Though not quite as protracted (and definitely not as written about), another leadership battle in the Legislature seems to have settled after days of arm-twisting, pledge-wrangling and nose-counting.
State Representative Chris Sprowls, a Palm Harbor Republican, reportedly has swayed enough defectors from fellow Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, an Orlando Republican, to make Sprowls the likely Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives after the 2020 elections.
Call it the saga of the “deja-coup,” which comes a month after the Senate settled on Joe Negron as President-designate to succeed Andy Gardiner after what seemed like endless months of dueling with Jack Latvala over that chamber’s top job.
The move is a kick in the face to Eisnaugle, the presumed frontrunner, who seemingly suffered defeat at the hands of a guerrilla movement out of the greater Tampa Bay delegation.