February 1, 2007
On Wednesday, January 31st the Associated Industries of Florida Service Corporation (AIFSC) voted to endorse George Scarborough (R-Gulf Breeze) in the Republican primary for the House District 3 Special Election. Mr. Scarborough is running to replace former Representative Holly Benson (R-Pensacola) who was recently appointed Secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The primary will be held on Tuesday, February 6th and the General election has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 27th.
George Scarborough, age 46, is the brother of popular TV news personality and former US Congressman Joe Scarborough. He is the owner for Scarborough Consulting and was the organizer of the large high-tech expo called the Gulf Coast Technology Summit and Exposition. During his interview, Scarborough confirmed that his brother was actively working in the district on his behalf and that he had been endorsed by Charlie Hilton, Earl Durden, Senator Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) and Congressman Jeff Miller (R).
On the issues, when asked about the recent special session on property insurance, Scarborough noted that he would be more supportive of initiatives that create competition among insurance companies. Further, he supports Sen. Gaetz’s idea of capping local taxing authorities’ ability to raise property taxes and said that “portability is fine as long as we’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
The other candidates running in the District 3 Special Election include:
It is our understanding that a 2:30pm press conference scheduled today by Representative John Quinones (R-Kissimmee) is to announce he will not remain in his House District 49 seat but will run for an open seat on the Osceola County Commission. The qualifying deadline for the Commission is tomorrow (February 2nd) at noon.
Representative Quinones, who was the first Puerto Rican to serve in the Florida Legislature, was elected to House District 49 in 2002 and would not be "termed out" until 2010. As for the candidates lining up to run for Rep. Quinones’ current seat, three candidates had filed their intent to run for his seat in 2008. They are: