Politics
Future Leaders Don Gaetz, Will Weatherford Look to Put Up United Front
Session meltdown behind them, leadership pair must handle redistricting before taking reins of Legislature
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Sen. Don Gaetz and Rep. Will Weatherford
But as the session drew down to the wire, and a spat between the two chambers turned into a showdown that resulted in Cannon putting one over on Haridopolos, that relationship appears to be fractured, at best.
The task of smoothing over the relationship between the House and Senate will likely fall on its future leaders -- Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville -- who also must manage a redistricting process fraught with the potential for political machinations and intra-party food fights among GOP members.
Weatherford and Gaetz, tapped to be the next House speaker and Senate president, respectively, as well as chair the redistricting committees for their houses, have a relationship that is cordial, if not quite as chummy as Cannon and Haridopolos were before the session meltdown.
“We’ll probably have a pretty boring relationship -- cordial, but effective,” Gaetz said.
“Senator Gaetz and I have a tremendous relationship. We had a tremendous relationship going into this session and I think we’ve strengthened that relationship,” Weatherford said.
That bond will undoubtedly be tested when they stand at the helm of their chambers in 2013 and must negotiate a budget and various legislation, but also this summer, as the pair presides over a series of joint meetings of their committees throughout the state.
The future leaders doubt there will be any residual bad blood from the end-of-session blowup that affects the drawing of lines.
“I don’t think it’ll make a bit of difference. I think it is probably more of a media event than anything else,” Gaetz said of the session meltdown.
Weatherford believes the awkward end to the session has taken the shine off of Republican accomplishments during the rest of the session, like Medicaid reform, a teacher merit pay bill that has been signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott, and pension reform for state workers.
“A lot of people are focusing on the last three hours of session as opposed to the earlier part of the session,” Weatherford said.
Gaetz said the statewide tour of the two chambers’ redistricting panels, which begins next month, is more about listening to citizens and getting input on where they think new congressional and legislative districts should be drawn.
“The speaker-designate and I are charged by our presiding officers with listening to the people of Florida on reapportionment and redistricting. There’s not going to be very much talking by legislators,” Gaetz said.
But that belies the fact that some of Weatherford’s committee members have their sights set on Senate seats in 2012.
Reps. John Legg, R-Port Richey, Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, and Marty Kiar, D-Davie, all of whom sit on the House Redistricting Committee, are vying for Senate seats. Hukill also serves as vice chair of the Senate Redistricting Subcommittee in the House.
Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, also sits on the Senate Redistricting Subcommittee, and has entered the race for the Senate District 27 seat, which is currently held by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Wellington.
The oddly shaped district cuts a thin swath across Florida from Fort Myers on the west to Palm Beach County on the east. Benacquisto, a freshman lawmaker in Tallahassee who previously served as vice mayor of Wellington, has been trying to buttress her bona fides in Lee County -- where the majority of Republican votes in SD 27 are located -- by passing the Officer Andrew Widman Act, named after an officer from Fort Myers who was slain in 2008 while on duty. The bill, which allows courts to jail felons awaiting probation violation hearings, was signed into law this week by Gov. Scott.
Despite the potential for political intrigue, Weatherford and Gaetz say they will have little tolerance for the kind of gamesmanship on their committees that marked the end of the 2011 legislative session.
“I’m not interested in anybody’s personal political agenda,” Weatherford said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
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