Manatee
As the Nov. 6 election nears , two political newcomers hope to represent eastern Manatee County and northeast Sarasota County in the Florida Legislature as the House District 73 state representative.
Democrat Liv Coleman hopes to break through in what has historically been a Republican district, which is being vacated by Rep. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who is running for a Florida Senate seat. Republican Tommy Gregory stands in her way.
Coleman was unchallenged in the August primaries. Gregory was initially challenged by Melissa Howard, who was forced to withdraw from the race when it was determined she lied about the extent of her college education.
Gregory, 46, spent 20 years in the Air Force and hails from a military family. A former judge advocate general and prosecutor, he is now a commercial litigation attorney with a Sarasota law firm. He holds a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, as well as a bachelor’s degree in economics from the U.S. Air Force Academy.
“I’m a much better candidate to represent this area based on my background and outlook,” Gregory said. “The fact that I have such a diverse and deep experience working with and for general officers, fighter pilots, astronauts and more, I’m used to high pressure, high profile situations and combine that with a lot of experience with free enterprise and free market, and individual responsibility and accountability is something this district is looking for.”
Coleman, 39, is a self described “educator from a family of educators.” She currently teaches political science at the University of Tampa, which is why her top priority is education.
“I’m running to help Florida’s public schools become No. 1,” Coleman said. “To keep public dollars in the system because we need more funding for our schools. I”m also in favor of backing away from high-stakes testing. Education is my top priority.”
Other priorities for Coleman include working on environmental issues and holding the state accountable to its environmental promises, affordable health care and “common sense gun safety issues.”
Gregory said improving transportation and infrastructure, as well as the education system both locally and statewide, “to inrease educational opportunities for our children,” remain his top priorities.
Red tide and home rule
Both candidates said the experts across the state and locally from Mote Marine need to be given the resources and trust necessary to mitigate and forecast future red tide blooms. Both agree that red tide is naturally occurring, but there are likely aggravating factors at play.
“There are things we can do to minimize how damaging red tide is when it blooms,” Gregory said. “We are fighting a battle on every front, not least of which are the thousands of people moving to Florida every day. The experts tell us we would still have red tide, but also tell us more people are fertilizing, more golf courses and potentially more septic tanks. There are a variety of things we know, so the question is how do we minimize it.”
Gregory said the continued effort to convert septic tanks to sewer lines, as well as developing best practices for fertilizing are good places to start.
Coleman said part of the problem is the lack of oversight from Tallahassee regarding the state’s waterways. Part of the solution goes back to her environmental priorities in assuring the money dedicated for preservation programs gets to where it was intended.
“We need to get back to the basics of honoring the will of the voters,” Coleman said.
Both candidates also agree that the Florida Legislature, for the most part, should not limit home rule authority for local municipalities..
“An extreme example of that would be sanctuary cities,” Gregory said. “It’s possible you could have a local city or county government doing something I believe violates the constitution, either Florida’s or the United States. I can’t support home rule when it runs afoul of the constitution. Sanctuary cities are completely illegal and barred by the constitution. In a case like that, i would not support home rule authority.”
Campaign finances
Gregory has far outpaced Coleman in donor support, raising just over $153,000 and spending $123,000. Coleman has raised $51,444 and spent $16,000. The majority of Gregory’s donors are from within the area while the majority of the money raised by Coleman has come from out-of-state donors.
“The representation you should have for any district is a representation of the values and desires of that district,” Gregory said of Coleman’s out-of-state support. “If you can’t raise enough money from that district, it could be a good indicator that you are not a representative of what you want to see in the Florida House.”
Both candidates believe the other has run an honest campaign about themselves and one another. The one exception for Gregory is the abundance of mailers that have gone out with false information. He cited one mailer that points to his voting record supporting the wealthy.
“That’s really hard to say it’s true when I’ve never run for office and don’t have a voting record,” Gregory said. “These types of ads are troubling to me and are blatantly false, but I do not believe my opponent is behind it and I think it troubles her, too.”
Coleman faces an uphill battle in District 73, according to the most recent voter registrations that show 104,400 registered Republicans in the district to 73,815 registered Democrats. There are 61,270 residents registered with no party affiliation.
This story was originally published October 19, 2018 6:00 AM.