- Toni Jennings
Infobox_Lt_Governor
name= Toni Jennings
|caption=
order= 16th
office= Lieutenant Governor of Florida
term_start=March 3 ,2003
term_end=January 2 ,2007
governor=Jeb Bush
predecessor=Frank Brogan
successor=Jeff Kottkamp
birth_date= May 17, 1949
birth_place=
death_date=
death_place=
party= Republican
profession= Teacher and CEO
spouse=
footnotes=Antoinette "Toni" Jennings (born
May 17 ,1949 ) was the 16thlieutenant governor ofFlorida . She was nominated to the office by GovernorJeb Bush in February 2003 to replaceFrank Brogan , who resigned to become president ofFlorida Atlantic University . She was sworn in onMarch 3 , [cite web |url=http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/jennings.html |title=Frank Brogan and Toni Jennings |accessdate=2008-08-06 |work=The World of Stuff |author=Jordon Kalilich |date=2008-08-06 ] 2003, becoming the first woman to hold the office. She declined to run for governor in 2006 even though she was reputed to be Bush's preferred choice as his successor.After the 2006 elections, Jennings was replaced as Lieutenant Governor by
Jeff Kottkamp onJanuary 2 ,2007 .Jennings previously served in the
Florida House of Representatives from 1976-1980, and in theFlorida Senate from 1980-2000. In 1994, when Orange County ChairmanLinda Chapin announced she was not seeking re-election, she failed to convince Jennings to return to Orlando and campaign for the office herself. Instead, she remained in Tallahassee to be elected by her Senate peers to be President of the Florida Senate--the only person to have held the powerful office for two terms, from 1996-2000. In 2000, legislativeterm limits came into effect, having been instituted by a constitutional referendum taken several years earlier. Jennings was thereafter prohibited from seeking reelection.Before entering public service, Jennings was an
elementary school teacher. During and after her tenure in thelegislature , she also ran the family construction business. She is a graduate ofWesleyan College .As lieutenant governor she worked on legislative relations for Bush, on education policy, hurricane prepardness, disaster relief and issues related to the space coast in Florida.
Jennings endorsed former
Massachusetts GovernorMitt Romney in the 2008 presidential primary election.References
External links
* [http://www.fcsw.net/halloffame/WHOFbios/jennings.htm Biography at the Florida Women's Hall of Fame]
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