by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
For Jim King, life in the Florida Legislature is good. Just ask him.
A familiar face in the legislature since being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1986, King returns to the Tallahassee session this year after ending his high profile Senate presidency in 2004.
The transition out of that post was just short of seamless, but King said he still needed to make a minor attitude adjustment and remember to check his ego at the door before reentering the Capitol in early March.
“It’s going very well now, but I admit that it was hard on that first day back,” he said. “When you’re president you’re able to run the thing any way you want to, but suddenly it wasn’t my job anymore. I was back to being a rank-and-file employee and that was an interesting feeling.”
King said the number of phone calls dwindled and “ever-lasting friends” were nowhere to be found.
“That was to be expected, so I take it with a grain of salt,” he said. “The mighty had fallen and the people who were at my beck and call, despite me never asking for that kind attention, had found someone new to follow around.
“I could take it personally, but no good can come from that. If you take people like that with a grain of salt, you’ll save yourself a lot of aggravation.”
But after shaking those awkward feelings, King said both his comfort zone and the drive to get some work done quickly returned.
“Yeah, I’m back to my old self because I’m in a position where I can get into the fight and examine the issues that I want to examine again,” he said. “One thing that I missed while being president was being able to engage in the logistics of politics, debating and building consensus on the floor. When you’re president, you have to be ever-mindful of the entire body or they won’t let you keep that power.
“I’ve made the transition I needed to make and I’m happier because of that.”
But King admitted that having a solid reputation and numerous connections from across the state certainly aided in his being able to vacate the driver’s seat so easily.
“For me, I can approach my new situation knowing that I’m not a has-been, that I’ll never be completely forgotten,” he said. “Based on what I’ve been able to accomplish in my political career, I think I’m still important and that I have the knowledge and experience needed to make things happen over here. If you’re any good, you should be able to get things done whether you’re in an elevated position or not.”
Does that mean King has a lot more free time now?
“No, I wouldn’t say that. I don’t believe there’s any such thing as euphoria,” he said. “I’ve been around too long to not get caught up in all of the excitement. People may say that I’ve been here too long, that I’m an old walrus. Well, this old walrus can still control a nice piece of the beach. That’s what I’m prepared to do if I have to.”