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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2002
After serving for two years in the state House of Representatives, Charlie Justice said he's ready for more.
"It sounds kind of idealistic, but my job is to get up every day and try to make things a little better for everyone in Florida," Justice said.
Justice, a Democrat, is running for re-election in the newly redrawn House District 53, centered in St. Petersburg. Republican Ken Feck and Libertarian Michael Gilson-De Lemos also are running.
Justice said he was proud of "fighting to improve funding for education and representing our schoolchildren and teachers in Tallahassee."
He said he would like to go back to Tallahassee to seek reduced class sizes in public school classrooms and to allow teachers from other states to come to Florida classrooms "without putting them through as much administrative bureaucracy as they're going through now."
He also pointed to his bill re-authorizing increased penalties for crimes against elderly people. Justice, 33, was an aide to Rep. Lars Hafner and ran unsuccessfully for St. Petersburg City Council in 1995. An academic adviser for the University of South Florida, Justice is married and has a daughter. He is a graduate of Boca Ciega High School, St. Petersburg Junior College and the University of South Florida.