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| Not much on looks but plenty of spunk |
(Also see this blog about Duran)
I am retired, except for volunteer work. I don't owe anyone anything and don't care about campaign contributions. I am not going to get appropriations that benefit me or special interests. I will advocate for the environment but not for groups that get money.
Yes, I agree with a mean anonymous comment yesterday: "My campaign is going to crash and burn." Why wouldn't it? I probably have more baggage than Nick Duran my opponent BUT it is different baggage. None of it relates to getting public money or influencing anyone for money. I am just a civic minded person that has written a good government blog since 2006 for no money. That adds up to 5,454 blog posts I have written and I am not even a good writer. Everything is out there. And there is plenty. Since I went to Washington and wore that pink hat, I reluctantly have stepped up because if we don't we are all going to 'crash and burn.'
Then there is my opponent, yes his father-in-law is an uber lobbyist but there is more:
From Politico 2/2016:
The problem here is: State Rep. Nick Duran is paid by this non-profit group. Duran got $139,359.84 in 2016. "The new push" they talk about...maybe it is because Nick Duran is in office.
The Florida Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, which represents 90 clinics across the state, is in Tallahassee Thursday meeting with House leaders, educating them about the role the clinics play in Florida’s health care landscape and asking for funds to help with their mission — providing health care to uninsured people who earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
To that end, the group had scheduled meetings with House speaker-designate Richard Corcoran, a Land O Lakes Republican, as well as House health care budget chief Matt Hudson, a Naples Republican.
The group's executive director Nicholas Xavier Duran is optimistic that the Legislature will provide funding.
“We have a lot of support with members of the House,” Duran said. “It’s budget negotiation time, so the folks will come together." AND:
The clinics did get $4.5 million in funding in the 2014-15 budget, but Duran said when it was divvied up among the clinics, it came to less than 10 percent of their operating budgets. The remainder of their budgets came from patient fees and fundraising efforts.
The new push by Duran's group comes as the amount of primary care provided at county health departments has dropped sharply — with, on average, a 17 percent decline in patients seen and a 20 percent dip in visits statewide since Gov. Rick Scott took office.
