Michael S. Bennett

Michael S. Bennett (born January 1, 1945) is an American politician from Florida who is a member of the Republican Party. He served as a member of the Florida Senate representing the 21st District from 2002 to 2012. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2001 to 2002.

Bennett was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in November 2000, and was elected to the Senate in November 2002, and re-elected in 2004 and 2008. He represents District 21, which encompasses most of Manatee County, the northern portion of Sarasota County, the western part of DeSoto County, the central part of Charlotte County, and northwestern Lee County.

In 2010, Bennett was named President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Bennett serves as chairman of Community Affairs. In the past, he also chaired the Senate's Policy and Steering Committee on Commerce and Industry.

Bennett's other Senate committee memberships includes Banking and Insurance, Finance and Tax, Health Regulation, Military Affairs and Domestic Security, Policy and Steering Committee on Governmental Operations, Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means, Reapportionment, and Select Committee on Florida's Economy.

Senator Bennett was term limited in 2012. He served as Manatee County Supervisor of Elections until 2024.

Personal life

Bennett moved to Florida in 1955 when he was 10 years old, joining the U.S. Navy in 1963 fresh out of high school, serving four tours during the Vietnam War.

After his military career, Bennett earned his bachelor of arts degree from Drake University in 1975, and his masters of business administration a year later.

He is the president of Aladdin Ward Electric, a company that he has been a part of since 1985.

Despite the lack of opposition, Bennett raised just under $322,000 between his filing for re-election in April 2005 to the November 2008 election. The Florida Constitution generally prohibits lawmakers from forcing municipalities to spend more than 10 cents per Floridian.

Gulf oil drilling opposition

In November 2009, Bennett wanted to have both sides of the Gulf oil drilling debate presented to a non-governmental group to review the science, saying he didn't think state lawmakers "knew enough" about the debate.

A year later, he was calling for no oil drilling off Florida's coast, instead encouraging the state to pursue alternative energy sources, including biofuels. Bennett said Florida's economic success depends on environmental preservation and not oil profits, and that drilling could have detrimental effects to the state's ecosystem.

E-mail controversy

In May 2010, Bennett was checking e-mail during debate on the Senate floor when he was photographed opening a picture on his laptop computer depicting four women in bikinis.

The video of Bennett opening the image and closing it three seconds later was picked up by international media, many claiming Bennett was viewing pornography. However, a subsequent investigation by Tom Lyons with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune determined that Bennett simply opened an e-mail from Ray Fice, a former circuit court administrator and high school classmate of Bennett, who sent the picture as a joke of what he was missing at his school's class reunion.