The Senate president says he bowed to pressure to pass a law that would reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
ST. PETERSBURG - The phone calls and e-mails flooded into state Senate offices so fast and furious last year they crashed the phone and computer systems. Their message: Save Terri Schiavo.
State senators responded by following the lead of the state House and governor to pass an unprecedented law to keep the Pinellas County woman alive. Within hours a feeding tube was reinserted into Schiavo, whom courts had found to be in a persistent vegetative state and whose husband had insisted she would not want to live that way.
Senate President Jim King gave in to pressure and supported the legislation. Now he's sorry he did.
"The Terri Schiavo vote that I made was probably one of the worst votes that I've ever done," said the Jacksonville Republican and 18-year veteran of the Legislature.
In a meeting Monday with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board, King spoke of the "unbelievable" pressure to help Schiavo, his worries about being blamed for Schiavo's death and his regret that he didn't show more backbone.
more…
http://www.stpetetimes.com/2004/02/10/Tampabay/Regret_plagues_King_a.shtml