Haridopolos the ‘Energizer Bunny of Florida Politics’

Dec 12, 2009

by Bill Cotterell

Just what is a Haridopolos?

“When I first ran for office back in 2000,” said state Sen. Mike Haridopolos, “most people thought it was a sea turtle or a dinosaur.”

Senate Republican caucuses are well-scripted testimonials, and the Merritt Island lawmaker’s installation last week as the chamber’s next leader had the customary effusive flattery from fellow members and aw-shucks humility from the man whose name was spoken 24 times when the roll was called.

A Haridopolos is a son, husband, father, Christian and politician who wants to restore the values of Ronald Reagan to Florida government, he said with a big smile never leaving his face.

“Am I the luckiest guy in the world, or what?” Haridopolos remarked at the start of his acceptance speech.

Some friends and colleagues recalled encountering the “What’s a Haridopolos” line in campaign materials and notes during his first campaign in 2000 for the House. Like any attentive, ambitious newcomer, Haridopolos cultivated political elders, eager to help those who could teach him how Florida government and politics really work.

“He’s the Energizer bunny of Florida politics. He just keeps going and going and going,” said Sen. JD Alexander, R-Winter Haven. “I’ve never seen anyone with the work ethic Mike has.”

PINNACLE OF POWER

He’s at the pinnacle of power, although he won’t take over the 40-member Senate for almost a year. Presiding officers peak in the year of their ascendancy, when they decide other members’ committee assignments and raise money for party nominees, and in the first session wielding the gavels, when they still have a year to hold over the heads of any dissidents.

Haridopolos said he and Rep. Dean Cannon of Winter Park, the GOP House speaker-in-waiting, agree on goals of reducing the size of government, holding down taxes and promoting personal responsibility.

“We will not simply be the party of no. We will be the party of better ideas,” he said.

Guy Spearman, a Brevard County lobbyist who has worked the Capitol rotunda and committee rooms for decades, said Haridopolos has a reputation for accessibility and listening, even to those who have no chance of changing his mind.

“I think I’ve talked to him more before 8 a.m. than anyone else in government,” said Spearman. “He’s a guy who takes and makes phone calls before 8 o’clock in the morning and for a guy like me, I love that because I’m in my office by 6:30.”

‘CHALLENGE WORKING WITH HIM’

Next year is a tough time to set agendas. The 2010 session must grapple with revenue shortfalls projected at $2 billion or more in an election year with at least 22 Senate seats up for grabs.

Continued Republican control is not in doubt but Haridopolos will travel the state, raising about $12 million for the GOP. He’ll help recruit candidates in some House or Senate districts while planning the committee structure and leadership team that will steer his conservative agenda toward a new governor’s desk.

“He’s one of the most intelligent members of the Senate and one of the hardest-working members I’ve ever known,” said Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres. He and the designated minority leader, Sen. Nan Rich of Weston, pointedly remarked how very conservative he is.

“We’re on pretty divergent sides of the political spectrum so it will be a challenge working with him,” said Rich, whose party now has 14 Senate seats to the GOP’s 26. “But it’s important to have a strong minority, a voice for people with different points of view.”

This is a man who named his youngest daughter Reagan. A University of Florida instructor who teaches government students that the Constitution is a brake on government, not fuel for power. A politician who dismisses what’s going on in Washington as “simply wrong.”

He opened his acceptance speech by telling the Senate “I am here by God’s grace and I am truly blessed,” and closed it by calling American heritage “the second-greatest story ever told.” The greatest is found in the Bible, Haridopolos said.

ECONOMIC CLIMATE CHANGE

One of his top priorities in coming years will be reducing Medicaid spending and continuing Atwater’s legislative agenda to combat Medicare fraud. He said Medicaid “is paralyzing everything else we try to do,” consuming about $18 billion out of a $66 billion state budget.

He also wants a constitutional amendment to limit increases in government spending to the growth rate of the Consumer Price Index plus population, requiring voter approval for any bigger budgets. And Haridopolos is the foremost Senate proponent of offshore oil and natural-gas exploration on Florida’s coast.

“Our job is to create economic climate change,” he said. “I’m not cynical enough to think government creates jobs.”

But by holding down taxes and government regulation, he said, businesses can thrive when they know what to expect from Tallahassee. He also has a “transparancy Florida” legislative plan to put state budgets online, so any taxpayer with computer access can dig into what government is doing.

Haridopolos, 39, is a graduate of Stetson University and took his master’s degree at the University of Arkansas in 1993. The same year, he began teaching history at Brevard Community College and was chairman of its Liberal Arts Department by 1997. As his legislative power grew, he landed a $75,000-a-year lecturing job at the University of Florida.

Elected to the House in 2000, he moved to the Senate in a special election three years later when Sen. Howard Futch, R-Indialantic, died. His district includes most of Brevard, Osceola and Indian River Counties, with a small dip into St. Lucie.

He married the former Dr. Stephanie Bressan (she now is Stephanie Haridopolos) in 2005 and they have three children. She joked at his designation ceremony last week, “Mike may lead the Senate next year, but I run the house.”

Reprinted from the Tallahassee Democrat

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