For 80 years (1889-1969) Florida never had a Lieutenant Governor's position. Based on the actions of the last person to own that seat as well as the current one, one wonders if there's any renewed sentiment in Tallahassee to eliminate it again?
That's because LG's are rarely seen or heard from, it seems, unless they've committed some wrongdoing, legally or otherwise.
You might recall how the last LG, Jeff Kottkamp, got into all sorts of hot water for his use of state planes and vehicles. More than half a million dollars in travel for events like attending a UF-FSU football game. Before that story made the papers, few Floridians could pick Kottkamp out of a lineup.
Jennifer Carroll's 19 months in office have been similarly low-key. Until now.
Recently a former aide to the LG was charged with violating state law by secretly recording a conversation with Carroll's chief of staff. She then allegedly gave the recording to a newspaper reporter.
Attorneys for that former aide, Carletha Cole, then subsequently filed court documents in which she claimed to have found Carroll in a compromising position with another female aide, Beatriz Ramos, which Carroll denied.
It was how Carroll denied the rumor that has outraged members of the LGBT community in Florida. She now infamously said that "Black women who look like me don't engage in relationships like that."
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2012.