Sarasota Speaks

The Plantation Country Club was the setting Friday for a four-wayconversation between hopefuls for State Representative featuring District 70candidates Sam Rosenfeld, a Democrat, and Doug Holder, a Republican; andDistrict 71 candidates Betty Gissendanner, a Democrat, and Ken Roberson, aRepublican.The topics ranged from the economy and drilling for oil in the Gulf to theimportance of education.The economy On the subject of the economy, Gissendanner acknowledged it's "in trouble,"then went on to offer a solution."I believe at the heart of this is our jobs," she said. "And it's difficultto bring in new employers when the foreclosure rate is so high."Gissendanner added a 60-90 day halt to foreclosures would aid the situation."(This) will allow our economy time to stabilize at the local level," shesaid, adding families will then have an opportunity to renegotiate theirmortgages while giving banks time to "comprehend how they can best help ourfamilies." Roberson asserted the answer was in keeping taxes low and reducing insurancecosts. "Florida has become unaffordable," he said. "A lot of people have moved. Andwe need to get our economy going and attract new businesses (here)."Rosenfeld felt the Sarasota County Commission should play a bigger part inthe story. "We need to work (with them) on improving the business environment righthere in Sarasota," he said. "Because I think the business leaders don'tthink the environment is very good at the present time."Rosenfeld added it was time "to look beyond the borders of the county," tobring in solar and high-tech companies."The economy of Florida can no longer depend solely on tourism andconstruction," he said. "We need to broaden our tax base."Rosenfeld also suggested implementing cap and trade, a program that sets amaximum limit on emissions. Companies in the program receive emissionsallowances, limited by the cap, and then design their own compliancestrategies to meet overall reduction requirements, such as sale or purchaseof those allowances.Holder's answer was rather simple: Stop raising taxes."The people in the state of Florida are so stressed out financially rightnow that we've got to make sure that they're the ones we pay attention to,"he said, adding it was important to give incentives in the form of taxbreaks to local businesses while encouraging out-of-state businesses torelocate here."We've got to diversify our economy," he said. "And we've got to stopincreasing taxes -- lower taxes and make sure your money is spent by you andstays in your pocket."Offshore drilling On this touchy subject, the candidates were diverse."I do believe we'll end up drilling in our Gulf," Holder said. "I think it'sjust a matter of time."Holder added it was important we reduce our dependence on foreign oil,suggesting instead "we use our own oil in our refineries and that way we'llreduce (that dependency), which will keep our dollars from getting into thehands of those that hate us."Gissendanner felt drilling was only part of the solution."We must continue to look for energy in other sources," she said. "The bestpeople to do that would be in our colleges and universities right here inFlorida. And when we become the industry leaders in creating thosealternative sources of energy, it will also increase our public education."Roberson was a bit more direct."Drill, baby, drill," he said, "if it's far out enough and safe enough. Itneeds to be part of a comprehensive strategy to make our country energyindependent."Rosenfeld, averse to the practice, pointed out that 80 percent of leases oilcompanies presently hold are sitting unused."If everybody's interested in getting more fuel, let's set up a 'use it orlose it' policy," Rosenfeld said. "If you don't drill on your leases withina set period of time, you lose them. There are other companies out therewilling to pick up those leases and start to drill now."Education The dropout rate is almost 33 percent in Florida, said a final questioner.Where would the money come from to make education better here?Roberson said throwing more money at the problem would not improve it."We spend 27 percent of the state's budget on education now," he said. "Sowe need to continue to hold our teachers accountable and make sure ourchildren are learning, by providing proper testing."Gissendanner painted a bleaker picture."Only two states have lower graduation rates than Florida," she said. "Thatshould alarm everyone in this room. It alarms me. It's not OK that wecontinue to have those atrocious graduation rates."A possible solution to the problem might lie in recognizing potentialdropouts and steering them into vocational programs, Gissendanner said."Those students that are more vocationally inclined should get an equal,fair and excellent education," she said. "When we focus more on studentachievement and less on school achievement, then we will win. We'll have abetter educated work force that will be job ready."Holder chose to focus on Pineview, which he described as "one of the topfive schools in the nation," the only so-called "gifted" school in Florida."We fought very hard in the Legislature to continue the funding for (thisschool)," he said. Education must not be viewed as an expense, but as an investment, Rosenfeldsaid. "It's an investment in our children's future," he said. "It's an investmentin our communities. The education in Sarasota County is good. The educationsystem in the rest of the state is not. The cornerstone of economic freedomis education." By Steve Smith Venice Gondolier