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MARATHON WEEKLY / JULY 21, 2022 MANDY MILES mandy@keysweekly.com
FIRST CANDIDATE FORUM GETS FEISTY HOMETOWN EVENT FEATURES NINE RACES
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lorida Keys candidates in nine political races fielded questions on July 18 from four local panelists at Hometown’s first election forum. The lively audience included Democrats, Republicans, non-party affiliates — and a cash bar in the lobby of Tennessee Williams Theater. As the event entered its third hour, moderator Todd German repeatedly reprimanded the politically divided audience for booing, cheering aggressively and shouting responses to questions and answers. Those questions came from U.S. 1 Radio news director Joe Moore, Citizen newspaper editor Chris Seymour, Key West business owner Paul Menta and Key West Weekly editor Mandy Miles. Questions were either drafted by the individual panelists or submitted in advance by members of Hometown, a nonpartisan voter education and advocacy group. A video of the event is available at hometownkeywest.com and on its YouTube channel. Below are excerpts from the forum. Additional races are included at keysweekly.com.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 120, REPUBLICANS Incumbent Jim Mooney, Rhonda Rebman Lopez and Robert Scott Allen What would you do to try to fix the wind insurance rate problem we’re facing? Mooney: “The special session on insurance was, at best, interesting. One thing I did debate was trying to get Citizens back in a posture they were put in place for, which was as a last resort. The hardest part in Tallahassee is making people understand that Monroe County is different. We are the leaders in the state with regard to FEMA and wind load, yet many counties are sub, subpar. And those subpar counties are what lead to overall insurance rate escalation, thus impacting all of us.” Rebman Lopez: “Let me tell you what the problem is in Tallahassee. We’re top heavy on trial attorneys that put an R beside their name. We need tort reform. In other states that implemented tort reform, their (insurance) rates went down. … We are a sue-happy state and a judicial hellhole for suing, and whenever we get sued, the costs are passed on to us with our insurance premiums.” Allen: “Everything I can.”
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 120, DEMOCRATS Adam Gentle, Daniel Horton Diaz What would you do to try to fix the wind insurance problem we’re facing? Gentle: I’m sure everyone saw the recent article about $100 million in litigation fees that Citizens Property Insurance pays due to fraud. I would appoint a commission to investigate so our insurance dollars are actually being used to pay for repairs and not to settle fraudulent claims. We have to remove the corruption from the marketplace and bring in new actors by trying something Charlie Crist is proposing by making it so if you want to sell car insurance in Florida, you also have to offer homeowners’ insurance.” Horton-Diaz: “Monroe is a donor county when it comes to insurance. The folks in Tallahassee don’t understand the uniqueness of this community, that our building standards are way higher. I want to build relationships with people on both sides so you can have conversations and communicate the uniqueness of this county. We shouldn’t be paying so much into the system when we don’t claim much back.” What would you do in Tallahassee to help with our housing problem? Horton-Diaz: You have to fight for your place in the budget. When it comes to housing we’re not gonna build our way out of this problem. We have to take a hard look at vacation rentals, AirBnbs. We need to prioritize the people homesteaded in your community and put limits on the amount of homes that can be used for those purposes. We shouldn’t be allowing properties owned by hedge funds or other corporations to be running the same racket when so many families are struggling.” Gentle: “We need to focus on getting more money from the appropriations for the housing issue and I think that’s been a great failure of our current representatives, is leaving money on the table. It’s shocking to me that on July 7 our governor announced a $22 billion surplus in the state of Florida and yet we still have a housing crisis. We need representation that’s going to fight for the dollars we need and deserve.”
SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 1 (KEY WEST) Darren Horan fielded all the questions for the District 1 school board race, as his opponent, Gabrielle Brown, “called yesterday and had an emergency, and it absolutely is an excused absence,” German told the audience. How do you respond to the claim that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ endorsement of local school board candidates politicizes those nonpartisan races? Horan: “I’m a governor-endorsed candidate and I’d say that if it was Andrew Gillum, Nikki Fried or any other governor in office. I’m sure many of you would like the governor to stay out of races, but I’m going to be transparent. I’m endorsed by him. I’m not running as a Republican. I’m not running as a Democrat. I’m running as a nonpartisan. Because I believe, in this age, you need to have someone who represents all people. … I’m a product of Monroe County schools and of this environment, and I’ll continue to be a product of this environment once I sit on that dais.”
SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 5 In the Upper Keys school board race, incumbent Sue Woltanski is a retired pediatrician who has kids in the school system. She faces challenger Alexandria Suarez, a former teacher and current prosecutor with the State Attorney’s Office. How will the Parental Rights in Education Bill affect local schools? Woltanski: “I think it’ll depend on how the board responds to it. We do have a diverse number of families, including single parents, families with two moms, grandparents. When a child comes to school they need to feel safe. I fully feel that our teachers will continue to make them feel that way. I think we as a board need to support teachers to let them know we want them to continue to embrace the diversity in our schools.” Suarez: “I stand with Gov. DeSantis on the Parental Rights in Education bill. It calls for transparency in curriculum. It also stands for making sure these gender identity and sexual orientation discussions are not taking place in kindergarten through third grade. We need to focus on academics with our students. … And it helps teachers — good teachers, unbiased teachers — get back to teaching.”
