State Rep. David D. Russell Jr. is best known for a bill tying development to the availability of water. Opponent Jim Hughes says the measure won't work.
By DAN DeWITT
Published October 20, 2004
The campaign of Jim Hughes, the Democratic candidate for the District 44 state House seat, seemed to collapse almost as soon as it was announced.
A background check by the Times revealed that Hughes' wife, Elizabeth, had sought several domestic violence restraining orders against him and that Hughes has been convicted of passing bad checks and misdemeanor battery.
Hughes said he lay low for a while, partly to avoid drawing attention away from Democratic primaries, but never considered dropping out.
"I think people appreciate the fact that there is a way to work through marital problems," Hughes said. "And I think they see my wife and I as a success story."
His opponent, incumbent David D. Russell Jr., R-Brooksville, agrees with Hughes at least on this: that the race is not over.
"I don't take anything for granted, and I would never be so presumptuous as to assume I had this won," Russell said.
Beyond this, though, they concur on very little. Each candidate offered different views on water issues, taxation, education and Russell's legislative record.
The incumbent is best known for a bill that ties development to the availability of water. Russell said the bill will also cut the state's dependence on groundwater by encouraging the use of other sources - including reclaimed water for irrigation and surface water collected in reservoirs. And it makes money available to educate the public about conservation.
"This is a very broad, sweeping piece of legislation," Russell said. "This bill is basically the kitchen sink for water."
But the bill does not accomplish what was advertised as its main goal, Hughes said, which is limiting residential development if water resources are inadequate. He also said that part of Russell's legislative agenda, banning pumping at Cone Ranch in northern Hillsborough County, actually undermines one of the stated goals of his water bill: strengthening local-sources-first legislation.
If Tampa Bay Water, which owns the rights to pump at Cone Ranch, cannot do so, Hughes said, "obviously, they're going to be pressured to pump more in Pasco and Hernando counties."
The problem with that argument is, "there is no ban," Russell said.
He pushed for one, but withdrew it after he was assured the amount allowed by Tampa Bay Water's pumping permit was too small to make developing a well field on the ranch economically feasible.
Hughes is right, Russell said, that his water bill does not allow local government to forbid development if water is unavailable. That is because power to make such decisions already rests with the state's water management districts. But, Russell said, his bill does require local governments to address the availability of water in their comprehensive plans.
On the broader issue of growth management, Hughes said he would better protect the area from irresponsible development.
"There is a Republican agenda to dismantle" the state's growth management laws, Hughes said. He would fight this because, he said, as a resident of central Pasco County, "I have seen the damage that leapfrog development can do."
Russell said there is no broad, Republican-backed effort to weaken development regulation. And even developers have stopped pushing to remove restrictions on growth, he said, partly because they fear unchecked development may lead to a moratorium if, for example, water becomes scarce.
"They are scared to death of a moratorium," Russell said.
Russell said he is a strong proponent of growth management, though he sees it primarily as a local issue. One exception, he says, is the law requiring close scrutiny of massive projects - called developments of regional impact. He is concerned that many developers are skirting this by coming in at just under the threshold for this standard, which in Hernando is 1,000 units.
"There are a lot of developments coming through with 999 homes," he said.
On some other issues, their positions fall along partisan lines.
Russell favors the governor's A+
Plan for education and says the rising FCAT scores have demonstrated its effectiveness. He says funding for education has increased in recent years but must increase more to pay for additional classrooms and better teacher compensation and that the state should pass on fewer unfunded mandates to local districts.
Hughes would "like to see a phasing out of the FCAT." He would also like to uncouple the state from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which he said drains money from education by requiring programs but not paying for them.
Neither Russell nor Hughes thinks a widespread overhaul of the tax code is practical. Russell said the rising cost of Medicaid and paying for the smaller classes mandated by voters could cause a slight deficit this year that can be made up by taking money from some of the state's trust funds.
Hughes, on the other hand, said Florida is facing a shortfall of about $500-million. The main problem he said, is that the state's corporate tax code is tailored after the federal governments', which gives big companies too many tax breaks.
One reason Russell said voters should choose him is his track record in the state House.
He opposed a widely denounced bill to raise local telephone rates, and he sponsored a bill that gives school districts the option of buying used textbooks as a way to trim expenses.
As one of the most senior members of the House - if elected this will be his fourth and final term - and as a supporter of incoming Speaker Allan G. Bense, R-Panama City, he may be in line for an appointment that allows him to supervise several committees.
He said he has already made good use of his most prominent assignment, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. In this position, he helped secure funding to widen the westernmost stretch of County Line Road. Improvements for most of the rest of that road may be paid for through bonds that will be issued by the Florida Turnpike Enterprise. Russell expects this to be part of the financing for the second phase of the Suncoast Parkway, which is planned to run through Citrus County.
He is prouder, though, of a lesser-known effort to pass a plan to better integrate the state's ports, railroads and airports. This will make the state eligible for more than $100-million in federal transportation funds, he said, which may include improvements to the Interstate 75 corridor.
Hughes said Russell also used that committee assignment to help special interests.
"He allowed the construction of schools next to airports, and that's specifically related to developers who own land near airports. . . . The pilots' associations don't like it, and the (Federal Aviation Administration) doesn't like it," Hughes said.
The action Hughes referred to, Russell said, applied only to an airport in Miami-Dade County and was done at the request of the county.
"That's like a huge stretch," Russell said.
Though Russell did not discuss Hughes' legal difficulties, he did say that District 44 is primarily a Hernando County District and should be represented by someone who lives in the county; the district includes almost all of Hernando, north-central Pasco and southern Sumter counties.
"We're all from west-central Florida and our issues are all the same," said Hughes, who runs two veterinarian practices with his wife and is building a third.
"Hernando and Pasco are sister counties, and I have the administrative ability and the business experience, and I am capable of dealing with the issues we all face."
