News Articles
State Senate seats up for grabs
Panama City News Herald, August 15, 2010
PANAMA CITY — There’s no arguing the top issues in the race for the Republican nomination in the state Senate District 2 race.
Candidates Greg Evers and Mike Hill both list economic recovery, job creation and reducing government spending as the biggest issues in the campaign. They also agree on many of the ways to address those issues.
Senate District 2 includes Holmes and Washington counties, and parts of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton and Bay counties. The incumbent, Durell Peaden Jr., R-Crestview, is term-limited.
Bay County’s population center is in Senate District 4. Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, is running unopposed for that seat.
Evers said a way to spur economic development and job creation is to expedite the permitting process and “do something with the Department of Community Affairs in Tallahassee because they’re killing our small businesses and counties with regulation.”
Counties should be given more flexibility to change their comprehensive plans, he said, to encourage economic growth.
Hill said he has a plan to address job creation and the economy that includes at least three steps — address rules, regulations and streamline the permitting process, “which is hampering our current businesses and new business start-up in the state;” reduce the corporate tax rate over the next eight years to zero; and “to form a vibrant partnership between our higher education in the Panhandle, high-tech companies and our military.”
Both include fighting Medicaid fraud as ways to cut government spending.
Evers said he also would address out-of-control government, which he said includes immigration reform, by opposing tax and fee increases and expediting the permitting process to allow construction and economic development.
“That all goes back to we need less government, lower taxes, personal responsibility, individual freedoms and stronger families,” he said.
Evers said he’d go line by line in all agency budgets to make spending cuts to allow for lower taxes. One of the biggest impacts, though, would come from addressing Medicaid fraud, he said.
Hill also wants to cut the budget.
“Each year they say they are at a deficit, but pass a larger budget,” he said, adding that legislators do that by assessing fees. “We need to stop doing that. Instead, we need to cut the spending we see going on in Tallahassee.”
Hill also said the state needs to address Medicaid fraud and to implement ideas brought forth by Florida Tax Watch “to get rid of inefficiencies and wasteful spending in our country to the tune of billions of dollars. We can do it, and we need someone with the courage to do that.”
They know they have similar talking points; the two have heard each other speak often on the campaign trail. But they insist there are real differences between them.
“There is a world of difference between us,” Hill said. “The biggest is that I consider myself a true conservative.
“I believe in those time-tested principles of limited government, low taxes, personal freedom and individual responsibility. I would not have voted for the $2.2 billion tax increase as Greg Evers did that they called fees and assessments that every Floridian pays for, whether rich or poor.”
Hill also pointed to educational differences, a military background that will help him with understanding Florida’s military complex, experience starting a business and his marriage of 28 years that he says shows he knows how to keep a commitment.
Evers said what sets him apart from Hill is that he’s “a pro-life, Christian conservative, farmer and small business man that has been endorsed by the (National Rifle Association), the Right to Life and the fact that I am well in-tune and support the key issues that are brought to me by my community. And, I have been a voice for Northwest Florida and will stand to see that the Panhandle is not overshadowed by South Florida. And, I have a proven record that enforces all of the above.”
He said his experience outweighs Hill’s and would result in better representation in the Senate.
Evers said he’s not sure if holding public office in the past is an advantage or not in the current political climate; he was elected to Florida’s House District 1 in 2001, but he said people “want somebody that they know has a proven record of not talking the talk but actually walking the walk and getting things done in Tallahassee.”
“I have a proven record of standing up for my folks in Tallahassee, and I will not be swayed by Tallahassee,” Evers said.
Hill, however, doesn’t see his opponent’s record as an advantage.
“Mr. Evers has been in Tallahassee for nine years, and during those nine years he has never been placed in a leadership position in Tallahassee. … He may have a record, but it’s not an impressive record at all.”
The winner of the primary race will face Tea Party candidate Christopher Crawford and write-in candidate Margaret Smith in the general election.
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