Prominent Tampa lawyer Glenn Burton, on the verge of accepting an appointment to the Tampa Sports Authority, died Tuesday just as his appointment was being made official.

Burton, 51, died of a heart attack while driving his car on Interstate 4 on the eastern outskirts of Tampa Wednesday evening, according to family members. His wife Nancy, a passenger in the car, managed to bring it to a halt from highway speed.

The couple have one son.

Burton was a lifelong Tampa resident after coming here with his family as a child. He attended the University of Florida and Stetson University law school, and practiced law in Tampa for his entire career, beginning in 1983.

He was incoming head of the trial lawyers section of the Florida Bar, had published several books on trial law practice, and was active in the Boy Scouts and Easter Seals.

Burton was also a supporter of Gov. Charlie Crist, who was in the process of naming him to a seat on the Tampa Sports Authority, one of his longtime ambitions.

Hillsborough County Republican Party Chairman Debbie Cox-Roush said today that “the only right thing” for Gov. Charlie Crist to do is appoint a Republican to replace the late Phyllis Busansky as county elections supervisor.

Political insiders have speculated that Crist, who’s running for the U.S. Senate and has an opponent in the Republican primary, is likely to stick with his party in choosing an appointee, but have noted that Crist in the past has appointed numerous Democrats to high-level state posts. Busansky, a Democrat, unseated scandal-plagued Republican Buddy Johnson for the seat last year.

Cox-Roush said Crist should pick a Republican who will be a strong candidate to run for election to the office in 2010.

“As party chairman, obviously I think the only right thing for him to do is to stick with our party,” she said. “We need to look beyond what’s happening today – this is a very important division of our government and we need somebody who can carry on past 2010.”

Yesterday, after Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a bill that would have allowed national mega-insurers charge whatever property insurance rates they wish, State Farm Florida spokesman Justin Glover said the company would have to carry on its plan to leave the Florida market. 

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, Senate sponsor of the bill, isn’t buying it.

Bennett has always objected to critics calling HB 1171 “the State Farm bill.” They called it that because the bill surfaced when State Farm Florida announced it was pulling out of Florida early this year, after state insurance regulators rejected its request for a 47-percent rate hike. The company told Crist this month it would reconsider if he signed HB 1171.

Bennett yesterday suggested the Legislature might override Crist’s veto, but added that he’s not convinced the veto spells the end of State Farm property insurance in Florida. He said State Farm is playing a game of chicken with the Office of Insurance Regulation.

“I think State Farm was running a bluff when it [threatened to leave]; I think the insurance commissioner was running a bluff when he what he did,” Bennett said. “I think they both lost. But I also think the Florida market is too large for them to walk away … These are smart people; I don’t thing they will leave the state of Florida entirely.”

Bennett surmises that State Farm is really looking for an opening to raise profits and lower risk by cherry-picking customers – the very thing that Gov. Charlie Crist said in his veto letter that he feared HB 1171 would encourage.

Today, Glover reiterated the insurer’s stance. “When you look at our deteriorating financial condition—we’ve lost $200 million in surplus since we filed for a rate increase last year, and the Florida company was recently downgraded by AM Best from a B+ to B—there are some serious financial realities we have to face. What’s most important to us is to meet our obligations to our current customers; that’s exactly why we have to go forward with our plan.”

Marco Rubio continues to pick up support from conservative insurgents in his bid to upset Gov. Charlie Crist in the Florida U.S. Senate primary—the latest coming from U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla.

A news release from the Rubio campaign quoted Miller as saying the race “has tremendous implications for the future of Florida and the very foundation of conservatism in America.”

Miller is the first member of Congress and the highest-level Florida elected official to back Rubio in the primary campaign so far.

Earlier this week Rubio picked up an endorsement from former presidential candidate and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

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