March/April 2002
FSU alumnus Jim King will lead Florida
Senate
in 2003-2004
By Mark A. Riordan
The "most fantastic" day of Florida State Sen. Jim King's life came this winter when his colleagues elected him to lead them as Senate President for the 2003-04 legislative sessions.
"Having been in the quest for the brass ring for some time, when I finally got it, I was almost overcome," King said.
King's most fantastic day is also a good day for his alma mater, FSU. The Jacksonville lawmaker follows fellow FSU alum John McKay, of Sarasota, to become the second Seminole in a row to wield the president's gavel.
A recently retired, rags-to-riches businessman, King wants to create opportunity for small business and remove governmental obstacles.
"I don't know how good the economy will be when I get the gavel," he said. "So, I want to give entrepreneurs what they will need to succeed. I'm a small businessman. Less government is better government."
Beyond his no-nonsense, bare bones business agenda, King, a 1961 business grad, said he would keep the Senate's sights set on Florida's education.
Up first, you can bet, for one of FSU's most ardent supporters, will be a chiropractic college at FSU. King was a leader in the Legislature in creating FSU's new medical college, and he's not through.
"I never lost my zest for the chiropractic
college," he said.
King says some pain can be relieved only by chiropractic medicine.
Moreover, he said, with the new medical college and FSU's good
reputation in other health fields, that success is virtually
guaranteed.
"We'd be able to be the best, and in
a fairly short time," he said.
Another plank of his agenda is to expand the cooperation between
universities and community colleges to deliver more four-year
degrees to Floridians.
"It's a less expensive way to educate people, and you relieve the pressure on the universities," he said.
The ebullient and well-respected King is philosophical.
"When you get to be 62, and the honor of being the next (Senate) president, you do a lot of reflection as to what got you there," he said. "One of the paramount things that got me here is that I went to FSU. That university has been a very important part of my life and efforts. And through my association with it has come a greater understanding of all the problems that the entire state university system faces, and I want to be known as an education champion."
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