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Best Governor Ever!
Aug. 29th, 2021 11:30 pmAll my life people have always called the current governor BEST GOVERNOR EVER! so I decided to look that up for myself. I checked out all the governors on Wikipedia, going back to Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. Those not worthy of a entry were automatically disqualified. I wrote down all the governors who did the most in their terms; who had left an indelible mark on our state. Then, I looked the top dozen on other websites to get other opinions on their legacy.
It wasn't even close. The best governor that Florida ever had was David Sholtz (January 3, 1933 – January 5, 1937).
Sholtz was raised Russian Jewish in Brooklyn, but moved to Florida to get his law degree from Stetson. His campaign had little money so it was dependent on door to door chats and a truck with two loudspeakers attached to it. His campaign goals were about education and accepting federal aid. Even though it was the Great Depression, the current governor had refused federal aid. The state was in huge debt, $2,124,000 and unemployment was so bad that 1/3 of Tampa's workers were unemployed. At that time, governors were restricted to one turn so after winning the election, he had to go to work quickly.
Sholtz...
Established the Florida Park Service
Set up a Conservation Committee to determine which lands to become state parks
Established the Citrus Commission
Set up state-wide pensions for aged and blind
Set up state welfare board
Established the Florida's first workers' compensation law
Started the Florida State Road Department Traffic Division which was a precursor to the Florida Highway Patrol
Lowered auto tag prices
Mandated that prison work camps contain plumbing and hot water
Ordered investigation into prisoner conditions
First proposed gambling income to help fund public education
Increased money available for public schools
Established teacher's being paid by the state and not dependent on local funds...some teachers were being paid in company scrip while others had to accept delayed paychecks for months at a time
Established free textbooks for students through 6th Grade despite complaints from the textbook companies that it was...you guessed it...socialist
Improved the job situation so that Miami went from 16,000 on federal assistance to just 4,000
And that 2 million dollar budget deficit? All paid off with a $591,000 surplus
Unfortunately, like many of his day, he was lenient on lynching.
The other nine runners up in alphabetical order...
Thomas Brown
Cecil Farris Bryant
Lawton Chiles
Melchor Feliú
Francis Philip Fleming
Bob Graham
William Dunn Moseley
Harrison Reed
Nicolás Suárez Ponce de León II
It wasn't even close. The best governor that Florida ever had was David Sholtz (January 3, 1933 – January 5, 1937).
Sholtz was raised Russian Jewish in Brooklyn, but moved to Florida to get his law degree from Stetson. His campaign had little money so it was dependent on door to door chats and a truck with two loudspeakers attached to it. His campaign goals were about education and accepting federal aid. Even though it was the Great Depression, the current governor had refused federal aid. The state was in huge debt, $2,124,000 and unemployment was so bad that 1/3 of Tampa's workers were unemployed. At that time, governors were restricted to one turn so after winning the election, he had to go to work quickly.
Sholtz...
Established the Florida Park Service
Set up a Conservation Committee to determine which lands to become state parks
Established the Citrus Commission
Set up state-wide pensions for aged and blind
Set up state welfare board
Established the Florida's first workers' compensation law
Started the Florida State Road Department Traffic Division which was a precursor to the Florida Highway Patrol
Lowered auto tag prices
Mandated that prison work camps contain plumbing and hot water
Ordered investigation into prisoner conditions
First proposed gambling income to help fund public education
Increased money available for public schools
Established teacher's being paid by the state and not dependent on local funds...some teachers were being paid in company scrip while others had to accept delayed paychecks for months at a time
Established free textbooks for students through 6th Grade despite complaints from the textbook companies that it was...you guessed it...socialist
Improved the job situation so that Miami went from 16,000 on federal assistance to just 4,000
And that 2 million dollar budget deficit? All paid off with a $591,000 surplus
Unfortunately, like many of his day, he was lenient on lynching.
The other nine runners up in alphabetical order...
Thomas Brown
Cecil Farris Bryant
Lawton Chiles
Melchor Feliú
Francis Philip Fleming
Bob Graham
William Dunn Moseley
Harrison Reed
Nicolás Suárez Ponce de León II
