Travis Hutson endorses Tom Leek as his preferred successor in SD 7. (Florida Politics, February 23, 2023)

Is our Florida Senate about to get even stinkier, resembling the historic "Senate of Trusts" cartoon?

Insurance mouthpiece THOMAS LEEK has the endorsement of our estimable St. Augustine developer-Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON to succeed him in our Senate District 7.  

As New Orleans DA Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Costner, said in the movie, JFK, "What do you expect from a pig but a grunt."   

I hope that other Republicans challenge LEEK in the primary, including current State Rep. and former County Commissioner CYNTHIA WARD "CYNDI" STEVENSON, scion of a longtime Volusia County Commissioner, who bailed on participating in the 2000 election recount as a member of the Volusia County Canvassing Board due to prior cruise vacation plans.  Republican Representative and former St. Johns County Commissioner CYNDI STEVENSON is term-eliminated as a state representative.  

There were those who believed that Senator HUTSON had promised Rep. STEVENSON his support, but it was not to be.  

My heart goes out to CYNDI on possibly being stabbed in the back by HUTSON.  

A wise man once said, "Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside." President John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. 

Pro tip: Always remember what JFK said: "Politics is a business of knives."  

Or is it "a business of knaves?"

You tell me.

More on TERRIBLE TOM LEEK below and here: 

Thursday, January 05, 2023

Insurance Mouthpiece THOMAS LEEK Wants to Erase Tort Plaintiff's Civil and Constitutional Rights. (Daytona Beach News Journal)

Chief Legal Officer for a nest of insurance oligopolists (Foundation Risk Partners), State Representative THOMAS LEEK wants to be your State Senator, running for State Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON's Senate seat. (HUTSON is term-limited  LEEK works for corporate oligarchs and is now the new Chair of the Florida House Appropriations Committee.)

LEEK is a Stetson University College of Law graduate.

It's hard to understand why:

A. LEEK thinks a state law could curb Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits in federal court?  Are you kidding me?

B. LEEK wants to limit attorney advertising, a matter of First Amendment rights already ruled on repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court? Are you kidding me?

C. LEEK did not identify himself as the Chief Legal Officer of Foundation Risk Partners, but only demurely as a state representative?  

As a conflicted insurance cartel mouthpiece and propagandist LEEK reeks.

As the corporate mouthpiece who wants to replace developer-Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON, is LEEK   no more morally qualified for the gig than hubristic misanthrope HUTSON?

As they say in East Tennessee, LEEK "bears watching'."

From Daytona Beach News Journal:

STATE REP. TOM LEEK: Work together to shut down abuse of the legal system

Staff Writer

The Daytona Beach News-Journal

The Americans with Disabilities Act has single-handedly transformed the way we treat people with disabilities in this country. But in my 20 years of private practice, I had to watch as a handful of plaintiffs’ lawyers stole the ADA from the very people it was designed to protect and turned it into their own little ATM, spitting out cash every time they cranked up their lawsuit machine. These lawyers file carbon-copy lawsuits against small businesses and property owners by the hundreds, and take tens of thousands of dollars from hard working folks all over this state, and that’s not right.

[OUR VIEW: In Volusia, Flagler counties, a conflict of access]

My first bill as member of the Florida House of Representatives was a bill to curb abusive ADA lawsuits. Now, after three sessions, I can say that I’ve filed (and mostly passed) bills to take the abuse out of our legal system. Don’t get me wrong. I am not anti-plaintiff’s bar. The plaintiff’s bar is the reason kids’ pajamas are not flammable, and the reason light poles don’t fall over and kill people as the result of a five-mph tap from a car. The plaintiff’s bar is largely the reason corporate greed hasn’t endangered more people in commerce.

But who are we kidding? Our system is no longer just about righting some wrong. It’s no longer just about punishing the perpetrator. Our legal system has become about “how much” some attorney “got me.” Just look at the billboards up and down our roads. It’s become the lottery for the injured, and frankly, the not-so-injured. And, it shouldn’t be that way. My goal is to restore balance and integrity to a legal system that I love.

On August 23, 2019, one federal judge took a stand in defense of the integrity of our legal system. Judge Paul C. Huck sanctioned a Miami attorney who had filed more than 650 ADA lawsuits across the state. The court found that the attorney and his client “deliberately and knowingly abused the ADA and the legal system solely for their own financial gain, and in total disregard of [the disabled] for whom they sanctimoniously but disingenuously professed to have brought these lawsuits”, and “in doing so, they have, unfortunately, undermined the credibility of legitimate ADA cases.” In two sentences, Judge Huck captured all that is wrong with these drive-by ADA lawsuits, and the cottage industry they spun off.

We, as a society, need to stop the bastardization of our legal system. The courts and the Florida Bar need to police their own. The courts need to start taking action against those attorneys and who abuse the system for financial gain, and insurers whose tactics are designed to delay and stall. The Florida Bar needs to materially limit attorney advertising. And the Florida Legislature needs to continue down a path of passing meaningful tort reform. If we demand it, we will have a legal system with greater access for all, where the costs of litigation will be less, and where the time to justice will be quicker.

