Is bipartisanship possible in Florida? Leaders to discuss at UF's Graham Center

February 18, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As the Florida Legislature prepares for its upcoming session, experienced observers of the state’s political scene will meet Wednesday at the University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service to discuss the critical issues facing lawmakers and whether Democrats and Republicans can find room for compromise.

Legislators in both parties will face the challenges of the state budget shortfall, high unemployment, offshore drilling, gaming and water management, among many others, when they convene in March. Can the lawmakers put partisan politics aside? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lucy Morgan, former state Sen. Rod Smith and former mayor of Jacksonville and current University of North Florida President John Delaney will consider “Bipartisanship in Florida?” at 7 p.m. in the Pugh Hall Ocora.

Morgan has been a St. Petersburg Times reporter since 1968 and is a former Capital Bureau chief in Tallahassee. She works on special projects and writes occasional columns. She won a 1985 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for her work exposing corruption in the Pasco County Sheriff’s office. In 2005, at the end of the legislative session in Tallahassee, her last as an active reporter, the Senate honored Morgan by renaming the press gallery in her honor.

Smith is a partner with the Gainesville law firm Avera & Smith and serves as an adjunct professor at UF’s Levin College of Law. From 2001 to 2006, Smith was a member of the Florida Senate from Gainesville. While in the Senate, Smith served as chairman of the Agriculture Committee, as vice chairman of the Criminal Justice and Justice Appropriations Committees and as a member of the Communications and Public Utilities, Environmental Preservation, Rules and Calendar and Ways and Means committees, as well as the Legislative Budget Commission.

Before taking his current position as UNF president, Delaney served as mayor of Jacksonville. During his time in office, from 1995 to 2003, he was noted for launching the Better Jacksonville Plan, a $2.25 billion package of projects for municipal improvements funded by a sales tax increase, as well as the Preservation Project, a series of land grants for parks. A popular mayor, Delaney ran unopposed for his second election.

For more information about this event, and to view it streamed live on Wednesday, visit the Graham Center Web site at http://www.graham.centers.ufl.edu/.

The Graham Center provides students with opportunities to train for future leadership positions, meet policymakers and take courses in critical thinking, language learning and studies of world cultures. Its mission is to foster public leadership and solve issues related to the Americas and homeland security. It also serves as a magnet to attract distinguished scholars and speakers to Florida.