Mitch Perry
A special election in Sarasota-area House District 72 is starting to get nasty, with still more than a month before voters go to the polls.
In the past week, the Republican Party of Florida began airing a commercial attacking Democrat Margaret Good, the Siesta Key-based attorney who won her Party’s primary last month.
Good is running against Republican James Buchanan; the special election is March 13.
The ad, a thirty-second verbal assault on the Democrat, begins with the narrator describing her as “liberal lawyer Margaret Good. Just plain bad.”
It goes on to say that, as an attorney, Good “defended allegations of fraud, negligence, Ponzi schemes, and financial mismanagement.”
Next, the spot says she “sides with liberals” in making Sarasota a “sanctuary city for illegal aliens,” and that she once tried to stop a Sarasota schoolteacher from earning a bonus.
The narrator concludes: “Defending fraud, negligence, Ponzi schemes. Liberal Lawyer Margaret Good — just plain bad.”
On Wednesday, Good’s campaign pushed back hard.
“This ad is 30 seconds of lies and is funded by special interests groups and insiders who want to continue business as usual in Tallahassee,” said Kevin Lata, Good’s campaign manager.
“Margaret Good will stand up for our community,” Lata said. “She will ensure everyone has affordable and accessible health care, invest in education, and protect our environment. It is time Buchanan Jr. man up and call on these special interests groups to take down their false advertisements.”
Lata also called on Buchanan to debate Good publicly “as opposed to hiding behind the special interests groups who are lying about her record and distorting those she has represented in court.”
For weeks, Good’s campaign has criticized Buchanan for his refusal to engage in a one-on-one debate for the special election.
The HD 72 seat was last held by Republican Alex Miller, who unexpectedly stepped down in early September, forcing a special election.
It is the 35-year-old Buchanan’s first run for political office. A real estate agent and broker in Sarasota, he initially filed a year ago to run in the nearby House District 71 race but transitioned to HD 72 after Miller announced she was stepping down from the seat.
He’s also the son of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan.
James Buchanan did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
HD 72 covers all of Siesta Key, parts of Sarasota and western Sarasota County.
3 comments
Margaret Meier
January 12, 2018 at 9:59 pm
If Margaret does want Sarasota, to become a sanctuary city, then she doesn’t care about the citizens who live here. Take a look at the mess CA is in. The legal citizens are leaving in droves as soon as they can. Her campaign is based on destroying Pres. Trump’s agenda.., Why? Is she a socialist? I guess she has never lived in a socialist country. If she thinks that she is important because she has raised more campaign funds, let me remind her that the wealthy people who can afford to give large funds have immigrated here to FL because they left there down-trodden states where the socialist liberals have already ruined everything by their taxations, welfares, sanctuary cities, and general lack of morality. Wake up, liberals, socialist, brainwashed progressives, and anyone else who does not believe that our constitution is worthwhile. You are digging your own grave. M Meier
Jeff Williams
January 14, 2018 at 10:51 am
Press them for a “yes” or “no” on sanctuary cities and states and Democrat candidates throughout Florida are likely to say they’re not yet ready to answer, that the issue needs further study. That of course is a “yes” answer.
To Democrat politicians, more immigrants means more Democrats, so the sky’s the limit on the numbers of them, and they’ve gone so far as to shielding illegals from immigration law with “sanctuaries.” That there is even one sanctuary city anywhere is appalling: “Here, let us help you flaunt our laws. We’ll even hire attorneys for you and charge the citizenry.” That’s how far our illegal immigration situation has regressed.
I was a Democrat voter until one year into Obama. Then I turned away from the hyper-partisan mainstream media and discovered all of the things that drive the Democrat Party in their all-consuming quest for power. In sum, it is shocking, ugly, corrupt, divisive, and destructive.
Back to the subject at hand, why would anyone support the support of criminality? Why would anyone support the Democrats’ providing sanctuary to today’s staggering numbers of illegal immigrants?
Chris Johansson
January 18, 2018 at 7:14 pm
Good has my vote. We need representatives that know LOCAL issues and not empty suits taking outside money.
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