The mar key campaign in Miami during the 1972 elections, as previously reported in this Blog, was between the Speaker of the Florida House Speaker Dick Pettigrew and incumbent State Senator George in District 39. A senate race is almost always of statewide interest, but this particular race was between a probable future candiate for the U.S. Senate and a vestage of the Pork Chop Gang–a clear contrast between new and old. Because I was campaigning in the same area at the same time for the House of Representatives in district 119, I became familiar and friends with a number of people in the Pettigrew campaign organization. Specifically, from his law firm, Pettigrew, Bailey and Arky, I got to know Gene Stearns (a former FSU student body president when I was getting my MBA at FSU), Guy Bailey (his family were the primary developers of the Country Club of Miami) and Securities lawyer Steve Arky. After the campaign, Steve introduced me to Alan Levan who was organizing a new national real estate limited partnership program called Investors Tax Sheltered Real Estate, which I subsequently joined as Director of Marketing, working directly with Seth Werner and Dick Wollack. It was an excellent example of professional opportunities growing out of politics.
