Session saw stars fall, others rise

By TYLER BRIDGES
Herald Capital Bureau

Though many groups rate lawmakers, the Herald rankings, now a decade old, are the only effort to judge the effectiveness of legislators, regardless of their political stance.

Diaz-Balart, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and Ritchie, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, supplanted Senate President Jim Scott and House Speaker Peter Wallace, who topped the chart last year of most effective lawmakers.

In the Senate, Scott, R-Fort Lauderdale, was ranked second, while Toni Jennings, R-Orlando, scheduled to be the next GOP Senate leader, was third.

In the House, Rep. Willie Logan of Opa-locka, touted by many as the Democrats' next leader after Ritchie, ranked second, while Rep. Dan Webster of Orlando, who will be speaker if the Republicans win a majority in November, was rated third.

``What you see in these rankings are the future leaders of the Legislature,'' said Kelvin Robinson, a lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities. Robinson is one of the eight knowledgeable observers who did the rankings for the 1996 session.

The rankers were impressed by how Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and Ritchie, D-Pensacola, settled the dozens of problems large and small necessary to fashion a single $39.6 billion budget before the Legislature adjourned at 2 a.m. May 4.

In resolving the differences between the House and Senate budgets, Diaz-Balart and Ritchie had to be mindful they were representing the majority opinion of their respective chambers. That there was only one vote -- Sen. Howard Forman, D-Pembroke Pines -- against the final compromise showed they ably performed this task.

Ritchie, 48, had added leverage to vault him to the House's top position: If the Democrats retain their majority in November -- it's currently 63-57 -- he will be the next speaker.

Wallace, who had been ranked first the past three years, fell to fourth in 1996.

Rising and falling
``The incoming speaker toward the end of the session in an election year always rises in power, and the sitting speaker always falls in power,'' said Casey Gluckman, a lobbyist for several environmental groups and another ranker. ``The incoming speaker has chairmanships and campaign finance money [for the November election] at his command, while the outgoing speaker has nothing left to offer anymore.''

Webster's rise to third in the rankings marked the highest-ever rating for a House Republican. The 57 seats that Republicans hold are the most they've had in recent years, and they have high hopes to pick up at least four seats in November to gain control of the House.

One small measure of Webster's influence could be seen six hours before the Legislature was scheduled to adjourn, when he huddled in a secluded conference room with Reps. Allen Boyd and Anne Mackenzie, the Democratic co-chairs of the Rules Committee. They decided which bills still would be heard on the House floor and which would have to wait another year.

``I'm not surprised to see Dan rated as high as he is,'' said Pete Dunbar, a business lobbyist, who served in the Legislature and as an aide to Gov. Bob Martinez. ``The narrowness of the Democratic majority has put a lot of Republicans in positions of influence. It's a sign of Florida maturing as a two-party state.''

Effectiveness factors
In general, the most effective lawmakers fit into at least one of these three categories: Their party controlled their chamber, they held committee chairmanships, or they were veterans who know the system.

There were exceptions. Rep. Bert Harris of Lake Placid, for example, was ranked among the least effective legislators, even though he is a Democrat, has served in the Legislature since 1982 and chaired the Agriculture and Consumer Services Committee. Harris, 76, was ill for part of the session.

Conversely, Rep. R.Z. ``Sandy'' Safley of Clearwater ascended to the seventh spot in the House rankings despite being a Republican, having served in the Legislature only since 1988 and holding no committee chairmanship. But he took the lead in privatizing the Department of Commerce as a way to improve Florida's economy, resolving the water wars in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and preventing the full-scale chopping of mangroves.

In the Senate, Ken Jenne of Fort Lauderdale, the wily leader of the Democrats, was ranked fourth most effective, ahead of 19 Republicans. Such a high ranking is nothing new for Jenne. He has been rated in the top 10 since 1991.

In the House, Rudy Garcia of Hialeah along with Webster and Safley were the Republicans who ranked among the 10 most effective House members.