Well, You absolutely must read Carl Hiassen's book, Sick Puppy. A fictional portayal of the guv in question plays a prominent role. Andy
Andrew G. Gluesenkamp, Ph.D. 700 Billie Brooks Drive Driftwood, Texas 78619 (512) 799-1095 [email protected] --- On Mon, 8/8/11, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Re: [Texascavers] book review: Lew Bicking To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Date: Monday, August 8, 2011, 11:29 AM Fla. Guvs. SKINK = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Tyree Tyree was Governor of Florida in the 1970s. He was everything desirable in a candidate: a native of Florida, a college football star, and a decorated Vietnam veteran. He was dazzlingly handsome, charismatic, and articulate. He was also a former English professor at the University of Florida, though politically most people saw this as a handicap rather than an asset. To the surprise of the Florida establishment, he was also one of the few, if not the only, honest men to hold the office. After he turned down a bribe from real estate developers, the developers assumed he was holding out for more money, and came back offering a larger bribe, along with a foolproof scheme for concealing the money. To their astonishment, the governor not only refused again, but had them arrested in an F.B.I. sting. Tyree was also vehemently opposed to runaway growth in Florida, and gained national recognition for his passionate speeches and legislative proposals to discourage tourism, curtail land development, and protect the environment. (For example, one of his proposed laws would have required any boat driver who killed a manatee to immediately forfeit his boat, pay a $10,000 fine or go to jail for forty-five days, and bury the dead animal himself at a public ceremony). Appalled, a group of Florida special interests pooled their resources to neutralize the governor politically, by bribing majorities in the state cabinet and the legislature to ignore or reject all of his initiatives. Years later, the executive assistant to the current governor reviews Tyree’s history, and marvels at the futility of his struggle: As popular as Clinton Tyree had been with the common folk of Florida, he stood no chance – none whatsoever – of disabling the machinery of greed and converting the legislature into a body of foresight and honest ethics. It was boggling to think a sane person would even try. On the same day that the crooked developers who had tried to bribe Tyree were convicted, but punished with nothing more than probation, the legislature voted unanimously (except for the governor) to sell the original wildlife preserve that they’d been after to another developer. On that day, Tyree quit and disappeared from the Governor's mansion. At first, Tyree was believed kidnapped, until a notarized letter of resignation was sent to the Capitol and verified by the FBI. He became a wild hermit, living first in Harney County (a fictional Florida county), where he adopted the name "Skink,” and was simply viewed as an eccentric, albeit a potentially violent one. Over the years, he makes infrequent appearances over South Florida, becoming something of an urban legend. Aug 8, 2011 11:17:10 AM, [email protected] wrote: At 10:32 AM 8/6/2011, Mixon Bill wrote: >My favorite >summing up was written by Squire Lewis on encountering Bicking in >Mexico after the 1966 convention: "Lew's only traveling and survival >equipment consists of a small Kelty pack whose sole contents are the >largest Spanish dictionary every printed--about a 20-pounder--and a >box of Mexican crackers. . . . His only clothes are those he wears, >and he obviously has some warped goal of not taking them off--ever-- >for washing or any other purpose. . . . He has gotten all the long way >from Baltimore to California to [Mexico City] with nothing but his >great dictionary and his crackers. We have never seen him spend any >money--not any--he may well not have any. That reminds me of a statement attributed, I believe, to a governor of Florida. In reference to hikers or whomever coming to visit being good for the economy, he said something like, "They come with only one pair of underwear and a five-dollar bill and don't change either." Mark Minton Please reply to [email protected] Permanent email address is [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
