Florida Government Officials

The handcuffed defendants have familiar faces. In recent months, the police "perp walk" on the nightly TV news has featured a virtual who's who of politicos and public officials. So many South Florida officials have been arrested or forced to resign lately that friends are urging part-time Miami resident Madonna to run for office, a local radio station reports. "People are looking for a leader with no need to steal as much as he can," explained WHYI Producer Tina Malave.

Thousands of people lined country roads and hundreds more followed a funeral procession for Lawton Chiles as the late governor traversed territory he crossed on foot 28 years earlier. That trip ended in the Florida Keys--a 1,033-mile trek that eventually won Chiles a Senate seat. The cortege ended its 200-mile journey in Tallahassee, where the body will lie in state until today's funeral and burial. The 68-year-old Democrat died of heart disease Saturday.

When voters in this growing central Florida city went to the polls in November, they knew John Mazziotti had a criminal record. Years ago, in another state--in another era, he said--he served time in county jail for selling an ounce of marijuana to an undercover agent. Calling his 1971 arrest a youthful mistake, Mazziotti was repentant. "I was sometimes stupid and sometimes naive--and sometimes both," said Mazziotti, 54. "But the voters recognize that it happened a long time ago."