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Kottkamp Agenda Can't Be Predicted

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 1, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - The Memorial Day weekend that Gov. Charlie Crist spent at Sen. John McCain's Arizona ranch has kept political gadflies buzzing about the prospect of Florida's governor running for vice president alongside McCain this fall.

Rarely mentioned is the man whom Crist would leave behind to lead Florida, should he run with McCain and win.

"Everyone in Florida would say, 'Jeff who?'" said Darryl Paulson, a political scientist at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.

That's Jeff Kottkamp he's talking about, Florida's soft-spoken lieutenant governor from Cape Coral who has remained deep in Crist's shadow since the two took office in 2007.

Both Crist and Kottkamp are lawyers and former lawmakers who maintain cordial relations on both sides of the political aisle. But the two men are not clones, politically or otherwise, which leaves unclear what a replacement administration under Kottkamp might look like.

"Probably the best you can say is, it would be the unexpected," said Paulson, a conservative who supported Crist's election. "He doesn't have what most people would recognize as a political agenda. He could become an activist governor, or a caretaker; no one is quite sure."

A husband and father, Kottkamp was a family-friendly running mate for Crist, who was and remains single. Since the election, Kottkamp has worked quietly with lawmakers on Crist's behalf, leaving the public arena to the more outgoing, politically ambitious governor. Like most No. 2 state executives, Kottkamp also makes ceremonial appearances across the state on behalf of the administration.

Conservative Credentials

How he would handle the role of governor would likely depend on his ambition for future office. If interim Gov. Kottkamp decided to run for a full term in 2010, "it would certainly behoove him to put his own stamp on the governor's office," Paulson said. "It would almost force him to become an assertive, activist governor because he doesn't have the reputation now."

That would likely translate into more conservative activism than Crist has displayed while governor, if Kottkamp's past serves as any prologue.

In 2006, he brought key conservative credentials to the gubernatorial ticket that Crist lacked. Primary rival Tom Gallagher had attacked Crist for being too liberal, and attacked his positions on abortion and gay rights for being too nuanced.

Kottkamp, meanwhile, was a recognized pro-life conservative who voted in 2005 to reinsert brain-damaged Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, a move that Crist had opposed. Kottkamp received the Christian Coalition's Faith and Family Award in 2004, and the Florida Catholic Conference's Defender of Life award in 2006.

During the general election, Kottkamp's conservative record occasionally surfaced as a liability. Democratic contender Jim Davis made much hay out of a failed bill that Kottkamp had co-sponsored in 2001, which would have made it illegal to remove a flying Confederate flag from public land. That had upset black lawmakers who succeeded in killing the bill, though four of the co-sponsors were black.

In 2002, Kottkamp also angered the American Jewish Congress when he handed out religiously themed materials identifying the United States as a "Christian country" to every state legislator.

But Kottkamp was not among the Legislature's "flamethrowers," according to House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, who said he makes no assumptions about Kottkamp or what kind of administration he would build.

"I can't be unkind to him because my experience with him has always been positive," said Gelber, D-Miami Beach. "It's impossible to predict; I didn't predict Gov. Crist would be an easy guy to work with, because I was a strong supporter of Jim Davis. But Crist has been a lot easier than I ever expected."

Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, who served with Kottkamp on a judiciary committee and sat near him on the House floor, described him as thoughtful and calm - at least in public - as well as having a clever wit. "He's not life-of-the-party funny, but he's clever and quick" in conversation.

Kottkamp 'Won't Stand By'

Some in the Republican Party, like Hillsborough businessman and GOP fundraiser Sam Rashid, say they would welcome Kottkamp replacing Crist because they are frustrated with the latter's moderation and willingness to leave the heavy lifting on many issues to the Legislature.

"I think Jeff has the ability to really make a difference with respect to where Florida's economy is," said Rashid, who was especially critical last fall of Crist's relatively hands-off approach during a special session on property taxes. "He'll get along with the Legislature to try to make things happen - he won't stand by to be a third party. I think he'll take a proactive role in helping small businesses. He has some great conservative instincts."

But Kottkamp, who switched from practicing defense to trial law, has not always stood with business, or the party. He parted ways with both over tort reform in 2006, standing instead with trial lawyers in an unsuccessful attempt to preserve joint-and-several liability. The same year, he also opposed a property insurance overhaul that critics derided as catering to industry.

Paulson questioned whether the little-known Kottkamp could get his party's backing in 2010, should he attempt to seek a full term as governor after filling in for Crist.

"It might be the cause that Rep. Marco Rubio R-Miami becomes Charlie Crist's biggest cheerleader at this point and time," he said, since Crist's move to Washington could be an opening for the politically ambitious House speaker.

Neither Crist nor Kottkamp were willing to comment, deferring instead to spokeswoman Erin Isaac, who said, "We don't deal in hypotheticals.

"The governor is currently the governor of the state of Florida; the lieutenant governor is the lieutenant governor of the state of Florida," Isaac said. "Both of them enjoy their respective jobs, and their opportunity it provides them to serve the people of the state."

Republicans seldom challenge each other over an office they already control, USF political scientist Susan MacManus said. Were the party to back Kottkamp in 2010, "you'd have some serious contenders on the Democratic side for sure, like Alex Sink," the state's chief financial officer and highest-ranking Democrat.

Asked about running in 2010 against Kottkamp, Sink smiled.

"If and when the time comes, I'll be thinking about it," she said. "I'm not a speculator. ... Come back and ask that question if it happens. I'm hoping for a Democratic president, so it wouldn't even be an issue."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.

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