Guest AuthorTo say that the political topography of Pasco County is mostly Republican is akin to saying that the sun is mostly hot. Mitt Romney won handily in 2012, by a margin of seven points. In fact, with only two exceptions, a Republican won every elected office in Pasco that year.
One of those exceptions to the county’s red swing was notable, incumbent Tax Collector Mike Olson, a Democrat who had held that position for decades. Otherwise the Republican trend in Pasco has been well established, as all state representatives, state senators and even the sheriff are Republicans.
But very possibly that may change Tuesday, and Florida’s debate over an initiative of the Affordable Care Act may have been the impetus for change.
State Rep. Mike Fasano of House District 36, a moderate Republican and party maverick, consistently challenged party talking points, championed issues involving insurance, utilities run amuck and other economic concerns that deeply affected Pasco and Florida. He has served that area since 1994 as both a representative and senator, and his populist efforts made him a beloved official by both parties in his district.
But the sudden and untimely death of Tax Collector Mike Olson less than six months after his reelection left that rare Democratic seat vacant, and Rep. Fasano asked the governor to appoint him to the position.
His reasons were, of course, his own, but many had felt that he was tired of being marginalized by his own party. In the last election, he became the sole Republican to embrace Medicaid expansion, and he fought to amend the Florida House’s alternate plan to make it similar to the Senate alternative, which still accepted federal funds and came closer to achieving what Medicaid expansion would have accomplished. His arguments on behalf of that unsuccessful amendment led to one of the longest House debates in recent memory.
When the governor accepted Rep. Fasano’s request, I could hear a collective gasp from many of my friends on both sides of the aisle. His chair would be hard to fill, and Pasco Democrats saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime to make Pasco a new shade of purple.
Both parties scrambled to recruit a candidate to enter the special election set for Tuesday (October 15). After a primary, Pastor Bill Gunter, the Republican, was ready to oppose the sole Democratic candidate, Amanda Murphy, a financial adviser and Raymond James vice president running for her first office.
I had heard from activists in both political parties that, given a quick election and little time to campaign, Fasano’s endorsement could make or break either candidate.
At first, Fasano firmly stated that he would not publicly endorse either candidate, and he spent much time just trying to keep the candidates from invoking his name as part of their campaigns.
But it wasn’t long before he let it slip that the candidates’ opinions about Medicaid expansion were making him look more favorably at Amanda Murphy. Bill Gunter had vocally expressed opposition to expansion, but Ms. Murphy’s views were more akin to those of Fasano.
At a recent fundraiser, Ms. Murphy told me, “Bill Gunter said that he believed in the healthcare savings plan and the free market plan, and as a financial adviser, I know that not many people can afford healthcare savings plans, and if you do, if you spend one short session in the hospital, it’s going to wipe out all the money that you put into that.
“The Medicaid expansion, on the other hand, is actually helping people get real insurance so that they can go to the doctor before it becomes a crisis and they’re in the emergency rooms. It will save all of us on our premiums for our insurance coverage if everyone has insurance and they’re going to doctors beforehand,” she said.
“I read the numbers,” she continued, “and it’s going to give 121,000 jobs to the State of Florida. Even if it was only 100,000 jobs, that’s jobs that we could use, and we are taking care of people prior to it becoming critical.”
That attitude must have resonated with Fasano, because that week he announced that he had voted with an absentee ballot for Ms. Murphy. He followed a week later with a formal endorsement on ”Florida this Week,” and has been stumping for her since, and publicly decrying Pastor Gunter’s use of false statements against Ms. Murphy, including that her campaign was funded by insurance and utility money.
When Mike Fasano decided to step away from Tallahassee, many thought that he would no longer be a moderate voice of populist reason in Pasco and the state, but his impact on this election has proved that wrong. Currently the numbers of early and absentee ballots cast have been in favor of the Democrat, and Tuesday may be the day that a Democrat reclaims a seat in Tallahassee for Pasco. If that happens, it may be that a strong, financially savvy candidate, a divisive issue regarding healthcare and a warrior who always cared more about people than politics made it happen.
