Because one of them will be the 18th lieutenant governor of the great state of Florida, we offer our sincerest condolences to Rod Smith and Jennifer Carroll.
As Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamps unsuccessful bid for the Republican attorney general nomination shows, the position of lieutenant governor is not always a ticket to success in Florida politics.
While Kottkamp had the additional problem of running in a Republican primary not long after his boss, Gov. Charlie Crist, decided to abandon the GOP to run without party affiliation, history shows that Floridas lieutenant governors have rarely found political success after their stints as the No. 2 in the executive branch.
The position has an odd history. During the first years of statehood in the period before the Civil War, the state did not have a lieutenant governor. It was created in 1865 as part of the Reconstruction constitutional reforms -- but was in existence for less than 25 years.
Despite serving in the Confederate Navy, William Kelly, a longtime legislator from Pensacola and a hero of the Mexican War, was elected Floridas first lieutenant governor in 1865 under Gov. David Walker. Walker and Kelly rose to power under President Andrew Johnson, who was looking to appoint moderate leaders to power in the South as opposed to abolitionists or rabid Confederates. While Kelly would serve on the bench after Reconstruction, his stint as lieutenant governor, which ended in 1868, was his moment in the sun.
Kelly was followed by William Henry Gleason, a carpetbagger from Wisconsin, whose advocacy for the freed slaves brought him into conflict with his moderate Republican boss, Gov. Harrison Reed. After one of the many impeachments of Reed, Gleason even declared himself governor -- only to find that most of the state government sided with Reed. Needless to say, Reed and his allies quickly removed Gleason, who spent the rest of his life out of politics, but staying in Florida to develop land and promote hotels and an agricultural college.
The controversial Reed had two more lieutenant governors -- Edmund Weeks and Samuel Day -- and they proved somewhat better than Gleason. Weeks, who was appointed by Reed, served a year and the Senate did not recognize him. Senators sat in his chair, presiding over the body and walked out when he attempted to preside. Weeks should have gotten the hint that they did not want him as lieutenant governor when the Senate debated a motion to arrest him. Instead, Weeks claimed to be lieutenant governor even when Day was elected to the position. Reed and the courts sided with Day. While Day served out the rest of his term until 1873, that was the high point of his political career. Weeks would represent Leon County in the Legislature and would lose a congressional election. Like his old boss Reed, Weeks would be appointed to an office in Florida by President Benjamin Harrison.
Next up would be Union army veteran Marcellus Stearns who is more prominent than most of the other 19th century lieutenant governors because he became governor when Ossian Hart passed away.Stearns would be the last Republican lieutenant governor as the Democrats returned to power after the sordid and still controversial 1876 elections when the Sunshine State was one of the key battlegrounds in the election between eventual winner Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden.
When Redeemer Democrat George Drew took power in 1877, he had Noble Hull, a Confederate veteran and former state legislator, as lieutenant governor. Quickly tiring of his position,Hull resigned it and ran for Congress the next year. While he was initially declared the winner, Jacksonville Republican Horatio Bisbee would dispute the election and serve the last three months of the term after a successful appeal. Hull would remain active in Jacksonville politics as an assistant postmaster and clerk of the Duval County courts.
When North Florida Democrat William Bloxham ran for governor in 1880, he looked to Key West for a running mate and picked Mayor Livingston Bethel as his running mate. While Bethel was active in Key West for the rest of his life and served as a judge, his term as lieutenant governor was the highpoint of his political career. When Civil War hero Edward Perry was elected governor in 1884, he had Milton Mabry, who would later serve on the state Supreme Court, as his lieutenant governor.
In the constitutional revisions of 1885, the position of lieutenant governor was abolished, though Mabry served out his term. When Gov. Dan McCarthy died in 1953 at the age of 41, Senate President Charley Johns served as acting governor until he was defeated by LeRoy Collins in the Democratic primary.
When Claude Kirk was elected governor in 1966, the first Republican to hold the office since Stearns back in the 1870s, he pushed constitutional reform, including bringing back the lieutenant governor position. Kirk appointed Ray Osborne, an attorney who served in the army and in the Florida House, as lieutenant governor. While Osborne remains a prominent attorney in the Sunshine State, his years under Kirk were the highlight of his tenure in public office.
When voters threw out the colorful Kirk for Democrat Reubin Askew in 1970, they also voted in Tom Adams as lieutenant governor. Adams had served in the Senate and for a decade as secretary of state but he caused headaches for Askew. Askew attempted to name the well-regarded Adams as secretary of commerce -- only to discover that Adams was having a state employee handle some of his personal dealings at the taxpayers expense. Adams would be censured by a legislative committee and was dumped from Askews 1974 ticket. He would try to make a comeback in 1984, running for a seat in the state Senate, but would lose in a landslide. He died in a car accident on Interstate 10 in 2006.
