'Fearless': Florida House hosts memorial for trailblazing reporter Lucy Morgan

A memorial service for decorated journalist Lucy Morgan was held Friday in the chambers of the Florida House of Representatives.

Morgan was remembered as a tenacious reporter feared by corrupt politicians, a loving mentor to countless cub reporters, and a dedicated fighter for the public’s right to know what its government is doing.

She died Sept. 20 at 82 years of age due to complications from a fall.

More than 100 people, including dozens of former members of the Capitol Press Corps and officials from the 1980s and 1990s, former Lt. Gov. Bobby Brantley among them, attended the service.

Morgan had retired from the Tampa Bay Times in 2013, and among the things friends and colleagues remembered was her reporting on law enforcement abuse in rural counties and her ability to document Tallahassee backroom power plays that determine how tax money is spent.

A remarkable gesture

The Rev. Anne H.K. Apple noted the service for Morgan was being held “in a place where the seeds of justice are sown.”

When informed friends were looking for space to host a memorial service, in a remarkable gesture on behalf of the Florida House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Renner offered the House Chambers.

Renner, a Republican from Palm Coast , told the Times he did so as an expression of respect and admiration for the hard questions Morgan asked, and the honest reporting she provided about lawmakers at the state Capitol.

“The Florida House is honored to host Lucy's family and friends to celebrate a Tallahassee legend and a life well lived,” said Renner.

A dogged reporting style

Colleagues and others who crossed paths with Morgan describe a persistence in pursuit of answers to how Florida government operates that became legendary in the hallways of the state Capitol.

Steve Schale, a former Florida House staffer who later led the Obama for America Florida operation, said Morgan cut through the double-speak of political language to get to the bottom of things.

“If she was working a story and if you were involved, you knew you were not going to spin your way out of it,” recalled Schale before the service began.

In 2010, Morgan searched through hundreds of emails to reveal how $32 million was hidden in a transportation project to pay for African mahogany wood panels and marble counter tops in a new First District Court of Appeals building in Tallahassee.

“It was a boondoggle hiding in plain sight on the outskirts of Tallahassee,” said Morgan’s former editor Paul Tash about a building locally known as the “Taj Mahal.”

Before setting up in Tallahassee, Morgan had exposed law enforcement corruption in rural Pasco, Dixie and Hernando counties. The Pasco stories won a Pulitzer Prize.

“She feasted on wayward sheriffs. She went after them like a lion on a wildebeest. It was over before they saw her coming,” recalled Tash in eulogizing Morgan.

And once in Tallahassee, she exposed a Gulf County sheriff who was preying on women held in the county jail.

Kathy Bauerlin, Morgan’s daughter, considers those stories an important part of her mother’s legacy.  She said people lived in fear of the rural sheriffs her mother investigated.

“She was told not to even drive through the county (Dixie) at night. But she did. She met with those people and got the story" said Bauerlin. "And that sheriff in Gulf County, he can't hurt those women anymore."

But Morgan as a reporter is only part of the story. She also nurtured younger colleagues and served as a role model for dozens of reporters newly assigned to the state Capitol beat.

“She was our cheerleader, our advocate, teacher, advisor, our shoulder to cry on,” said Kati Schardl.

Schardl worked as Morgan’s Tallahassee researcher and office manager. She said Morgan was not only a mentor but a second mother to many who pursued a career as journalists.

Morgan is survived by her husband Richard, two daughters, a son and nine grandchildren.

In 2005, the Florida Senate named its press gallery in honor of Lucy Morgan

“She was one of the most fearless humans I think I have ever known,” said Schardl.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter: @CallTallahassee

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida House memoralizes Lucy Morgan exposure of political corruption