Jon Costello is comfortable where he is right now.
His wife Nicole just gave birth to their second son, hes putting the finishing touches together on the syllabus for his fall graduate course in political communications at Florida State University, and hes just completed a second session as legislative affairs director for Gov. Rick Scott.
Growing up, I always wanted to run for office, but at this point I dont know, Costello said. This might be the closest I get and its been great. Ive been able to live vicariously through the governor as if Ive been in office without being elected.
Gov. Rick Scott, in a release, pointed to Costellos efforts for education and job creation.
"He does a great job explaining our priorities to the Legislature and he works his tail off to help accomplish my agenda of making Florida the No.1 state for education and job creation," Scott stated.
Well-connected Tallahassee lobbyist Gary Rutledge, who previously employed Costello, now 31, as a government consultant and lobbyist, credited Costello with great political insight.
He has a great understanding of the political system, how it worked. He was very effective for a young person, Rutledge said.
Ive been doing this for many years and he was one of the quickest studies that Ive ever been associated with in terms of learning the process, establishing relationships with legislators and others.
While in college, Costello interned with Rutledge and was brought back to the firm when an opening occurred in 2006.
Costello is the son of a now-retired U.S. Air Forcecolonel who went to work after earning his bachelor's and master's in political science from Florida State University with the Air Force as a manager of a weapons delivery program. He had been with Rutledge for about five years when he found himself with Scott, working as his policy advisory in the 2010 election.
It was really kind of a lucky circumstance, Costello said. We just finished the 2010 legislative session, finishing up client reports, and heard that a guy that no one had heard about was going to get into the governors race.
Scott had the money so that fundraising wouldnt be a problem, but he had a vast shortcoming in terms of knowing people deep in the political system.
Bill Rubin, a lobbyist who runs the Rubin Group and who has known Scott for a long time, asked Costello to recommend people for Scotts campaign.Costello included his own, noting he wasnt going to be busy that summer.
A week later, I was moving to Fort Lauderdale for the rest of the campaign cycle to help build the team, Costello said.
The only break for Costello came between the primary and general election, when his first son was born.
Scott kept Costello around, naming him legislative affairs director, after defeating Democrat Alex Sink.
As a former lobbyist, with clients that included Scotts old HCA, Costello now has the unique perspective of watching others seek him out.
As a contract lobbyist, youre always trying to get into their offices; now theyre trying to get into mine, Costello said. When youre representing random clients saying you need to get this done, you dont get much of a response. When you say, 'The governor really wants to make this happen,' people are a lot more likely to be helpful.
Tom Feeney, president of Associated Industries of Florida, said the governor had a terrific agenda this session with a very effective team.
House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, called Costello a thoughtful and productive liaison between the governors office and the Legislature.
Many of the governor's priorities were fine-tuned with his help, Cannon said.
Costello said the agenda comes straight from the top.
Many in the news industry have speculated about Scott evolving in office in his first two years.
Asked if there was a difference in how the governors office approached the 2011 session and the 2012 session, Costello said they would appear more mechanical than substantive.
We probably had fewer meetings, he said. The first year it was twice a day, every day, on issues. We cut that back to a couple of times a week and elevated the top issues.
The biggest change is that the staff under the direction of Chief of Staff Steve MacNamara has been able to build Scotts relationships, getting Scott to meet with legislators and others even when there wasnt an issue on the table.
As for how the governors agenda is put together, it all starts and ends with Scott, Costello said.
He gives us a list of things, saying, 'These are the problems in Florida Id like to tackle,' Costello said.
Costello and Chris Finkbeiner, Scotts deputy chief of staff, meet with the governors staff and the state Office of Policy and Budget to determine which issues they can take on.
The same review is undertaken on issues proposed by the Legislature.
Well make our comments, then go to a full briefing with the governor, lay out just the facts, and he makes the ultimate decision, Costello said. Hes the ultimate decision-maker, thats for sure.
With a growing household, Costello isnt ready to give up the job just yet.
His childhood aspirations, however, are on hold.
Its difficult to be a private-sector lobbyist and then run for office, Costello said. A Republican who lobbied for Miller Corp. and a pari-mutuel, the attack ads write themselves.
Instead the future may hold heading a future governors office.
Chief of staff to the third or fourth largest state is a pretty amazing opportunity, it would be hard to turn down, but thats for future generations.
Costello also plans to keep teaching. Except for when the 2010 campaign got in the way, hes taught political communications the past five years at FSU, with each year perspective and material growing on running local campaigns.
With the last year and this year its a lot easier to teach, Costello said. There are excellent examples of things youve been in the middle of and how you handled it and how you could have handled it better, looking back.
Asked if there were things that he would like to have done differently in the governors office, Costello retorted, Im sure there is stuff we could have done better, but Im not going to dwell on it today."
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
