Democrats in Tallahassee think they have a chance of picking off a GOP House seat in Hillsborough's District 57 race, where Republican Faye Culp is being term limited out of office. Whether that's an
Stacy Frank will in all probability be their candidate in November, but three Republicans stand in her way of making it to the state capitol next year. Those three engaged in a one hour debate at a steakhouse in Tampa last night.
Attorney Dana Young is the chosen successor of Culp, and she leads the race in fundraising (And in a straw poll taken after the debate, was declared the winner). Last night she and Todd Marks dueled it out for who was the purer conservative in the race, while attorney and the president of the Tampa Bay Builders Association, Dan Molloy, distinguished himself by speaking outside that conservative orthodoxy on some key issues, such as Senate Bill 6, the John Thrasher sponsored teacher reform bill that was vetoed by Governor Charlie Crist last month.
"As a conservative Republican I essentially believe we should keep and control as much as possible out of Tallahassee, we should limit government and we have a perfectly adequate system for dealing with school issues with locally elected school boards and that's where it should remain," Molloy said, in explaining why he backed the Crist veto.
Dana Young quickly interjected that her heart was with Jeb Bush, and not Charlie Crist on the issue, and expressed disappointment that the governor had vetoed the bill.
The proposed one cent sales tax for transportation that will have a public hearing this Thursday night in Hillsborough County was discussed, and not positively by the candidates. Young called it an "arrogant" move by the Commission, referring to it as a 14% sales tax increase, adding "and we cannot afford it."
Todd Marks has made more news than either candidate prior to the debate with his enthusiastic support of Arizona's controversial anti-immigration law, saying that Florida should enact a similar bill.
Though the Florida Legislature just completed their regular session where they dealt with a variety of pressing issues, immigration wasn't one of them. But to hear Marks (and Young) discuss it last night, it's one of the state's biggest problems.
Saying he didn't believe the Arizona law allowed for racial profiling, Marks said,"my position is that those who would rely on racial profiling as a way to say no to this bill are generally open-border, pro amnesty supporters in the first place." And he called on his opponents to support him in calling for all state licensed companies to use the E-Verify (Internet) system to determine the status of a legal worker.
Young chimed right in, saying the issue is costing Floridians a lot in the pocketbook. "$3.8 million a year is spent from all of us to provide education, health care and incarceration for illegal immigrants in this state," she said. Saying there are 880,000 undocumented people in Florida, Young said she wasn't sure if the Arizona law was the perfect solution, "but it's a solution, and we need a solution here in Florida."
This article appears in May 5-11, 2010.