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Kottkamp to run for Florida attorney general

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 19, 2009

Updated: 07/19/2009 11:47 pm

TALLAHASSEE - Ending months of speculation, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp has confirmed that he will run for state Attorney General in 2010.

While Democrats are already crowding the race – Sens. Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber are both running, and former Sen. Rod Smith is reportedly considering it – Kottkamp is the only high-profile Republican candidate so far. Several GOP House members, including Bill Galvano of Bradenton, have considered running for the Cabinet post in recent months but decided against it.

The lieutenant governor said Sunday that he will file the necessary papers with the Department of State on Monday to launch his campaign.

Kottkamp, 48, helped Gov. Charlie Crist appeal to the more conservative wing of the GOP when the two ran together in 2006. Kottkamp, of Fort Myers, served in the state House for six years prior to that, chairing Judiciary, Judiciary Appropriations and Governmental Operations committees.

He has helped to shepherd Crist's political agenda and oversees numerous entities as lieutenant governor, from Space Florida and the Florida Sports Foundation to the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet. But he has kept a relatively low profile, in stark contrast to Crist, who is now running for U.S. Senate.

Kottkamp has received unwanted publicity this year over his personal use of state-owned aircraft – a controversy that has expanded to include public aircraft use by Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. State ethics complaints over the issue are pending against the three; all maintain that they are innocent of any wrongdoing.

Rumors have circulated in Florida and Washington, D.C., recently that former House Speaker Marco Rubio would abandon his U.S. Senate campaign and run for attorney general instead. Rubio has repeatedly denied it. Holly Benson, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, has acknowledged that people have approached her about running but has not said whether she would do it.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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