Brash lobbyist Brian Pitts achieves statehouse stardom in spoof video

While chairing a Senate committee meeting on Thursday, Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto introduced lobbyist Brian Pitts as a "video superstar" prior to him speaking on SB 416, which bans texting while driving.

Pitts, an ordained minister for Justice-2-Jesus, has received plenty of teasing from legislators this week after a comedic video featuring him was shown at the Capitol Press Corps Skits and posted on the Web.

The 2:49 video, "Real Slick" by Association Studios, spoofs Pitts and his unorthodox style of addressing legislators during committee meetings -- and their sometimes snarky tones toward him.

"Oh, please, they [legislators] are going overboard with it," Pitts said good-naturedly of the teasing. "I can't recall -- every meeting [someone has commented], I think every meeting since then."

The crowd at the Moon nightclub in Tallahassee chanted Pitt's line repeated to music in the video, "When the bill is long, you know something wrong," and cheered loudly when it ended.

"I was basically blown out of the facility," Pitts said. "They were standing up. I could barely hear my ears -- I couldn't believe it."

While other lobbyists offer bland monologues coded with jargon and laced with political etiquette, Pitts uses blunt, pointed language to dissect bills and cajole lawmakers toward what he calls "the common good."

On Thursday, he told senators on the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations that the SB 416 needs to be more "hardcore" to address other traffic safety issues, not texting while driving.

"What I thought about when I first came [to the Capitol six years ago], what I knew I didn't want to be: Long, drawn-out, boring, kinda stressful, kinda please-put-me-out-of-my-misery meeting," Pitts said. 

"I said, 'No we're not going to have that,' " he said. "We're going to have a little bit of fun. But at the same time, I'm going to tell it like it is -- with proper respect, protocol and decorum."

Senators co-starring in "Real Slick" are Greg Evers, Don Gaetz, Alan Hays, Charlie Dean and Larcenia J. Bullard. Senators John Thrasher and Ellyn Bogdanoff have nonspeakling roles with either bored or incredulous expressions.

"I loved it," Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, said of the Pitts video.

"He's brilliant," Williams said. "I mean, I really think he is very, very clever. I just think it's his mannerisms that get people giggling when he comes up" to speak.

She added, "He actually liked one of my bills one time. I nearly fell out of my chair."

Pitts, 41, of St. Petersburg, said legal problems involving a "shady" mortgage led him to take a closer look at the lawmaking process. He began lobbying on his own after accepting a grant from ACORN to visit the Capitol in 2005. He's been charged with practicing law without a license, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and claims bills have been filed on his behalf this session.

During his six years at the Capitol, Pitts said he's seen improvements that make it easier for the public to follow the political process. But he said there's still too much "late-filed garbage" -- referring to bill amendments offered during committee meetings. 

Although his video stardom has endeared him towards some legislators and the rest of the Capitol political crowd, Pitts said he hasn't changed.

"As to the fuzzy-wuzzy, buddy-buddy kind of thing -- I could care less," he said.

"Ain't no lettin' up," he added. "Ain't no slackin' up or compromising. We're still doing the same thing until one day there aren't no shady bills … and you all [legislators] are really as accountable as you claim you are to the people."

Reporter Bruce Ritchie can be reached at britchie@thefloridacurrent.com.