably can’t happen. Movements built around a superstar come and go, like Ross Perot’s Reform Party or Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressives, but never catch on. Independent candidates like Pizzo can make a splash but soon sink silently.

With his money and name recognition, Morgan could force other candidates to address real issues, rather than denouncing drag shows, protecting us from fluoride in drinking water and seeing who can talk toughest about illegal immigration.

In his Tiger Bay talk, Morgan gave an insight into why he probably won’t run. He’s got a great life now, wintering in Maui and doing whatever he feels like every day. He doesn’t need the headaches of dealing with difficult events, or fighting a Legislature made up of two parties that could agree only on opposing him.

Still, it sure would be fun to watch.

Bill Cotterell is a retired Capitol reporter for United Press International and the Tallahassee Democrat. He can be reached at [email protected]