Five former Florida governors met Friday to discuss the future.
Governors Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, Bob Martinez, Buddy MacKay and Charlie Crist spoke to each other — and an audience of about 500 people — as part of the 2012 Allen L. Poucher Legal Education Series. Ben Diamond, a UF Levin College of Law graduate, moderated the conversation.
Askew, Florida’s 37th governor, served from 1971 to 1979. He was succeeded by Graham, who has a reputation as “Florida’s Education Governor.” Martinez was the first Hispanic governor and helped implement Florida’s Growth Management Act. MacKay was the 42nd governor, and he served briefly after the death of Lawton Chiles. The most recent governor at the event was Crist, who left office in 2011.
Askew said the state changed immensely since he was in office.
MacKay said that when he started his political career, it was a time of great change in Florida. Back then, people were against unnecessary change, and today they have the same thinking, he said.
“Here we are again, legislative leaderships faced the wrong way,” MacKay said.
The governors also discussed the three Florida Supreme Court justices who are on the retention vote on the November ballot.
Askew, who started the merit retention program, said the judges should remain in office and out of partisan politics.
“We have to keep the judges independent,” he said.
Crist, who was late to the event due to a flight delay in Miami, discussed oil drilling off the coast of Florida. He said the BP oil spill was the “greatest wake-up call” to the environment. He said there are other ways to produce energy, including solar.
“I hope we move in that direction soon,” Crist said.
The governors also discussed imposing a sales tax on online vendors like Amazon.
Graham said a sales tax should be imposed for online vendors. Martinez agreed, saying it would damage physical retailers in Florida.
Before the governors ended their conversation, they addressed all the students in the room.
Askew told them they cannot allow themselves to be cynical.
“You have to look upon politics as an honorable profession,” he said.
Graham encouraged students to have as many life experiences as possible.
Martinez told students to be specialists in their fields but generalists in the rest of their lives.
“Don’t get yourself too narrow in view you can’t see someone else’s needs,” he said.
MacKay told everyone that when looking back, the things that seemed important, aren’t.
Crist told students to be good listeners, be civil and participate. Dillon McCarthy, a 21-year-old first-year law student, said it was “rare to see five former governors in one place.”
“The most pleasant thing [was] to have them talk about and apply knowledge they’ve seen from their life,” he said.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