On August 23, 2019, one federal judge took a stand in defense of the integrity of our legal system. Judge Paul C. Huck sanctioned a Miami attorney who had filed more than 650 ADA lawsuits across the state. The court found that the attorney and his client “deliberately and knowingly abused the ADA and the legal system solely for their own financial gain, and in total disregard of [the disabled] for whom they sanctimoniously but disingenuously professed to have brought these lawsuits”, and “in doing so, they have, unfortunately, undermined the credibility of legitimate ADA cases.” In two sentences, Judge Huck captured all that is wrong with these drive-by ADA lawsuits, and the cottage industry they spun off.

We, as a society, need to stop the bastardization of our legal system. The courts and the Florida Bar need to police their own. The courts need to start taking action against those attorneys and who abuse the system for financial gain, and insurers whose tactics are designed to delay and stall. The Florida Bar needs to materially limit attorney advertising. And the Florida Legislature needs to continue down a path of passing meaningful tort reform. If we demand it, we will have a legal system with greater access for all, where the costs of litigation will be less, and where the time to justice will be quicker.

Leek, a Daytona Beach Republican, represents District 25 in the Florida House.

https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/01/insurance-mouthpiece-thomas-leek-wants.html

So Rep. THOMAS J. LEEK announces a campaign to be our Senate District 7 Senator.  Then Florida Politics immediately claims LEEK has "the edge." 

I am mystified as to why Florida Politics must always takes the money-hungry wealthy point of view of Tallahassee lobbyists. 

Such shallowness.  I hate shallowness.  Shallow callow reporters need 

The election is 22 months away.

LEEK is Appropriations Committee Chair and Chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Commission.

LEEK is Chief Legal Officer for Foundation Risk Partners, which describes itself:

Foundation Risk Partners is one of the fastest growing insurance brokerage and consulting firms in the United States comprised of a network of highly respected insurance agencies. Our platforms cover the full spectrum of the insurance landscape. We are driven by an innovative spirit and team culture that is client-focused.

Naturally, this insurance industry lawyer supports not only so-called "tort reform" (tort deform), but he wants to limit attorney advertising, which the U.S Supreme Court has said for decades is First Amendment protected activity.   Not a word about that in  the Florida Politics story. 

Jesus wept. 

https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/01/insurance-mouthpiece-tom-leek-to-run.html

From Florida Politics, by Drew Wilson:

Travis Hutson endorses Tom Leek as his preferred successor in SD 7.

'Tom is a trusted conservative, an accomplished Republican leader and public servant.'

Sen. Travis Hutson is endorsing Rep Tom Leek in the 2024 race for Senate District 7.

Hutson, a Palm Coast Republican, was re-elected to a two-year term after easily dispatching a Primary challenger last year. Since he entered the Senate after winning a 2015 Special Election, term limits prevent him from running for re-election in 2024.

“It has been a wonderful experience and truly an honor serving in the Florida Legislature these past 11 years. I am proud of our accomplishments and record of conservative achievement,” Hutson said in a news release.

“I am pleased to endorse my friend Tom Leek to continue to represent our communities in the Florida Senate, District 7. Tom is a trusted conservative, an accomplished Republican leader and public servant and I look forward to campaigning on his behalf, and becoming his constituent next year.”

Leek, an Ormond Beach Republican, declared for SD 7 in early January. He is currently the only candidate running for the seat.

“I am honored to have the endorsement of my friend Travis Hutson. Travis is departing this Senate seat due to term limits, and his constituents know Travis as a steadfast conservative who gives his all for the community and works every day to better their lives,” Leek said.

“He’s fought the good fight, and I am certain will continue to do so in the next chapter of his life. There is much we can learn from the generosity, kindness, and selflessness of Travis Hutson, and I am grateful for his endorsement and pledge to continue commonsense conservative service to the people of the 7th Senate District.”

SD 7 covers a portion of Volusia where Leek lives and also includes all of Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties.

It has a heavy Republican lean. According to the most recent book closing report from the Division of Elections, Republicans account for nearly half of registered voters in the district compared to a 25% share for Democrats. Third- and no-party voters account for the rest.

Leek was first elected to the state House in 2016 and has risen up the ranks in the chamber, including serving as the Chair of the House Redistricting Committee last Session.

Now in his final term, Leek has been tapped to lead the House Appropriations Committee, giving him enormous influence over the state budget.

Drew Wilson

Drew Wilson covers legislative campaigns and fundraising for Florida Politics. He is a former editor at The Independent Florida Alligator and business correspondent at The Hollywood Reporter. Wilson, a University of Florida alumnus, covered the state economy and Legislature for LobbyTools and The Florida Current prior to joining Florida Politics.