Meet Ken Pruitt

Pruitt, 50, is now one of the three most powerful leaders in Florida, but he has reached this pinnacle at a curious time in his life. A father of five, he is reaping the benefits of nearly two decades of hard work at precisely the same moment that he's coming to appreciate what the years of toil away from home have cost him.

It does not surprise those who know him well that Pruitt has no political ambitions after he finishes his two-year tenure in charge of the Florida Senate. More here.

Comments

President Ken Pruitt is an absolute gem!

The depth and breadth of loyal following that Ken Pruitt has is unprecedented. He is a true gentleman.

Pruitt will restore honesty, integrity, and decency to the Florida Senate. He is a class act, in a class of his own.

Much of Charlie Crist's initial successes rest with his rapport and camraderie with President Pruitt.
Governor Crist would have gotten off to a horrible start if he had been saddled with Tom Lee or another lightweight.

While the Governor is also a rockstar, his fabulous first 100 days are a credit to the leadership of Pruitt.

Great column on Ken. The process would be a complete disaster without guys like Senator Pruitt and Webster.

Ken Pruitt is the opposite end of the spectrum from JD Alexander. Ken feels compelled to serve his community and his state while JD feels compelled to serve his bank account.

FCAT score of A for Pruitt and an FCAT score of F for Alexander.

Interestingly allegiances and alliances come and go in Tallahassee but Pruitt's core group remains by his side, loyal as ever.

Bet nobody would have ever predicted this,however, if Sharon Merchant had beaten Pruitt in 2000, the Senate now would be a major disaster without his guiding force.

Pruitt's people are loyal to him and he's loyal to them. That's rare these days with public servants. Most of all the voters in his district love the guy!!!

Pruitt is A+++++

The Pruitt team includes Haridopolos, Alexander, and Bennett. Don't even try splitting those folks apart Dockery. You had your chance.

its a love fest here, I understand you can congratulate people with no agenda, but heaven forbid you actually come up with policies and we criticize them (Rubio).

I like Ken Pruitt, but I hope he follows his promise and goes home. Tom Lee was saying the same crap and wound up running for CFO.

He is a good man.

11:24 Shame on you for mentioning Pruitt and Lee in the same breath.
Florida would be most fortunate if the opportunity would ever arise for Pruitt to continue to serve.

Tom Lee and Johnny Byrd were up here to serve themselves and nobody else.

who will follow pruitt..

If the Pruitt team does include, as you say, Haridopolis, Bennett and Alexander, that sends me a totally different message than this article does. These guys are just money raisers. Pure political theives. This is not a good legacy for Pruitt. He should look to others to be so closely aligned to. Some others that have far more substance then these shallow legislators. Bad mistake for Pruitt.

Post 2:00 PM who will follow Pruitt? It is up for grabs. Atwater is out of the picture. He relied on the same people who could not keep their word to Webster, a great guy, then could not keep their word to Villalobos. Proven untrustworthy people. He was happy to have things handed to him. That is exactly what happened. Now he will be pushed aside by others who aspire to be leader. Atwater has gained no respect in this process. He constantly whines about everything and really has no leadership qualities. He should be happy to be a lackey to the next leader. The members do not want him and it will be known very soon.

Agree with 6:35 PM
Pruitt's legacy needs to be quality - Atwater will be fine but, more importantly, the President after Atwater will set the tone for many years to come. Slim pickings to succeed Atwater.

12:56, the ones who have been in tall. to only serve themselves are the ones who jumped right into lobbying for the big bucks-dudley goodlett for instance. at least lee and byrd had the guts to run for something.

I wish some of these folks criticizing Lee, Byrd and others would put themselves out to run for public office. It would be interesting to see how well they would do.