Askew replaced Adams with J.H. Jim Williams who had served in the Senate. A real-estate investor and citrus grower based out of Ocala, Williams would not give Askew anything close to the problems that Adams had. After his service as lieutenant governor, Williams would serve as deputy secretary of agriculture. He would later serve on the board of the St. Johns River Water Management District.
When Bob Graham was elected as governor in 1978, he chose Wayne Mixson as his running mate. A veteran of the Navy and a farmer, Mixson was a longtime member of the Legislature. Mixson was the first lieutenant governor to win a second term and, during it, he also served as state secretary of commerce, much as Askew had wanted Adams to do. With Graham elected to the U.S. Senate, Mixson served as governor for three days before Bob Martinez was sworn in. Gov. Mixson is still serving on a number of boards and remains active in public affairs, occasionally endorsing candidates. Despite occasional rumors, he never ran for office again.
Martinez chose Bobby Brantley, a Republican member of the House who specialized in criminal justice and prison issues, as his running mate in 1986. Brantley served with distinction -- including serving as secretary of commerce and overseeing the fledgling state lottery program. He also won national recognition, serving as chairman of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors and advising President George H.W. Bush on rural affairs. Despite his prominence, he did not seek a second term. Brantley remains active in state affairs in Tallahassee, serving as a consultant with Shutts & Bowen. He headed up Attorney General Bill McCollums transition team after the 2006 elections.
Air Force veteran Buddy MacKay was elected as lieutenant governor when Lawton Chiles beat Martinez in 1990. MacKay had a long career in politics, serving more than 15 years in the Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House in 1982. MacKay would run for the U.S. Senate in 1988 but lose a close race to Connie Mack. MacKay would become the first lieutenant governor to win his partys gubernatorial nomination in 1998 though he would lose to Republican candidate Jeb Bush. After Chiles passed away in December 1998, weeks after Bush won the election, MacKay would serve as governor for three weeks. While MacKay would never run for office again, he did serve as a special envoy to the Americas for Bill Clinton and remains active in politics, endorsing candidates. He released an autobiography earlier in the year.
Former Martin County Schools Superintendent Frank Brogan was elected as state education commissioner in 1994 and had been planning on seeking a second term when Bush asked him to be his running mate in 1998. Brogan agreed and won re-election in 2002. While Brogan worked on education issues and helped push Bushs agenda through the Legislature, when he had the chance to serve as president of Florida Atlantic University, he agreed. Brogan now serves as chancellor of the state university system.
When Brogan stepped down, Bush appointed to the post former Senate President Toni Jennings, who had served more than two decades in the Legislature. Like Brogan, Jennings helped push Bushs program through the Legislature. She did not seek office in 2006 and, reportedly, was not interested in serving as Rick Scotts lieutenant governor candidate.
Currently sitting as lieutenant governor is Jeff Kottkamp, who served in the House before Gov. Crist tapped him as his running mate. Despite winning praise from social conservatives and taking the lead on trying to prevent NASA from cutting jobs in Florida, Kottkamp placed second behind Pam Bondi in the Republican attorney general primary on Aug. 24.
Perhaps because the position has been in existence for less than half of the 165 years of Florida statehood, its fair to say that the lieutenant governorship has not helped most of the men -- and the one woman -- who held the position. It has not helped pave the way for any future electoral ambitions with the possible exception of Hull, who quickly had his congressional election declared invalid. The post clearly elevated some of its occupants to nonelected office -- Bloxham and Mabry from the 19th century were appointed to the bench, Williams ended up as a deputy Cabinet secretary and Brogan as a university president.
But, on the whole, being lieutenant governor has not helped serve as a springboard to greater electoral office. None of the lieutenant governors were elected to serve as governor or to the U.S. Senate or even to another state Cabinet office. MacKay was the only lieutenant governor to even come close when he won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination back in 1998.
A quote from witty Thomas Marshall from Indiana, who served as Woodrow Wilsons vice-president for two terms, comes to mind: Once there were two brothers: one ran away to sea, the other was elected vice president -- and nothing was ever heard from either of them again. The same can be said for most of the lieutenant governors of Florida.
This history is something to keep in mind, especially backers of Rod Smith, who ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2006, and Jennifer Carroll, who made two runs against U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
