THE SENATE

The Senate was Scott's stage, from his advocacy of statewide cable-TV coverage to his order that senators stop eating on the lobbyists' credit cards -- a change in Capitol culture considered unthinkable before the session began and something the House speaker couldn't do.

Scott was so forceful that some lawmakers found him dictatorial, but this folksy lawyer is hardly the first Senate president to run things with an iron hand. His power was on display in the waning hours when he single-handedly rammed through an extension of the moratorium on canceling homeowners' insurance policies, when senators didn't want to put that measure to a final vote. A year ago, Scott put the focus on crime; this year his priority was education, at the expense, critics said, of the poor, because of the Senate's refusal to consider new taxes.

So why did his ranking slip? The answer has less to do with Scott than the institution. Senate presidents serve two-year terms, and in the second year, the incoming regime begins to take over. For a lame duck, Scott was able to solidify his power well.

KEN JENNE
D-Fort Lauderdale
1996 Senate rank: 4
(1995 rank: 4)

As minority leader, Jenne's mission is to keep the Senate's 18 Democrats in harmony, so he can take credit on two big issues: the governor's victory over Big Tobacco and the redrawing of North Florida congressional districts. Jenne played a prominent role in both.

Closer to home, he helped business score some tax breaks. It was Jenne's soft-spoken last-minute committee amendment that helped win the Miami Heat its $60 million sales tax rebate for a bayside arena (Jenne's friend Bill Rubin is the Heat's top lobbyist), and he got a $15 million tax rebate for the International Game Fish Association's new museum in Dania. He sponsored a bill, backed by Common Cause and big business, to require stronger compliance by lobbyists in disclosing expenditures.

Tenacious and experienced, Jenne is one of the Senate's dominant figures, year after year. He's a smart politician, but he's an enigma to many because of a secretive style and a reputation for using the process to settle scores. People fear him more than they love him, but they have to deal with him.

HOWARD FORMAN
D-Pembroke Pines
1996 Senate rank: * * *
(1995 rank: * * *)

If anyone qualifies as the conscience of the Senate, it's this liberal Democrat who represents Southwest Broward and Northwest Dade.

Forman was the only one of 160 lawmakers who voted against the $39.8 billion budget, protesting cuts to the poor and disabled. But his principled protest carried a price: Forman was ostracized by the Republican majority and it was no coincidence he lost, over and over, on amendments to the budget and his bills. Standing alone is not popular in Tallahassee.

Despite his lone-wolf status, Forman scored victories: a fifth center for autism, tighter criteria for handicapped-parking passes, insurance coverage for longer maternity stays for mothers and babies and a study of the much-maligned transportation system for the poor and disabled.

At a time when many legislators seem motivated by a lust for power, money or both, Forman stands apart as a politician driven by a philosophy, not the trappings of office.


MATTHEW MEADOWS
D-Fort Lauderdale
1996 Senate rank: * * *
(1995 rank: * *)

Steadily rising in the rankings, Meadows ran his Senate Community Affairs Committee with a usually steady hand this session. That chairmanship brought him a wave of publicity in Tampa Bay when, for several weeks, he refused to hear a bill that would allow a referendum on a rental car tax to keep pro football's Buccaneers in Tampa.

Meadows was among the last Democrats to climb off the fence and commit to Gov. Lawton Chiles, which helped the governor prevail in his fight against Big Tobacco. He was Senate sponsor of a bill to track bad teachers by establishing a statewide computer tracking system and to make criminal background checks in some cases.

This Fort Lauderdale Democrat -- himself a Broward school administrator -- also was an opponent of voluntary school prayer and of a proposal to break up larger school districts into smaller components. He sponsored a bill creating a Bethune-Cookman College specialty license tag.

PETER WEINSTEIN
D-Coral Springs
1996 Senate rank: * *
(1995 rank: * *)

After 14 years in the Senate, Weinstein ended his career on an upbeat note. Though it took five years and plenty of help, he won passage of a bill giving HMO subscribers better consumer protection through local ombudsman boards. An exultant Weinstein couldn't wait to explain how he was able to tack his HMO amendment onto another bill. It's a victory he'll tout often this summer in post-session meetings with elderly voters.

Still emphasizing consumer protection, Weinstein sponsored a bill that, for the first time in Florida, regulates the fast-growing viatical industry. Those are firms that purchase life insurance policies of the terminally ill.

Another Weinstein initiative requires professional fireworks displays to follow national fire safety standards. Now another kind of fireworks begins: Weinstein is putting the Legislature behind him and will run for an open District 19 congressional seat.

ROBERT WEXLER
D-Boca Raton
1996 Senate rank: * *
(1995 rank: * * *)

Wexler's thoughts were on his congressional campaign this session, but he still garnered his share of headlines. He gave an impassioned speech against the Senate school-prayer bill, warning against the concept of putting prayer to a majority vote of students. ``How un-American a concept,'' he said in a much talked-about speech, printed in full in the St. Petersburg Times.

Cynics may see Wexler's outspoken opposition to prayer as smart politics; after all, he's running for Congress in a heavily Jewish district. But what people don't know is that Wexler is a deeply religious man who believes the government has no place in religion. His colleagues listened to his speech, then approved prayer anyway.

Wexler passed bills prohibiting smoking near schools and requiring health insurers to cover longer maternity stays if a doctor considers it necessary. Now, with his state legislative career in eclipse at 35, Wexler turns his ambitions on a much bigger prize: a seat in Congress.