Attorney John Morgan says he’s “more likely than unlikely” to run for Florida governor, but it doesn’t make sense to start running yet; Morgan spoke Friday afternoon at a Tampa Tiger Bay Club meeting in the Bryan Glazer Family JCC (Jewish Community Center) in Tampa’s historic Homer W. Hesterly Armory building.
“Don’t count me out yet, Adam. I’m still thinking about it. I have an advantage that other people don’t have, for better or for worse, you know who I am. And I have an advantage of not having to go around right now, and to Manatee county tonight, and going to a meeting and maybe raising $500. My name, my I.D. is out there, so I’m OK with that. So, I do have the ability to wait. That’s a great luxury.
“There are people out there though, quite frankly, that if they would run, I would step aside in a second. I’ll tell you [about] a guy that I tried to recruit: back when Charlie Crist ran for governor, before that, I had lots of meetings with Bill Nelson urging him to run for governor. He didn’t do it. There’s a friend of mine and a business partner–his name is Grant Hill, he played basketball at Duke and he played basketball–I believe that Grant Hill would be the greatest governor this state ever had. I believe Grant Hill is the type of person and leader that could be President of the United States and I’ve told Grant Hill this. I’ve told Grant Hill, ‘Listen, you’re a young man, I’m an old fat guy. Why don’t you step up and do it?’ I don’t think he will, but, if somebody like that stepped up, that would end my speculation today.
“And then I have the luxury of having enough money to do what I would need to do for myself in a primary. So, it’s not out of the possibility, it’s probably more likely than unlikely, as I sit here today. Some days I wake up and I’m at 100%, but, some days, like in the winter when I wake up in St. Barts [laughter], a little bit less.”
Morgan also said he would push for a 2020 constitutional amendment to dramatically raise the minimum wage in Florida in 2020.
He said, “Jesus was a liberal Democrat.”
Morgan also criticized Tallahassee Legislators for how they’re trying to implement the medical marijuana constitutional amendment.
“Well, we found out last year, not only do they not care what we think, they don’t like each other. They adjourned early. I mean, think about this: you’re elected, you’re paid, you go up there, it’s the same party, and it’s so dysfunctional that you break early.
“The reason that I think that politicians are not liked is because they’re in it for themselves. So, when I think about it– when I watch what’s going on with marijuana, it’s just, you know, I don’t know how it’s gonna end. It’ll probably end with me filing lawsuits, giving me more name recognition. Getting my army of angels together one more go-around.
“And I think people, like Richard Corcoran–who’s a very good friend of mine–if I was advising Richard Corcoran, I’d say ‘Be careful about this marijuana deal because when you run for governor– and if you run for governor, they’re gonna be looking to you to say ‘What happened with the will of the 70%?”. He’s the Speaker of the House and don’t let yourself kid yourself, I’ve been around a long time; there’s only two people that make any difference in Tallahassee: President of the Senate, Speaker of the House. The rest of those folks are just lambs walking, waiting to hear when they need to vote. They have absolutely no power. Maybe Latvala– different, he’s a bull in a china shop, but, I like that guy. I’d love for that guy to run. But, other than Latvala the rest of them are just rubber stamps for Corcoran and Negron. And so, that’s what I would say to my friend, Richard Corcoran.”
Here’s audio of the full program:
Watch John Morgan at Tampa Tiger Bay in 3 parts here:
