District Four candidates jockey for conservative title in Freedom forum

NICEVILLE — Five Republicans seeking the party nomination for the state House District 4 seat spent a sunny Sunday afternoon jockeying for the title of most conservative.

Themes of less government, reduced spending and no new taxes ran through the responses to the several questions each candidate was asked during a two-hour debate sponsored by the Northwest Florida Daily News.

I tell people I’m a Republican and they ask, ‘Are you a conservative?’ That’s how I know we need to take back the ground,” said candidate Matt Gaetz. “I was tea partying before tea partying was cool.”

And on a day when he asked a lot of questions, the most insightful inquiry from Pat Rice at the debate might have been posed more as an observation.

“Who says no one cares about local politics anymore?” Rice, the regional director of content for Freedom Communications, asked the crowd of more than 300 who attended.

The attendance might have been the story of the day, but each of the candidates — Gaetz, Craig Barker, Bill Garvie, Jerry Melvin and Kabe Woods — scored points and continued to impress potential voters.

Niceville resident Bob Reid attended the Sunday forum after already voting via absentee ballot. He said afterward he wished he had his vote back.

“We have five very well-spoken candidates,” Reid said. “We don’t have any dead wood.”

Woods continued to paint himself as the outsider. He told the crowd that he’d funded his own campaign because “I wanted to show you people I’m committed.”

“Our family has committed its future to get this office,” Woods said. “I’m tired of the political class ruling our country. It’s important for you to understand I’m committed and don’t owe anyone.”

Woods said that “it’s time to push back” against federal mandates like health care reform. He called federally mandated health care unconstitutional.

“If people want to make decisions on improving health care, there are things Floridians can do,” Woods said. He cited providing sovereign immunity to doctors, so that they are immune from lawsuits, as one means of bringing down insurance costs.

Garvie, an FBI agent for 30 years, cited his federal government experience as a demonstration of his integrity, and held up his high security clearance levels as an example.

“I have done more than anyone in this room,” he told the gathering.

Garvie was the only candidate to use the term “reaching across the aisle” and being open as a Republican to working with Democrats to solve issues. He also was the only one to speak in support of high speed rail, which he said could ultimately benefit Northwest Florida.

Garvie also singled himself out by saying he supported Florida’s acceptance of federal stimulus dollars. He told the crowd, “That’s your money,” and said stimulus dollars were being used right now to improve road access between north and south Okaloosa County.

Gaetz said his work as a citizen and attorney prove his dedication to keeping taxes low and government responsive. He spoke of his efforts to rid Okaloosa County of a “pet tax” he and his dog found offensive and his citizens’ campaign to prevent the city of Fort Walton Beach from raising taxes.

“You can evaluate someone’s appetite for cutting spending on whether they’ve actually done that,” Gaetz said. “I haven’t even been to the Legislature yet and I’ve defeated two tax increases.”

He held up the endorsements of former Gov. Jeb Bush and local Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day as proof of his conservatism.

“If you choose to trust my campaign, to join our movement, you won’t be alone. You’ll be with Jeb,” Gaetz said.

Garvie, a Fort Walton Beach city councilman, refuted Gaetz’s accounting of the tax increase issue.

Although Gaetz contends he petitioned fellow city residents to convince Fort Walton Beach to lower its property tax rate, Garvie said the City Council, with him in the forefront, cut $147,000 in spending to achieve the tax cuts.

Barker termed himself a “passionate” conservative who had spent 14 years in volunteer service to city government as a city councilman and mayor.

He said that through his leadership Destin has become the least expensive city in which to live in Okaloosa County.

“I believe in my record. I believe a record is something you stand on,” he said.

Barker urged the prospective voters to “select a candidate who has been through a budget process and knows how to cut spending.”

Melvin promised to continue to oppose political correctness as a legislator.

He told the crowd he’d spent 18 years in Tallahassee and knew how to build coalitions and work within the system.

Melvin said developers looking for political favors would carry the same weight with him as school teachers asking for consideration.

“There will be no special consideration for anyone,” he said.

Melvin even made the somewhat radical move of requesting that voters put him in office because he’d be able to step right into a state office and accomplish things it would take his competitors “three or four weeks” to figure out.

The candidates were asked to address the campaign funding they’d received and how campaign contributions, particularly from developers, could impact their decision-making as lawmakers.

Woods staked his claim to having paid for most of his own campaign. Garvie also said he’d received funds only from family and friends.

Barker said he’d made a decision going into the campaign to accept only local dollars. He said he was proud to be the candidate with the most local financial support.

Gaetz, who has far outpaced all of his opponents in fund-raising, but whose many out-of-county contributions have been the subject of criticism, said that “when people make a contribution to my campaign, I’m not buying into their agenda, they’re buying into mine.”

He said most of his contributions have come from retired military, who he said realize he will be a conservative voice for them.

Woods and Gaetz looked almost like a team during the question-and-answer section of the debate. Woods even commented, “What a straight man,” when Gaetz asked him a question he could use to refute Barker’s assertions that he’d kept taxes low in Destin.

Woods, who lived in Destin before relocating to Fort Walton Beach, held up tax documents that he claimed indicated Destin’s property taxes had risen more than 80 percent in a 10-year period beginning in 2000.