Designation Speech

Senator Jeff Atwater - December 14, 2007

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President Pruitt, Madam President Carlton, Leader Webster, My fellow Republican Caucus Members: I am certainly humbled by the faith and trust you have shown me today, and by your kind expressions of confidence and support. Senators Jones and Baker, I thank you for those kind and thoughtful words. As we work through the business of governing over the next several years, I can assure you that I will gain strength by the remembrance of this day. The present, represented by your personal and uncompromising dedication to the people of Florida, and our storied past, as reflected in these elegant surroundings, provide two very strong pillars upon which we can move forward with confidence.

Governor, Lieutenant Governor, CFO Sink, Former Presidents and Senators, members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, Speaker Rubio, Speaker Designate Sansom, Former Speakers, Members of the Florida House Representatives, Mayors, and city commissioners from Broward and Palm Beach Counties: I thank you for taking time from your busy schedules this day to join our Caucus as we rededicate ourselves to the unfinished work of the people of Florida.

My Friends of the 25th district, who accepted the invitation to witness this ritual today and who otherwise have might never have walked within these halls were it not for your unselfish commitment to aiding and encouraging my call to service, welcome. For your purposeful efforts to shape the future of Florida and sharpen my metal to do the same, I say: Thank You.

To my family: We return this day to the very place where one hundred years ago preceding generations of our family accepted the responsibility to govern. We accept today, as they did in their own time, the duty to offer all that we have and all that we are to the people of this great State of Florida. That responsibility, which by extension now falls to every Senator in this room, we carry together a sacrifice that our families are all too familiar with. So a word to our families, when duty dictates our prolonged absence from home, may you find some comfort in recalling that our sole objective in this shared endeavor is to make Florida a better home for all Floridians. To Carole, Amy Leigh, John Broward, Amanda Marie and Courtney Anne, or around our house known as Buggy, Rocket Man, Scout and Court Court, to my mother (Patricia Hardee) and my brothers and sisters, for your encouragement, for your love and support, I say thank you.

Two years ago at this very occasion, then Senator Ken Pruitt, extended me the high honor of introducing his family to the caucus: His wife Aileen and the "Pruitt Five". Most Floridians will never fully comprehend both the contribution and the sacrifice that this man, this woman and their family have so generously offered our State for the past seventeen years. But Senators we do know. On behalf of every student fulfilling the dream of a college education due to a "Bright Futures" scholarship; on behalf every family that now anxiously follows the progress of a Florida scientists research to unlock the mystery of Cancer; Members, on behalf of every Floridian who found a champion in the conservation of land and the restoration of waterways…on behalf of our fellow citizens let us say thank you to President and Aileen Pruitt and forever and a day – to the "Pruitt Five."

Senators, we are gathered in the very place where our forbearers drafted and passed the resolution to accept entry as the 27th state of the Union in 1845. Though we were home to our country’s first permanent European settlement in 1565, the oppressive heat, hurricanes and deadly yellow fever epidemics all served to discourage newcomers and we remained largely a vast, uncharted wilderness for the next three hundred years. I would argue, however, that the unique challenges of building communities under these circumstances gifted to the generations that followed a strength of character and a natural resolve to always look forward, never fearing what challenges may lay ahead.

Upon achieving Statehood, Florida began to change. Our predecessors, the Senators who sat in these very chairs, set out to create a place where pioneering and enterprising souls would seek out adventure and opportunity.

Our forbearers began this beautiful tapestry we now call Florida. The pattern of this tapestry, its unique design with all its radiant colors and with all of its potential, is laid on the loom of time. The task of weaving this magnificent cloth now falls to us. Its vitality, its strength, its durability now depends on our voices, our wisdom and our courage.

As daunting as the task may sound, I remind you of Sir Isaac Newton’s observation, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants." The legacy of giants fills these halls and has provided a worthy foundation upon which we can construct a viable, sustainable vision for the future of Florida.

I have had the pleasure of traveling the State of Florida this past year, visiting with the citizens of our diverse, and richly endowed, communities. I am continually struck by their strength and courage, their deep commitment of faith and hope, and their continued willingness to sacrifice for their family and for a better Florida.

