Word of the affair began to leak out this month as lawmakers began holding committee hearings in Tallahassee. | AP Photo Incoming Florida Senate Democratic leader apologizes for affair with lobbyist

TALLAHASSEE — The incoming leader of Florida's Senate Democrats apologized Thursday for having an affair with a lobbyist during the last legislative session.

"I used poor judgment and hurt people that I care about, and for that I apologized long ago. But I also owe my constituents and colleagues an apology, and I intend to do just that,” Sen. Jeff Clemens, an Atlantis Democrat who's set to lead the minority party in 2019, told POLITICO Florida in a written statement.


"No excuses are good enough or can undo the pain I've caused. I have spent a lot of time, long before I was contacted by a reporter, focusing on improving my behavior,” Clemens said. “I will always aim to be a better person, be as honest in my private life as I am with my public one, and continue to seek forgiveness from the people I have wronged.”

The affair between Clemens and lobbyist Devon West came to a head at the end of the regular spring lawmaking session, when West came into possession of Clemens’ Apple laptop and gained access to all his contacts and personal information, then informed his wife of the tryst, according to sources familiar with the affair who had spoken to Clemens.

Clemens went to Republican Senate Budget chief Jack Latvala, a mutual friend of Clemens and West, for help. And Latvala, in turn, enlisted the current Senate Democratic leader, Oscar Braynon of Miami Gardens.

Braynon and West lived in the same building, the Tennyson condominium in downtown Tallahassee. West left Clemens’ laptop in a bag at the condo's concierge desk for Braynon to pick up for Clemens.

Word of the affair began to leak out this month as lawmakers began holding committee hearings in Tallahassee amid a national discussion about sex and power dynamics in the workplace.

West did not return phone, text and Twitter messages seeking comment. Braynon refused comment, as did Latvala — a Republican candidate for governor — but neither disputed the account of the affair as related to POLITICO Florida. Latvala grew so angry with a POLITICO Florida reporter that he hung up the phone during an interview. A spokesman for Clemens said he would not comment further but did not dispute the account of the affair, either.

According to her Facebook page, West left the country for Iceland and shortly after left her job lobbying on behalf of Martin County.

Within weeks of returning, she landed a similar lobbying gig for Broward County, the state’s most Democratic county and the second-most populous in Florida.

“My decision to hire her had nothing to do with Sen. Clemens and whether or not she was in, what you say, is an affair,” said Eddie Labrador, Broward County’s top in-house lobbyist. “I was not aware of that, and it would not have made a difference to me in terms of her qualifications. Sen. Clemens is not a Broward senator. He’s a good senator and has our issues at heart. ... My decision was strictly made on the fact that she was a good fit for our office based on her knowledge and her experience, and that’s it.”

Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon contributed to this report.