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When the 2017 legislative session began, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran said he wanted to clean up Tallahassee by adopting sweeping ethics reforms. Those reforms have advanced about as far as sex and drinking have stopped during the legislative session.

At a time when there is such a severe public trust deficit, our elected officials should be more aware of the dangers of even the appearance of self-enrichment, as well as their relationships with lobbyists, regardless if that relationship is just friends or friends with benefits.

It seems, however, legislator’s insatiable desire for self-gain, pleasure and perpetual re-election outweigh their concern for the public trust.

Today we have a Senate President and a House Speaker who are both employed by law/lobbying firms. They hide behind the “I’m a lawyer” line, but the truth is, their employers directly employ registered lobbyists who lobby the legislative bodies these two men head.

How can this be anything but a conflict of interest?  Even if these two men do not entertain matters of their firm’s clients, which is likely all but impossible, the conflict is inescapable.

As bad as the real and perceived conflict the employer presents, what may be even worse is a legislative leader helping lobbyists get hired and letting them dictate agendas.

There seems to be little doubt that the Mayernicks benefit from a close relationship with Joe Negron, the question is: Do they benefit from working issues Joe likes or does Joe like simply like helping them on their issues? 

It’s good to be close to Joe

Many news outlets have noted that lobbyists Frank and Tracy Mayernick are so close to the Senate President, that they’ve earned a reputation for being Joe Negron’s de facto mouthpieces.  A paid contract lobbyist being noted as the “mouthpiece” for the President of the Senate -- could anything sound more offensive to a voter than that?

From a cursory look at a few issues and how they moved in recent legislative sessions, it appears that in addition to lending his mouthpiece to the Mayernicks, Negron may also be letting them dictate legislative priorities, calendaring and policy decisions.

During the 2017 legislative session, the “tear down walls” bill pushed by Walmart was one of the most contentious issues. Upon the hiring of the Mayernick firm, the issue propelled through the process like a Tesla rocket to space.

Similarly, a Medicaid reform bill including a dental carve out represented by another firm gained rapid momentum when Tracy Mayernick was added to the team.  Funny how that works.