During Sunshine State News' first three years, we dismissed John Morgan as just another rich and powerful Florida trial attorney. That would be our mistake.
Morgan was always more than that.
He was/is a family man, founder of a multi-state personal-injury law firm, a showman, a businessman, an author, a philanthropist, a dabbler of sorts in political machinations and an investor in politicians.
Speaking of politicians, he is also the owner of at least three of them that we know -- in Florida, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and state Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers; in Kentucky, Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo. (Actually, Crist may no longer be employed by Morgan; Fitzhagen went to work for him last July.)
Most of all, Morgan knows how to make people do what he wants, and he has the money to make it happen. He had it all figured out in 2010, from the time he hired an affable, career-flattened former governor without a party and put his face on billboards from one end of Florida to the other.
"For the People," read the billboard, Crist's face smiling at passing traffic. Morgan would later say of the former governor, "He has been a rainmaker extraordinaire. I wish I had 10 more just like him."
By January 2013 Morgan had told audiences the story of his father Ramon's struggle with esophageal cancer more than half a dozen times. Only marijuana would ease the pain. Andhis brother Tim, paralyzed from the waist down since high school, uses chocolate-infused marijuana twice a day to deal with spasms and the pain of paralysis, he said.
That was driving him to do what the Florida Legislature wouldn't do, he explained -- launch a petition drive, get a medical marijuana amendment on the 2014 ballot.
By the third week in August 2013, People United for Medical Marijuana, as his signature collectors were known, had produced roughly 110,000 signatures, a number far exceeding the 68,314 required to trigger a Florida Supreme Court review. It cost Morgan roughly $150,000 a week just to collect them.
Crist, meanwhile, still smiling down from Morgan's billboards, had announced his Democratic candidacy for governor on Nov. 4, one year before the 2014 election. Republicans were convinced Morgan was pushing a medical-marijuana ballot initiative to draw liberal voters to the polls for Crist -- and to further feather the Morgan & Morgan nest.
"It's so smart of (Morgan) to attach himself to Charlie Crist," said Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson. "I think this is about getting the Supreme Court justices that John wants appointed because they would be good for his own pocketbook."
Said longtime political consultant and savant Roger Stone, "The state Department of Health will set up a potentially lucrative system to dispense the medically prescribed marijuana. ... The next governor will control the distribution scheme and John Morgan is betting that will be a grateful Charlie Crist, who will give him (or a client) a franchise, the profits of which would dwarf his personal-injury law firm."
Time and again, Morgan shrugged off the criticism. Cancer doesn't have a political party preference, he would say.
In the early going, there was no bad news for Amendment 2. In fact, there wasn't much bad news for Crist either. LastApril, Amendment 2 looked indestructible. Poll after poll gave it upward of 80 percent in voter approval.And Crist -- who openly backed Amendment 2 -- at one point had been a clear 10 percentage points ahead of Gov. Rick Scott, who opposed the amendment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi led an effort to keep medical marijuana off the ballot, ultimately failing when the state's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the proposed measure. (Under the Florida Constitution and judiciary, the state Supreme Court has ultimate authority and jurisdiction over state constitutional interpretation.)
Then came a fatal turnabout for Amendment 2.
First, a well-financed medical marijuana opposition group, Drug Free Florida, popped up in timely fashion with the money to fight back -- through a glitzy TV ad campaign, digital media, grassroots mobilization,and an effective get-out-the-vote strategy. Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, America's 12th richest person, spent $5.5 million to support the "No on 2" effort. In the meantime, United for Care's cupboard was bare, having spent most of its money on the petition drive.
But the second incident was more bizarre, involving Morgan personally. On one September night the king turned jester -- the father of Amendment 2 -- inexplicably shooting himself and his dream in the foot when he turned up drunk at a country-western bar in Lakeland, stood drink-in-hand on a stage in front of a customer-audience of young people, and delivered a slurred, profanity-laced speech, urging them to vote for marijuana. All of it was caught on camera. The video probably went viral before Morgan got home that night.
No on 2 people had a feast with it. Morgan was largely unapologetic -- but privately, even today he must be wondering what could have been if he hadn't shown up at Lakeland's Boots and Buckles that night.
The bottom line is, on Election Day Amendment 2 received more votes than Rick Scott, but that wasn't good enough. It came in at 58 percent, 2 percentage points short of victory. Charlie Crist lost, too, but by then it didn't matter for Morgan, who had plowed nearly $5 million into the amendment campaign. When you come so close and fail, you have to think about what more you could (or shouldn't) have done.
Certainly Morgan blames Debbie Wasserman Schultz for coming out against Amendment 2, providing cannon fodder for his enemies and he blasted her for it:Her poor timing and very public stand against medical marijuana helped squander the efforts of thousands of volunteers and donors, he said.Now the South Florida congresswoman and Democratic National Committee chair wants to open a dialogue with him. All he has to do is tone down the criticism of her position from last year. But Morgan isn't having any of it. We dont negotiate with prohibitionists. Or bullies, he said.
Those who know him best at various times have called John Morgan brilliant, charming, childlike, shrewd, blunt, funny, ruthless when he needs to be. But one thing all of them stress is his perseverance. He plain doesn't give up.
Morgan says if the 2015 Legislature doesn't fire up a strong medical marijuana bill, he's going back for another ballot amendment, this time in 2016, a presidentialelection year which always draws more voters -- something that should scare the pants off Florida's sitting majority, he said. And he's prepared to back it with more of his personal fortune.
Don't think he's just blowing smoke. Morgan and United For Care, the heavy-lifting organization he chairs, submitted a revised amendment to the states Division ofElections in early January. The petition drive is already under way. SSN could be writing about Morgan in its 10th anniversary series.
Prominent criminal defense attorney Mark NeJame, Morgan's way-back friend from when they were frat brothers at the University of Florida, knows you shouldn't betagainst John Morgan. "If youre going to shoot at the king," says NeJame, "you better damn well kill him.
(ABOUT THIS SERIES: John Morgan is the 14th in a special anniversary series of 20 political personalities who loomed large since early 2010, when Sunshine State News set up shop in Tallahassee.Who else made the list? Click here to find out.)
