THE FINAL PUSH: District 4 candidates debate before Tuesday's special election

Republican candidates for State Representative District 4 squared off for the last time Thursday night in front of a crowded room of more than 100 people.

In a forum hosted by the Okaloosa County Republican Club at the American Legion Post 235 in Fort Walton Beach, Craig Barker, Matt Gaetz, Bill Garvie, Jerry Melvin and Kabe Woods made their positions known on Destin issues ranging from an emergency operations center at the airport to the fishing fleet.

When asked whether or not he would support a Destin EOC, former Destin Mayor Craig Barker said he does think it’s appropriate to have such a facility near an impending disaster. But he said negative push polls aimed at him have overestimated his involvement with the project, which was approved by the Destin City Council.

“The council voted unanimously to put that emergency center there,” Barker said. “As mayor, I’m forced to actively engage and support what the council supports.”

Gaetz, who has questioned Barker’s involvement in the emergency center scandal that helped sink House Speaker Ray Sansom, said he doesn’t intend to be in Destin in the event of an emergency.

“Now is not the time to go spending money for something like that,” he said. “Particularly if it’s a pork barrel appropriation from Tallahassee.”

Garvie countered that he doesn’t think the Destin City Council or Barker had anything to do with pushing the project, which records claimed would double as a hangar for developer Jay Odom. He said that while he doesn’t like “the things that were around that emergency center,” he does think Destin needs the center.

Woods said he would put the center a little further inland, and Melvin said he would support it if it made the city safer, but it’s not a decision for the Florida Legislature. He said it was up to Okaloosa County to make the call.

When it came to offshore drilling, most of the candidates stated their opposition. Garvie said that whether or not it interferes with the military mission, drilling could damage the tourist industry. And Barker agreed, although he said he would support drilling more than 25 miles off shore because he is confident in the industry’s ability to contain spills at that distance. But drilling closer than that would be too risky, especially considering a recent Senate report, which stated that offshore drilling wouldn’t do to much to decreases prices at the pump.

Woods agreed that the risk outweighed the benefit.

“With a $65 billion tourist industry and only a $50 million or so royalty stream coming into the state, it’s not worth the risk,” he said.

But Gaetz and Melvin said they would consider supporting offshore drilling in state waters, which are 10.3 miles from the beach, if the military stated that it wouldn’t have an effect on their mission.

“Craig argues that it won’t solve all our energy needs,” Gaetz said. “I’m glad everyone doesn’t have that attitude.”

He went on to say that the state needs a diversified energy portfolio, and he’s not “willing to foreclose on any opportunity that gives us energy independence.”

From drilling, the candidates moved on to fishing, and all said they would do their best in Tallahassee to support the fishermen. Melvin and Gaetz said they would push for the state attorney general to file a lawsuit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service.

“We should not let the federal fisheries group tell the state of Florida what we can and cannot in state waters,” Melvin said.  “I don’t think their information is current enough to close the waters.”

Barker, Woods and Garvie said the first step would be to get an accurate count. Garvie said he stood with the fishermen in protest in Fort Walton Beach, and he would stand by them in Tallahassee.

“I will tell the federal government it is not appropriate to apply federal regulations in state waters when our fisherman are getting put out of work,” Barker said.

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How to vote

Voting for the Special Primary Election will take place on March 23. Early voting will continue until 4:30 p.m. today at the University of Florida REEF located at 1350 North Poquito Road in Shalimar. Less than half of Destin falls in District 4, so only precincts 20 and 44 will be eligible to vote. Voting in precinct 20 will take place at the Destin Community Center at 101 Stahlman Ave., and voting in precinct 44 will be at Corpus Christi Catholic Church at 307 Beach Dr. To see a map of the district and get results of the election Tuesday night, see thedestinlog.com.