Gayle Makes Her Case At Candidate Forum
District 16 candidates want the seat back
By GREG MARTIN
Staff Writer
Three Republicans running for the District 16 Congressional seat, including a former U.S. prosecutor, a former Navy fighter pilot and a state lawmaker, took turns presenting their platforms at a local Republican club forum today.
Each of the three candidates — former U.S. Army prosecutor Tom Rooney, former Navy fighter pilot Hal Valeche and state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart — had one thing in common: they all want to remove the incumbent, Democrat U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, a Palm Beach Gardens entrepreneur.
”We have got to take this seat back,” said Harrell, a state lawmaker since 2000. “Charlotte County is the pivotal county in taking this seat back.”
Harrell also warned that District 16 will be at a “crossroads” in the 2008 election. If Mahoney wins re-election, the district will be “doomed to having a Democrat in this seat for a long time,” she said.
The three Republicans are vying for the Republican nomination in the August 2008 primary. Their comments came when they participated in a forum today organized by the Mid-Charlotte County Republican Club. About 45 members attended the event.
Harrell has served as the District 81 representative in the Florida House since 2000. She said she also managed a mammogram center until “the government put us out of business.”
Harrell said she and her husband, a doctor, have raised four children and have six grandchildren.
”I believe we need to restore the values upon which this nation was founded,” Harrell said.
Those values, according to Harrell, include putting families first, allowing children to recite “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and promoting less government, fewer taxes and more individual responsibility.
The federal government needs reforms, she said. She cited the federal response to Katrina.
”We see the bloated bungling of the federal bureaucracy,” Harrell said.
Congress should also work to make the nation’s health care system “a market-driven system.” If that doesn’t happen, the U.S. won’t have a viable economy, she said.
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September 19th, 2007
