FAU-bound Atwater believes political career is over
TALLAHASSEE — Jeff Atwater, a former Florida Senate president, will leave the statewide elected position of chief financial officer Friday with more than a year remaining in his second four-year term.
A day later, the Republican will start a new job as a vice president at Florida Atlantic University, where he will manage finances and economic development. Atwater was briefly in the running for FAU’s president in 2014.
As a GOP legislative leader and former banker, Atwater helped construct a glide path of gradual 10 percent rate increases at state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. rather than steeper hikes. As CFO, he pushed for insurers to lower rates in the wake of reduced reinsurance costs and backed legislation last spring to protect consumers against surprise medical bills.
Atwater, 59, lives in North Palm Beach with his wife, Carol.
The News Service of Florida had five questions for Jeff Atwater:
After nearly 18 years in Tallahassee, what changes are you the most proud of, and what’s left you the most disappointed in that you were unable to complete them?
The most proud of, as a legislator, would have been things that we focused on education in K-12. I think there can be certainly strong feelings on either side of that, but I think we brought accountability and choice to families and their students, and I think those both improved the education system. And I think that certainly gave a real lift for kids who were in failing schools. Getting us through, being the presiding officer when we lost $6 billion in revenue (after the economy crashed) and being able to walk us through a process of reducing a lot of the spending that was underway, balancing that without losing our credit rating, I think I’m proud of what the Legislature did during that time.
In this role as CFO, there are several things I’m most proud of: how we brought greater levels of transparency and accountability to how money is spent and how the public has a chance to see how the money is spent; and going after fraud that is just rampant, and (we) helped families avoid increasing costs of insurance; and then across every line of business we were quicker at extending licenses in the insurance industry than ever before, returned more unclaimed property than ever before. So maybe the proudest thing of that would be how proud I am of the team, how they stepped up and got better at what they did.
As far as unfinished, I’d say on the side there is always going to be unfinished business in the insurance world because there are always dynamics that are changing, and whether those be weather-related and catastrophic events, and players decide to come and go in the Florida market because of the risk that might happen in catastrophic events or because the fraud becomes prevalent again that they might pull back out of communities. So at the moment, the assignment of benefits is a huge issue, and I sure hope the Legislature will address it in the coming year. They will have to at some point, because it’s not going to go away on its own.
That leads us into our next questions. You have personal-injury protection (PIP) and assignment-of-benefits (AOB) issues still out there. Where do you see that going, and do you see yourself playing some role in both?
The only role that I see myself playing would be whatever assistance I could give to leadership that might ask of it, either for my expertise in the field, having been here and been a part of this department and having been a legislator, or from just my role in finance and how important a vibrant insurance market is to be able to buy a home, buy a car, build a business.
I do believe the sunset of PIP will come at some point in the future. I think we tried every possible way to reform it, and I just don’t think we can keep the costs down for the level of the value that it’s providing consumers. I think it’s getting way too expensive for the value to the consumer. And on assignment of benefits, again I think it will have to be addressed. The consumers are taking it on the chin — the honest consumer. And I’d always be available to support the Legislature or anybody else who might ask.
You sought out the FAU presidency before you got your next job as a vice president at the university. What was the point when you decided, the impetus or moment for you or your family, for you to decide you were done in Tallahassee or it was time to move on?
It was not an easy decision because when you ask the voters for the high privilege of doing this — and they grant it to you — that is not an easy decision at this point to not complete the term they provided us. We have a deep affection for Florida Atlantic University. I represented it as a legislator. I was the Senate president when we established the med school. (I) was there when Scripps Research went to the campus. Had three children go to school there.
So when a lot of the community folks said, “Hey, would you consider putting your name in the hat for the position of president,” we did. And they chose I think the finest man who put his name in the hat and the finest candidate in John Kelly. And so we put that behind us and moved on. When Kelly came back, after we had announced in the fall that our political career would come to an end — we were not intending to run for again for any other office — he came and made a case that I could work with him and help the future of that university.
You had supporters calling for you to run for U.S. Senate a couple of years ago, and I imagine your name will be floated when there are openings for a congressional seat or the county commission or even the village hall again. Is this really the end of your political career?
I really do believe that it is. We’ve put our name on a ballot for city council, for the state House, for the state Senate, for the Cabinet. Every time we made the ultimate decision to put our name on the ballot, we finished those races.
I really believe that after that many years, in different capacities ... and I do believe I’ve certainly given it my best effort, that it’s time to focus on a new opportunity and a new career. And I do believe that we’ve placed our name on the ballot for the last time.
What rolls through your mind when someone satirizes your speaking as verbose?
You know, I think it’s fair. I have such a deep love (for) the American history, Florida history, the Constitution, that I realize I can get carried away. I’ll take that lump and see if I can’t get better at it. I really don’t think that people would have said 15 years ago, if they ever were to hold up any video of me on the House floor, it was “this is my bill, let’s move on.” I don’t know where I may have developed the opinion that my words should be extended and they’re of great value, but I do have a love affair and love to read about our history and often may share more than people are interested in.