Today marks the end of Student Government elections for this semester, and while it’s easily been the one of the most entertaining ones on record, we feel like it’s time to step back and talk about something else for a change. Considering this is Florida, we’d have to be incredibly unlucky to go a day without a scandalous story going by, especially if it has to do with in-state political maneuvers.
In this week’s news, a tiff between John Morgan and U.S. House Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz just got more intense.
Quick catch-up: John Morgan is a wealthy trial lawyer who bankrolled last fall’s United For Care medical marijuana campaign. If you’ve looked at any billboards in this state, you’ve probably seen his face before. It’s everywhere.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a high-profile politician who represents areas around Miami in the U.S. House and is the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee — not exactly a lightweight. She might be eyeing a spot in the Senate, if Sen. Marco Rubio decides to go for the Big One in 2016.
The two had been cozy for a while — Morgan is a major Democratic donor — until Morgan launched his campaign to legalize medical marijuana last year, a proposal Wasserman Schultz vehemently opposed. She likened the possibility of medical pot dispensaries to the existing problem of pill mills, quasi-legal pharmacies that dole out massive amounts of painkillers that are often used just to get high.
Medical marijuana advocates were understandably upset — a high-profile potential friend was smearing their efforts. Morgan, in particular, was furious: He helped write the initiative and spent $4 million of his own money on it. He joined the chorus of criticism lobbed at Wasserman Schultz.
In an email to a Politico writer, he wrote “This will be a major campaign issue and I think disqualifies her from the nomination,” referring to the U.S. Senate. His voice is the heaviest and most tinged with the sound of money, something Wasserman Schultz can’t ignore if she’s serious about the Senate. According to a scandalous accusation made by Morgan, it appears she took it very seriously indeed. Morgan claims a political adviser for Wasserman Schultz contacted his own political consultant with an offer to change her position on medical marijuana if he ended his rhetorical attacks against her. Morgan then launched a new slate of attacks against her.
Wasserman Schultz has, of course, denied these claims — yet they’ve already done her some serious damage. No matter what the truth turns out to be, one of them just played a seriously dirty political game. They’re both influential, loud-mouthed people who happen to live in the same state as we do. What does that have to do with us?
A lot, actually — both of them are UF alumni who were heavily involved in their time here. Morgan was Florida Blue Key president; Wasserman Schultz was president of the UF Student Senate in 1986. Which is to say: People who are students today may go on to become powerful people later on. What happens here has ramifications beyond this semester and this campus.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/25/2015 under the headline “UF alumni not immune from political scandal”]
Editor's note: The seventh paragraph was restructured for clarity from the print version of the story.
