Undeclared candidates hover over governor race

TALLAHASSEE – A year out from the 2018 general election, the race for governor is already crowded with three major Democratic candidates and two major Republicans, and likely more on the way.

At the Associated Press’ pre-session planning day Thursday, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and state Sen. Jack Latvala made their pitches as GOP candidates and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham and Winter Park businessman Chris King took aim at the Democratic nomination.

But it was House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, who hasn’t decided on a run yet, and Miami Beach Mayor Phil Levine, who entered the Democratic race on Wednesday, who grabbed much of the attention. The shadow of Orlando attorney and Democratic fundraiser John Morgan, who has said he’ll wait until the spring to decide on the race, also lurked in the background.

Latvala and Graham, particularly, spent portions of their speech bashing Corcoran.

Latvala noted Corcoran’s brother, Michael, is a Tallahassee lobbyist, despite his push for ethics reforms and rules changes. Latvala also bemoaned Corcoran’s crusade earlier this year to eliminate Visit Florida as being for a cynical ploy to gain headlines rather than a true goal.

“The real problem up here is ... being in a law firm or having a family member who is a lobbyist pushing very, very expensive, wellsought-after pieces of legislation,” Latvala said.

Graham slammed Corcoran for the large education bill he pushed this year, HB 7069, which set up a program allowing charter schools to take over for lowperforming public schools. She also claimed Corcoran would benefit from the legislation since Corcoran’s wife, Anne, founded a charter school in South Florida, even though the school would not qualify for that particular program and she receives $1 in salary from the school.

“Shame on Richard Corcoran,” Graham said. “We talk a lot about integrity and ethical rules. You should not be able to propose a piece of legislation and be personally benefiting from that piece of legislation.”

Corcoran has said he won’t make a decision on the governor’s race until after the legislative session ends in March. He wouldn’t respond directly to Latvala or Graham’s comments.

“If you have a vision to make the state better and you’re willing to fight for that vision, people will be critical of you,” Corcoran said Friday. “People who don’t have those attributes will be critical of you.”

Graham, daughter of Bob Graham, a former governor and U.S. senator, has also taken notice of Levine. When Levine made his announcement, Graham revealed she had the endorsements of three South Florida mayors.

Although Levine brings a big checkbook to the race – the multimillionaire said he could put up to $25 million of his own money into the campaign – and will be fighting for the same voters as Graham, she said she’s “not worried about” his candidacy.

Meanwhile, Morgan continues to push Democratic candidates over their position on marijuana. After successfully pushing for a medical marijuana amendment in 2016, Morgan wants the drug to be fully legalized.

“One simple question for all candidates for Governor ... Are you in favor of the legalization of marijuana? Yes or no?” Morgan tweeted at Gillum.

During his speech at the AP event, Gillum hit on his message of pushing for Medicaid expansion, boosting teacher salaries and increasing wages for workers. He didn’t mention marijuana policy once, but found time to respond to Morgan.

“We must move to legalization – Florida needs to lead again,” Gillum tweeted back Thursday.

The only two candidates to stay on their message Thursday were Putnam and King.

King stressed protecting affordable housing funds, offering free community college tuition, protecting the environment, addressing climate change and focusing on traditional public schools.

“[Republicans] have put 90 percent of their energy on for-profit charters and vouchers and school choice,” King said. “I’m going to put 90 percent of my energy on the fact that 90 percent of our students are in public school. That’s where the conversation and the investment should be.”

Putnam stuck to his themes of boosting investment in technical training programs and community colleges, helping agriculture and the citrus industry recover from hurricane season and adapting Florida’s economy to the 21st century.