I have also come to understand that for many this is a time of great uncertainty. The price of sustaining the American dream here in Florida is becoming increasingly more burdensome to many of our most vulnerable citizens. Young and old alike express the difficulty of obtaining a financial foothold to stay and build a future.

Do not misunderstand. Florida has the resources to remain a beacon of opportunity, a shining light that beckons near and far. But we cannot ignore the pressures our fellow citizens face. We have the wellspring of energy and intellect to confront these challenges, and indeed, that is what we are called to do.

There are very specific issues that must headline our agenda:
• Private Property Ownership. We have unfinished business in the areas of affordable insurance and taxes that will allow one to hope that someday they can own property here in Floridia. Here, I must express one clear message: A number of insurance companies honored their commitment and lowered rates following our January special session. But there are exceptions and it is to those exceptions I now speak. To those insurance executives who agreed to our plan to lower their cost of doing business by shifting that risk to the State under the condition that every dollar of savings be passed on to their customers, only to drop customers in the midst of hurricane season, delay claims from prior storms and then have the audacity to file a rate increase on the backs of the few customers they kept…they should know this, I say, your credibility is lost. You have displayed bad form, bad judgment and bad faith. An invitation to explain yourselves will be out shortly and justice and relief for your customers is on the way.
• Education. The spectrum of educational opportunity from early childhood to advanced degrees must relentlessly push toward that one universal goal of offering each young Floridian a chance to pursue a life of limitless potential.
• Vibrant Economics. We shall build upon our successes to diversify our economy and create an expanding pool of stable and high wage jobs so Florida and Floridians will remain competitive both nationally and internationally.
• The Preservation of Florida. We shall keep faith with our commitment to restore the Everglades and more, so that we may share with our children and grandchildren not merely stories of "A Land Remembered" but real life experiences of walking in "A Land Preserved".
• Our contribution to our National Security and to a cleaner Florida. Will we capture the sunlight, harvest renewable fuels, harness the wind and seize the force of Gulf Stream waters to cool our homes, warm our hospitals and illuminate our schools. The answer: "yes we will."
• Florida’s Pioneering Spirit. We shall remain the intellectual and literal launch pad of the world’s exploration of space and life sciences. Floridians will heed the pioneering call to walk on Mars and Floridians will pioneer the world’s efforts to cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Diabetes for the best of all humankind.

Senators, I do not ignore or overlook the significance of our current budgetary constraints. I simply will not allow financial pressures of our day to become an excuse for policy paralysis for our time.

Now, even more than individual solutions, the people of the State of Florida demand leadership. They want to see their elected officials perform to the highest standards, constantly demonstrating fidelity to the interests of the people in both words and deeds.

As I look out across this Chamber today, not only at the members of my own caucus but the honorable men and women from the other side of the aisle and those members of the House who have been gracious enough to attend, I see the unquestionable capacity to affect real change. It can only happen collectively, from a non-partisan effort, the willingness to put the needs of our constituents ahead of ephemeral political advantage. You have my commitment that the business of the Senate will be the people’s business, defined by reaching across the aisle and across the rotunda with an attitude of respect and forbearance.

Leadership is best described by the characteristics it exhibits: the capacity to influence not coerce, to serve those who follow, to capture a vision of the future, to manage change and to conduct oneself with unquestioned integrity. Even across history, these qualities do not change.

During times such as these leaders act with courage and do not fear criticism nor bold decisions. And I like the way Teddy Roosevelt put it: "It’s not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

So now my fellow Senators let us rededicate ourselves and our call to lead, to take up that tapestry of Florida now with our own hands and to weave its majestic future, to act with the boldness of those who stood before us in this very Chamber, upon whose shoulders we now stand. We are now the honored few in the arena. Let it not be said of this generation of leadership that we failed to strive valiantly, or that we succumbed to the harping of critics. Let us take on our call with courage so that in another hundred years, as our progeny gathers in this very chamber, they will be able to speak with pride of the deeds of their predecessors.

Thank You.

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Designation Speech

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