by Bailey White
Staff Writer
You could call Kay Rousseau an advocate. You could call her a facilitator. You could call her a coordinator. The “right hand man” to State Sen. Jim King encompasses all of those roles and more, and has for 17 years.
“I’d been away from Florida and was moving home,” said Rousseau, King’s legislative assistant. “I called Jim and said, ‘I’m coming home, find me a job.’”
Rousseau has been friends with King and his wife Linda for years. They met in the 1970s when they were members of the Bold City Divers Club, going scuba diving and boating together.
“He was running for state office for the first time and I went to work on his campaign. I remember thinking that I could do anything for two years,” she said.
King ended up serving in the State House for 13 years, “and here I am,” said Rousseau, who has spent a lot of time in Tallahassee for someone who swore she’d never get into politics.
“But when I got to Tallahassee, I found it really exciting and different,” she said. “I decided to give it a shot and I’m really glad I did.”
Rousseau has been doing her job for so long now that it’s “almost like breathing.” Most of her day is spent at King’s Jacksonville office near Regency Square. She meets with the senator, either in person or by phone several times a day, to brief him on his committee meetings, travel schedule and upcoming speeches.
“My job is to make sure he’s on track,” she said.
“Whatever I am and have become in politics, I owe a large bit to Kay,” said King. “I would never consider doing this without a good legislative assistant. She is the very best that ever was.”
Then there are the phone calls. Rousseau has a mountain of message slips on her desk. She and others in the office answer hundreds of calls a day.
“When the phone rings, I never know what it is going to be. People call about everything from getting their driver’s license renewed to problems with City government to child support issues,” she said. “I really like to let them know that someone cares, that someone will listen. It feels great to be able to help someone with a problem. I am his voice to those who want or need his attention while he is otherwise engaged. After this many years I pretty much know what he feels and how he thinks.”
The phone stops ringing around 6 p.m., and that’s when Rousseau settles in for a few more hours of work before going to the home she shares with her daughter, Carrie, and two grandchildren, Chelsea and Reanna.
“It is nice because they understand my schedule, so I’m free to come and go,” she said.
The job suits her lifestyle. She’s single, so her time on the road doesn’t bother her. She travels with her dog, Sir Frederick, a beagle and basset hound mix.
And in Tallahassee, Rousseau has a “sort-of” family, with all the people she works with at the Capitol.
“It is kind of like a family,” said Rousseau. “It’s like when you’re in high school and you feel like you’re lifelong friends with everybody.”
To make it feel even more like home, Rousseau built a house there.
“I’ve bought 20 acres of property just outside of Tallahassee so I’m always at home, whether I’m here or there,” she said.
Rousseau’s love of the outdoors has inspired her to build nature trails on her property and she’s also taking shooting lessons. Her daredevil streak led to adventures in rapelling and mountain climbing.
“I used to want to try anything that scared me,” she said.
Born in Boston, Rousseau moved to Jacksonville Beach as a child. She worked as a legal assistant in various law firms after graduating from Bishop Kenny High School.
Her husband’s job kept the family on the road, so Rousseau had the opportunity to try technical writing for a nuclear construction company in New Orleans, selling real estate in Albuquerque and managing a ranch in Chalk Mountain, Texas.
“I drove the tractor, raised cattle and fixed barbed wire. I loved it,” she said.
When the family moved to Carlsbad, New Mexico, Rousseau wrote and produced “Good Morning Carlsbad,” a television talk show. She and a partner eventually formed their own production company, Southwest Video Productions, specializing in promotional videos and television commercials.
“One of our first videos was for a company who harvested bat guano for fertilizer,” she said. “I got to do more interesting things in that job.”
It was also in New Mexico that Rousseau earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from New Mexico State University.
“I was 37 years old and I finally had time to do it,” she said. “I felt like I couldn’t learn enough.”
Rousseau said she was eager to “get my hands dirty,” and worked as a correctional officer at a juvenile detention center for a couple of years.
“I wanted to deal with the system on a personal basis,” said Rousseau. “My previous experience in criminal justice had all been book work and office work. It was very tough.”
Rousseau is looking forward to another term with King as Senate president. She’s also looking toward retiring in about five years so she’ll be able to spend more time on what she enjoys — nature, listening to her singer-songwriter daughter’s music and
traveling.