Will Weatherford Officially Selected to be Next Speaker of Florida House

The House Republicans met on Monday to hold a ceremony honoring Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and tabbing him as speaker designate who will wield the Florida House after the 2012 elections.

As expected, Weatherford was elected without opposition from the Republican caucus.

Speaking from the well of the House, Weatherford praised servant leadership and said he would try to be a servant leader in his time as speaker.

Weatherford praised the promise of Florida and, while he avoided talking about specific policy, the future speaker touched on his principles.

Our rights come from God, not from government, said the future speaker, who took aim at legalized abortion.

All life is precious and worthy of our respect, said Weatherford. We can never call ourselves a truly just society as long as we fail to recognize the rights of the unborn.

Invoking the American founders, Weatherford called for government to stay out of the way of the private sector and singled out California, New York and Illinois as examples of states with too much taxation.

Weatherford touched on the protests that will occur on Tuesday from groups opposed to Gov. Rick Scotts plans to cut the state budget.

No matter who protests, we are not looking at the next election, said Weatherford. We are looking at the next generation.