It’s often difficult to discern reality in the aftermath of a Legislative session. It takes a while to figure out just what happened and what it means. That’s especially true this year. But it’s my understanding that amid the CSX-related chaos of Friday afternoon, the funding for USF Polytechnic, its new autonomy and its new name all survived intact. That’s what campus officials tell me. Now, all that’s left is to survive the governor’s veto pen. Since Charlie Crist has already publicly backed the campus plan, that would seem a foregone conclusion. However, I know of other foregone conclusions that have proven otherwise.

Speaking of the new campus at I-4 and the Polk Parkway, you may have seen this editorial that ran Friday in the Tribune: Genshaft’s Plane Ride Raises Eyebrows.

The piece does a little original reporting. The upshot is that Genshaft recently caught a flight on a plane owned by the powerhouse GrayRobinson law firm for a meeting with governor about USF Polytechnic. GrayRobinson represents the Williams Company, which is donating the land for the new campus and plans to develop around it.

Late Friday afternoon, I received an e-mail from Charlie Gray, the Gray in GrayRobinson. He was on the plane with Genshaft. He provided his account of what happened on the flight. And he noted that the firm doesn’t own the plane, two of Gray’s law partners do. Gray said he chartered the plane from them. Here his e-mail, in its entirety:

“I want you to know the facts. The Plane is a Cirius, a 3 passenger plane owned by 2 of my law partners. I charted it to fly just me to Tallahassee to meet with President Judy Genshaft, Dr Marshall Goodman, Rep. Seth [McKeel], Sen. J.D. Alexander and the Governor. Shortly before takeoff I received a frantic call that President Genshaft’s flight had been cancelled and that she was at the Tampa Airport. I talked to President Genshaft and advised that we might be able to swing down to pick her up but we could miss our date with the Governor. She asked that we pick her up so we (the pilot and I) did. We were only slightly late for the appointment with the Governor for her and Dr. Marshall Goodman to make their presentation to the Governor so that he could make an informed decision as to whether to veto the funding if the legislature approved it. There was nothing nefarious going on. It is simply very hard to get an appointment with the Governor and no one wanted to miss this opportunity because he is very inaccessible during the legislative session. An appointment after the session, if possible could be too late. 

This is the sum total of what I know about the plane ride for right now. I haven’t had a chance to interview anyone about it. It’s probably worth noting here that GrayRobinson generally and Charlie Gray specifically have played large, influential roles in the debates over the Heartland Parkway, the CSX/Orlando commuter rail deal and the Lakeland campus.

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