FLORIDA: Silenced: a Calm Voice

Dan McCarty was a quiet man. He tried for 16 years to make his calm voice heard above the clatter of Florida politics. He was also a stubborn man and, as the mortal enemy of Florida’s avaricious dog-track lobby, he finally got himself elected governor, and set himself to the job of cleaning up after Governor Fuller Warren. He promised the citizens of Florida that his administration would not be one of “sounding brass or tinkling cymbals.”

After only seven weeks in office, McCarty suffered a heart attack. His recovery was painfully slow. But from his bed in the governor’s mansion, he managed to keep a firm hand on state affairs. Payrolls were slashed, Florida’s purchasing system was reformed, and a $37 million building program, to include a new mental hospital and a medical school for the University of Florida, was started. McCarty’s proudest achievement, however, was in pushing past the agonized yelps of the dog-track lobby a bill which increased the state’s share from pari-mutuel betting.

Just up & about again, McCarty last month rode in a Shriners’ parade. He caught a cold which developed into pneumonia. The pneumonia cleared up, but McCarty’s weakened heart could not stand the strain. Last week, at 41, he died.

Florida voters next year will pick a man to fill the last two years of McCarty’s term. Until then, the governor’s place will be held by Senate President Charley E. Johns, an old-school politician who must rise high above this reputation if Florida is to escape a return to the Fuller Warren type of government-by-lobby. State law will not permit Johns to run for governor next year, and McCarty’s followers are determined to find a candidate who will carry out their reform program. Among those prominently mentioned: retired General James A. Van Fleet, a Florida resident and citrus grower.