a contract on a condo in Laguna Beach, California, but is vacillating on the decision and may instead buy a single-family home in nearby Dana Point. Despite Morgan’s Ahab-like hunt for the elusive 20-degree, mild-weather sweet spot, the Morgans tried renting a house in Aspen this winter. But, according to John, “we’re not cold weather people. Five days, goodbye. And I don’t ski.” “My idea of cold weather was to be dropped off at the bar and the restaurants and then be brought back the house. I was not on the gondola.” Wherever he goes, no matter the climate, John is surrounded by his clan at all times. “John is the ultimate family man,” was how former Florida First Lady Carole Crist, summed up Morgan. Son Matt Morgan owns a condo next to his parents’ home in Ponce Inlet; John Morgan also bought the lot next door and is in the process of building a second home for family and friends. Mike Morgan, the oldest Morgan progeny, owns a home directly across the street from his dad in Lake Mary. John is holding out hope that his daughter, Kate, will do the same. In the meantime, the offices of her structured settlement company, Monarch, are on the 15th floor of the building that houses the Morgan & Morgan law firm on the 16th, where both her parents and all three of her brothers work as attorneys. In addition to his kids, John’s four younger siblings and their spouses and kids are usually represented, in whole or in part, wherever he goes. Oh, and so are his two German Shepherds, Emma and Molly, though not on the Hawaii trips. “My jet doesn’t fly that far,” he explained, and he doesn’t like to crate them. The jet, a Citation XLS that seats eight, is emblematic of the last side of John Morgan’s axis of leisure, “comfort.” “My plane and my houses are the two biggest luxuries I give myself,” he declares. Indeed, to the extent possible for a guy 116 | INFLUENCE SUMMER/FALL 2016 with a jet, and four, going-on-five, homes, John is not what you’d call flashy. He drives a nice, relatively new Mercedes sedan, but he drove the same Mercedes sedan for a decade prior to that, and hated giving it up for the newer model (which he still hasn’t figured out all the buttons on). He’s dined at the White House with President Barack Obama and at Napa’s The French Laundry, but most days he eats a home-cooked meal prepared by Ultima. Much more common dining-out spots for John include: Carrabba’s, where he knows the menu so well I’ve witnessed him negotiate with waiters to order off the dinner menu at lunch; Outback Steakhouse, where he (and I can attest to this personally) got “fucked up” before giving a now-infamous speech at Lakeland’s Boots and Buckle country western bar; or Jimmy John’s subs, where I’ve bumped into him getting lunch before a scheduled meeting in his office across the street. Anyone questioning if “For the People” is just a cynical marketing tactic should witness his knowledge and command of the menu at virtually any mid-range American chain restaurant. Perhaps it’s that same sense of comfort that draws him to familiar menus wherever he goes. The notion of comfort in John’s life is paramount. He gave and raised over a million dollars for Obama’s re-election and could have been considered for an ambassadorship like other big donors. But soon after the 2012 elections, John called his friend, and the campaign manager of Obama’s re-election effort, Jim Messina, to tell him he didn’t even want to be put on any lists for consideration or preliminary vetting. Charlie Crist said Morgan’s reason for doing so was that he didn’t want to be separated from his family. That’s certainly true, but he’s surrounded by family as he travels all over the world now, as he would be at an embassy. John has told me on numerous occasions that one of the major factors was comfort. “You go to Europe and the beds are so small and uncomfortable. Every bed in every one of my houses are the same pillow-top beds they put in the rooms at the Ritz. Every bed has tons of pillows and they’re all goose down.” He also offered up a second beef. “Outside of the U.S., no one has ice! I need a big glass of water with crushed ice by my bed stand every night.” In August 2014, John and I were invited to a cocktail party at the home of holocaust survivor and No. 16 on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in the world, George Soros. Likewise, John was invited to a dinner afterwards with Soros, Napster founder Sean Parker, and the actor Michael Douglas, among others (I had dinner alone at Mr. Chow). Afterward, John told me that while the oriental rug covering the living room of Soros’ Upper East Side apartment was likely worth more than John’s Lake Mary mansion, he would never want to live there. The reason? Comfort, generally, but specifically the lack of ottomans on which to rest one’s feet. CENTRAL FLORIDA “ I FIGURE THE LIKELIHOOD there’s a God IS BETTER THAN THAT THERE ISN’T. AND I’M GONNA LIVE MY LIFE LIKE THERE IS A GOD AND A PEARLY GATES AND I’M GONNA HAVE TO sit in judgement ONE DAY.” — JOHN MORGAN About the Author Ben Pollara is the Marijuana Kid to John Morgan’s Butch Cassidy. He’s also a Democratic political consultant, and campaign manager for United for Care, the medical marijuana campaign chaired by John Morgan supporting Amendment 2 in the Nov. 8 election. He has known John since 2004, and worked closely with him on United for Care since early 2013. Much of the material for this feature comes from the time he has spent with John over the years, hours of profane phone calls, and thousands of emails exchanged between them. John has commissioned Ben to edit a posthumous collection of his more quotable lines, to be titled, “Shit John Morgan Says...” Pollara is a founding partner of LSN Partners, a Miami Beach-based government and public affairs firm and is a self-described “hyper-partisan” Democrat.
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