Naples' Goodlette dumps plans for state Senate run

There is an old cliché that every time a door closes, another one opens.

That is not proving to be the case for Dudley Goodlette. Due to term limits, the Naples Republican cannot run for re-election to his seat in the Florida House of Representatives later this year.

Until this week the conventional wisdom was that Goodlette would run for the Senate seat of state Sen. Burt Saunders. Saunders was running for attorney general and planned to resign from the Senate with two years remaining in his four-year term.

But, on Wednesday, Saunders concluded he had no chance to get the Republican nomination and dropped out of the race. He will remain in the Senate and serve out the final two years of his term.

Before Saunders made his decision, people were exhorting Goodlette to run for the Senate. Now, with that option closed, Goodlette said he expects to return to private life.

“Before Burt put his hat in the ring (for attorney general), I was looking forward to getting back to the private sector,” Goodlette said. “My plans are to become more involved in the community here (in Collier County).”

Before being elected to the Legislature, Goodlette was president of the Naples Area Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Economic Development Council of Collier County, president of the Kiwanis Club, a trustee at Edison Community College, a member of Florida Gulf Coast University’s Foundation board and a member of city and county parks and recreation advisory boards.

He is also the founding partner of the law firm Goodlette, Coleman & Johnson.

At some point he will consider whether to run for the Senate in 2008. But that decision is more than a year away, Goodlette said.

“I’m not ready to make a decision on whether I’ll run in 2008,” he said. “Sometime in 2007 we’ll discuss that.”

Saunders is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2008.

There is one caveat that could come into play. The Republican candidate for governor could ask Goodlette to be his lieutenant governor.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher are opposing each other for the Republican nomination. The primary is Sept. 5

On Thursday, Goodlette said both men had talked to him about the lieutenant governor’s job. He declined to go into details on those discussions and said he doesn’t know how seriously he’s being considered.

Goodlette almost became lieutenant governor in 2003 when Frank Brogan resigned as Gov. Jeb Bush’s second in command to become president of Florida Atlantic University.

Toni Jennings, a former majority leader of the Florida Senate, ended up with the job, but Goodlette was believed to be one of the other finalists for the position.

“I think both men (running for governor this year as Republicans) know I talked to Gov. Bush about this a few years ago,” Goodlette said.

Officials for both Crist and Gallagher declined to discuss how serious a candidate Goodlette is. Both campaigns also declined to say when a lieutenant governor would be named.

Under Florida law, a candidate for governor has to name a lieutenant governor within nine days after the primary. That means the winner of the primary would have to name a lieutenant governor by Sept. 14.

However, in the past, some candidates have announced who their lieutenant governors would be before the primary election.

Crist and Gallagher officials also declined to say if they’d be announcing a lieutenant governor before the primary.

Political science professor Susan MacManus of the University of South Florida said it is difficult to predict who will be chosen as lieutenant governor.

“Historically, governors pick people they are comfortable with,” she said. “You might also look for someone with a background on an issue you are pushing.

When Bush chose Brogan in 1998, it was a surprise to many. But the choice makes sense in hindsight, MacManus said.

The number one issue in that election was education, and Brogan was the state’s education commissioner at the time, she said.