Quiet week in Sarasota for House 69 candidates
All was quiet on the west coast of Florida this week for the candidates for the House District 69 seat, with neither of them making it into the news.
Incumbent Keith Fitzgerald (D) continues to hold down the fort in Sarasota and Manatee counties, where Republicans currently outnumber Democrats 3-to-2. So far this cycle, Fitzgerald has spent less than $5,000 of the $52,483 he has raised, most of which went toward travel expenses and cell phone charges.
Challenger Ray Pilon (R) can’t afford to be as cavalier with the $26,921 he has raised, which is probably why he spent the majority of his $6,821.84 in expenditures on political consultants and printing services.
Fitzgerald’s top issues are pretty standard fare for a Democrat; since he first took office in 2006, Fitz has been working to reform Florida’s broken tax system, increase education spending, make affordable housing more available and protect the environment. According to his Web site, “helping our state develop a dynamic economy that combines innovation and responsible natural resource stewardship,” including smart growth management, is a top priority.
Pilon is the polar opposite, embracing the classical pillars of any Republican platform: fierce opposition to tax increases of every kind but ambiguous stances on both education and the environment. The issues page of his Web site assures voters that he will “work to remove government-created obstacles to prosperity.”
You can almost hear the more utilitarian-minded New College student body grumbling.
– Erin Jester
2 years ago • Notes