Mitch Perry
When the Hillsborough County Republican Party began promoting its Reagan Day BBQ weeks ago, attendees were promised appearances by Adam Putnam, Richard Corcoran and Jack Latvala.
Instead, they got Baxter Troutman and Bob White.
Many statewide and Hillsborough County-based Republicans were running in 2018 who put in some time at the cattle-call-style event on Sunday afternoon, held in the cavernous 81 Bay Brewing Company brewery on South Gandy in Tampa.
Although the event was scheduled from 1-3 p.m., the candidates weren’t allowed to speak until halftime of the Miami Dolphins-Tampa Bay Bucs game broadcast on most of the televisions at the brewery, and were only given a few minutes to introduce themselves.
Troutman is the Winter Haven-based former state representative running for the GOP nomination for Agriculture Commissioner, along with Denise Grimsley and North Fort Myers state Rep. Matt Caldwell, who also attended the event.
White, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida, also is running for governor, with an emphasis on campaign finance and ethics reform.
“We have a swamp in Tallahassee that we have got to drain,” he said. “It is every bit as dark … as the swamp in Washington, D.C., and I’m the only candidate for governor that is committed to that issue.”
The event was noteworthy as being the first time that Ashley Moody and Ross Spano have shared the same space since Spano announced last week that he would run for attorney general, joining Moody, Jacksonville state Rep. Jay Fant and Pensacola state Rep. Frank White. Current GOP Attorney General Pam Bondi is term-limited next year.
Moody and Spano are both Hillsborough County Republicans who will be vying for the same voters over the course of the next 10 months.
Spano was up first, beginning by reciting an anecdote when he was in the 8th grade and confronted a big kid who was bullying a smaller child.
“I promptly got my tail kicked! But guess what? I never saw that bully bullying another child,” Spano shouted (the acoustics were challenging to say the least).
“I’m going to fight to make sure the innocent people are protected. That’s my passion. It’s in my gut. It’s what I do,” he continued citing his legislative work on combating human trafficking.
Noting his current position as chair of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, Spano said that he was the “only one in the race” to have criminal justice legislative experience.
“You can look at my record and know where I stand,” Spano continued, adding that he will fight for the public like no other attorney general in state history.
Moody talked up her experience in the courtroom.
“Not only will I bring our conservative principles and priorities to the office in Tallahassee, but I can start this job on day one,” she said. “I’ve been a judge. I’ve been a federal prosecutor. I’ve been a lawyer. You want to talk about true experience? I’ve been in the courts on both sides of the bench.”
Moody said the pursuit of the office was a job interview, and the voters are her boss. “Hold me accountable, because I’m accountable to you.”
Tampa House Republicans Jackie Toledo and Jamie Grant also addressed the crowd.
Toledo told the audience she was “super excited” about her legislation (HB 41) on pregnancy centers that promote childbirth, while Grant warned the crowd that “we’ve got a very difficult cycle in front of us” regarding the 2018 election season.
