He is not a household name but Orlando lawyer John Morgan will be a key player in a number of important issues that are great interest to Florida voters. This story in the Miami Herald will go a long way to giving political junkies a look at a force to follow.
You’d think after making thousands of “For the People” TV ads for his law firm, John Morgan would be more than comfortable before the camera.
But as he looked at his cherubic baby face on the TV monitor recently, Morgan groaned. “Laawd,” he said in his deep Kentucky drawl, “high def is a mother f—–.”
Insecurity runs deep, even for a bombastic multimillionaire who leads the country’s largest personal injury law firm, has hosted President Barack Obama at his 18,000-square-foot mansion and is poised to be the most important man in Florida politics this election cycle other than Charlie Crist and Rick Scott.
Morgan, 57, is leading a high-profile ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in Florida for medical use and he’s a key adviser to former Republican Gov. Crist’s unprecedented campaign to win back the Governor’s Mansion as a Democrat.
Some wealthy middle-aged businessmen bag trophy wives; Morgan goes for trophy lawyers, and Crist is the biggest trophy and best rainmaker at Morgan & Morgan.
“I’ll definitely lose a lot of money if he becomes governor,” said Morgan, describing Crist as a magnet for lucrative cases — from BP oil, to sinkholes, to a pollution case where damages could approach $100 million. “People call all day long to talk to Charlie. The guy walks down any aisle of Publix and passes out five business cards. Those people call.”
