Alan Grayson— On The Crucial Issues Facing Florida Voters

From Controlling Inflation To Allowing Women To Control Their Own Bodies

When Alan Grayson won his first race for Congress in 2008, the Orlando seat had been a backwater Republican bastion for decades. In the primary he had to overcome a well-connected conservative establishment Democrat, Charlie Stuart, before taking on the 4-term Republican incumbent, Ric Keller. He overcame both with a strong and unapologetic progressive vision for governance. In Congress he passed more legislation than any of his peers and was dubbed “the most effective member of the House” by Dave Weigel.

He was always was the smartest guy in the room and doesn’t suffer fools lightly, which didn’t endear him to some of his colleagues who didn’t appreciate being made to confront the fact that they are essentially lazy and dull-witted. His two runs for the U.S. Senate were unsuccessful and this cycle he’s running for an open Florida state Senate seat in Osceola County, most of which was part of his congressional district. Obama, Hillary and Biden all won the county. He was endorsed by Blue America and, whether you live in Florida or not, you can contribute to his campaign here or here.

Asked recently, what the two most important challenges facing Florida are and, if elected, what actions he plans to take to address them, he responded that “The most important challenge facing Florida is to control the cost of living, and keep it from cutting into pay and income. There are large parts of the economy, like transportation, education, taxes, housing, healthcare and insurance, where the state's direct or indirect impact on the cost of living is enormous. The state should cut tolls, cut taxes, widen Medicaid, restore health clinics, provide free public college and reduce state insurance premiums. Another important challenge is to prevent the government from interfering in private, personal decisions, particularly in the decisions of whether or not to be a parent, and whether to smoke marijuana. That's no one else's business... In principle, it is nobody else's business whether a woman decides to go through pregnancy and whether to become a parent. Both the government and other people should be neither for nor against it; it's within the zone of personal choice. The government should never use its coercive power to force birth or parenthood, in the same way that it should never use its power to preclude it. I also believe that the abortion ban is a clearcut case of discrimination against pregnant women, and it denies them equal protection under the law, as Justice Ginsburg noted.”

The Florida state Senate has 40 seats and just 12 are in Democratic hands. A smart, galvanizing and experienced legislator like Grayson— who understands how to work across the aisle by focussing on issues that make peoples’ lives better regardless of politics— is just what’s called for. The moment he got to Congress he made it a priority to reverse a situation in Central Florida that he ran against: federal taxes collected flowing out instead of in. Noting that people in his district had been, what he called, “exporting taxes and importing debt,” in his first year in office the amount of federal grant dollars returning to the district nearly doubled. That’s an effective legislator. One thing that conservatives— even Republicans— like about this progressive firebrand is that he fought against waste, fraud and abuse, more effectively so than any other member, let alone anyone with so little seniority. He worked closely with Ron Paul (R-TX) to audit the Fed.

Republicans don’t always agree with him the way they do when he demands government accountability. For example, asked what he would do legislatively— in the state Senate— to protect the public from gun violence, he replied “ that his bill, the Freedom from Fear Act, a one-sentence bill to restore the ban on assault weapons, should be adopted.” He also noted that:

• There should be extensive restrictions on gun ownership applying to anyone who meets objective standards for being a potential threat to commit gun violence, subject to judicial review. 

• Manufacturers should institute fingerprint locks, and other gun safety controls.

• There should be reasonable limits on gun firing speed and on ammunition.

Asked for a plan to ensure that all Florida students have access to a high-quality education, he noted that “public higher education should be free; book banning should be banned; higher education appointments should be on professional merit only, rather than being lavish no-show jobs for the politically connected; [and] teacher pay should be increased.”

He added that “Since local education is based on the property tax, the state should help areas with low tax bases. He wants Florida to strengthen regional public colleges and would like to see the state expand ‘magnet schools.’ And seek out additional federal funding where it is available, such as school construction and student disabilities.”