For now, the decision leaves Republican state Rep. Charles Dean without a challenger.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published March 24, 2004
The only candidate who had stepped forward, so far, to oppose Republican state Rep. Charles Dean announced Tuesday that he is leaving the race for the District 43 seat.
Jimmy Carr, who challenged Dean unsuccessfully for the seat two years ago, said he was feeling confident about his knowledge of the issues and the name recognition he had built. But he couldn't raise the kind of money he needed to mount a viable campaign.
"If the playing field was level, then I'd love to go," said Carr, a Democrat. But he said he did not feel comfortable collecting campaign donations from industries with a vested interest in the outcome of legislation.
"I hold public service in the highest regard, yet I must be a realist," Carr wrote in a letter to the Citrus Times. "To request funding from predatorial special interests for public promotion is contrary to my principles of protecting the well-being of Florida citizens."
District 43 includes all of Citrus County and parts of Hernando and Levy counties. Carr received 32.5 percent of the vote in 2002. He said he felt good about his showing against Dean in that race, especially since he felt he didn't get the support of the local Democratic Party officials.
In January he announced he would again seek the seat, and this time he said he felt he had good issues to debate with Dean and that more people would be aware of his message.
"I felt that this time people would know me," Carr said.
But Carr said that he and his wife were uncomfortable with the standard sources of raising campaign money. He had not yet had a major fundraiser; meanwhile, by the end of 2003, Dean had already amassed $21,400 in his campaign account, according to state election records. Those contributions have come from a wide variety of sources, from bankers to nurses to lawyers.
"I don't want to be tied into these people. It's my opinion that these lobbyists actually write our laws," Carr said. "I've got a passion for public service, but I feel that the money interests have taken over."
Dean was in committee meetings in Tallahassee on Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached to comment on Carr's decision.
While Carr said he was disappointed to walk away from the campaign, he said he planned to stay active in issues that have been important to him, including his work with Citrus 20/20 on Save Our Waters Week and the Kings Bay Association.
He also urged the Democratic Party to find and support another candidate for the District 43 seat.
