for the best" (Glick, 1992a). His bill also included many controversial proposals, such as
denying medical care to wards of the state with significant mental retardation. This incited
disability rights advocates as well as the Florida Catholic Conference and other right-to-life
organizations (Glick, 1992a). With such staunch opposition, all of Sackett's proposals failed,
even when he amended the bills to only address competent adults (Glick, 1992a). Not only could
Sackett not win over the opposition, he was only able to gain the support of one organization: the
Florida Department of Health (Glick, 1992a). Although most state legislators in Florida ran
unopposed and very few were ever unseated, Sackett was defeated for re-election in 1976 when
his opponent distributed pictures of the Senator sleeping during legislative sessions (Glick,
1992a).
In 1984, the Florida Hospital Association sought legislators to draft an advance directive
law, and under pressure from state court cases that the Florida Catholic Conference feared would
be more problematic for patients than legislation, the FCC declared itself neutral on a law in
exchange for several provisions to mitigate their concerns, similar to the provisions demanded by
the California Catholic Conference eight years prior (Glick, 1992a). Consensus was finally
achieved, and the Florida law passed (Glick, 1992a).
The case studies of California and Florida suggest the power of consensus but moreover,
the necessity of a skilled policy entrepreneur to facilitate consensus (Glick, 1992a). These studies
suggest that skill is needed to both craft an innovative policy and broker compromises in order to
win the support of groups necessary for the policy to be successfully adopted. The skill of
mediating the values and interests of opposing groups proved critical, since the enduring
opposition of interest groups to Florida proposals is credited for delaying policy adoption while
the withdrawal of opposition in California is credited for passing the first advance directive law

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