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If ever Florida had a speaker prepared to take the gavel, it has to be Richard Corcoran, whose designation today formalizes a kind of 20-year, one-of-its-kind apprenticeship for the job.
Corcoran, 50, has been around that long. He was hanging out with the Florida Legislature in 1996 when Dan Webster became the first Republican speaker of the House in 120 years.
There isn't much that could happen that Corcoran hasn't seen.
Called by more than one political observer "the smartest guy in the room," the Land O' Lakes father of six knows the legislative process like he does his own backyard -- by virtue of having worked for three past House speakers. His law firm worked for Webster in 1996 and Tom Feeney in the early 2000s. In 2006, Corcoran was hired as Marco Rubio’s chief of staff when Rubio was speaker.
Even the opposition bows to his experience and effectiveness. “He knows the system and he comes to work with a full set of tools,” Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, the House Democratic leader, told the media. “He’s a strategic thinker and he knows the rules. He knows how to talk behind the scenes and work with people.”
The year 2012 was pivotal for Corcoran, whose campaign for the House attracted the attention and sizable donation of the billionaire Koch Brothers. That has never been an embarrassment for Corcoran, whose brand of conservativism is directly in line with the Kochs and their Americans for Prosperity.
Even Rep. Scott Plakon, who Corcoran succeeded, alluded to this in a Tallahassee Democrat interview: "Liberals use the Koch brothers to criticize people’s conservative values. Most of the members that I know who identify themselves as conservative, including Chairman Corcoran, have deeply held beliefs that small government is best for our country.”
Corcoran is widely regarded as a principled man who wants the truth out in the open but who plays to win. If he's ineffective in any part of his game, it's a secret to most at the Capitol.
Certainly it won't hurt Corcoran's Wow! factor -- to say nothing of his popularity -- that he and Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, are tight. As speaker, Corcoran gets to control how state Republican Party money is spent on House re-elections.
Corcoran knows how to deal with the press without pandering or pretending. He is a gifted deal maker who is never satisfied with the status quo, an arbiter and confident in his conservative values. Part of his unque skillset is his ability to express himself with almost alarming conviction. During a budget speech he made on the House floor, he focused on negotiatons with the Senate and the House's refusal to expand the Medicaid program by saying this:
“They want to come dance? We’re not dancing. We’re not dancing this session, we’re not dancing next session, we’re not dancing next summer. We’re not dancing -- and if you want to blow up the process because somehow you think you have that right that doesn’t exist, have at it.”
Effective words. They drew loud applause from the Republican majority.
This year, as chair of House Appropriations, he was perceived as the most powerful leader in the House. But that was only a percepetion. In spite of media stories to the contrary, it was always Speaker Steve Crisafulli who called the shots in his chamber.
In the last five years Corcoran is as responsible as any House leader for promoting structure and discipline in the House, the long-term consensus that allows members to grow into leadership positions. Term limits created the need for it, but the House has honed it to a fine art that works well for Florida. It was that structure and discipline that made it possible for Steve Crisafulli to jump aboard the speakership track virtually seamlessly in 2012, after Seminole County Republican Chris Dorworth unexpectedly lost his re-election bid to Democrat Mike Clelland.
Structure and discipline are precisely what the Senate lacks most. A year away and the upper chamber has no idea who it will designate as president, Joe Negron or Jack Latvala, the no-love-lost twins. Their utter dislike for each other is personal and it bodes ill for the 2016 Senate. Most at the Capitol rally around one "leader" rather than the other because they "can't stand Negron" or "can't stand Latvala" -- their words, not mine. If somebody is truly for one or the other, please amaze me ... give me a call.
What a shame there's no way to skip over both of these choices and advance the terms of Sens. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby. With a real partner on the Senate side, Corcoran could get a lot of much-needed business finished.
The Senate's stumble at the gate makes Richard Corcoran and the House look like thoroughbreds.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith