Any doubts state Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, might have had about his “inner voice” and his decision to retire from politics were erased Friday night when he couldn’t make it to his daughter’s graduation on time.

With a budget stalemate forcing lawmakers to miss a May 1 deadline and remain in Tallahassee until Friday afternoon, Pruitt didn’t get home in time to see 18-year-old Michelle Pruitt receive an associate of arts degree from Indian River Community College.

Pruitt was driving near Yeehaw Junction when his daughter, dual-enrolled at the college while finishing high school, sent a text message to tell her dad she had collected the diploma.

“As a parent, those are the milestones that just kill you,” said Pruitt, who plans to be at his daughter’s high school graduation next month.

Pruitt, 52, said a combination of family and economic concerns and a sense that “we’ve accomplished everything that we set out to do” led him to announce Friday that he will step down from his Senate seat in August, more than year before the end of his term. A special election will fill the seat.

“There’s an inner voice that you have…..It wasn’t one single decision. It was a culmination of a lot of events in our lives that were taking place — some that we could control and some that we couldn’t,” Pruitt said today.

Pruitt has served 19 years in the legislature, representing a Treasure Coast state House district from 1990 to 2000 and a Treasure Coast-Palm Beach County Senate seat since 2000. He was Senate president from 2006 to 2008. A real estate agent who earned his high school diploma at night school and never got a college degree, Pruitt is best known for his focus on higher education. His legislation created the popular Bright Futures scholarship program in 1997.

Pruitt said he began contemplating stepping down late last year and talked and prayed about it with his wife, Aileen, a bank executive and breast cancer survivor. His wife’s fight with cancer and the sudden death of his oldest son in 2007 had already convinced him “how fragile life is,” Pruitt said.

With three children in college and a 15-year-old son in high school, Pruitt said it’s increasingly difficult to balance his family’s needs and the growing needs of constituents hit hard by the slumping economy.

“Am I going to be able to effectively represent 500,000 constituents and at the same time be able to provide for my family?” Pruitt said.

“If you’re going to be a good public servant, you’ve got to put the time in,” Pruitt said. “There’s so many people hurting that it takes more time than ever (to represent them)….It just kind of gets to the point where you say, you know, I can’t do both. I couldn’t do both well. My family had to take the priority.”

Pruitt said he thought about coasting through the remainder of his term, but an inner voice told him otherwise.

“There is that inner voice. I’ve seen some politicians that don’t listen to it and stayed long after it was their time to go,” Pruitt said.

Pruitt said he does not have any particular job or career opportunity lined up, but plans to “take a huge step back” and plot his future with his wife.

That future will be as a private citizen, Pruitt said.

“I’m retiring from politics,” Pruitt said. “People say ‘Never say never.’ I’m saying never. My tour of duty is over.”

~George Bennett

About Ken Pruitt:
Age: 52
Personal: Married to wife, Aileen. Five children, including Ken Pruitt Jr., who died in 2007.
1990: Elected to the state House after defeating longtime Rep. Chuck Nergard in the Republican primary, then besting Democrat David Fromang.
2000: Easily wins a Senate seat following a bitter primary battle against fellow Republican state Rep. Sharon Merchant, R-Jupiter.
2006-08: Serves as Senate president.

Tags: Ken Pruitt, Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County

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