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There is a lot to like in the platforms and accomplishments of the two candidates in the County Commission District 5 race. While incumbent Josh Wooten and challenger Joyce Valentino may not agree on everything, they are more alike than perhaps they realize.
Both Wooten and Valentino have worked to improve water quality, to clean up the county's roadways, to help community groups with important projects, to enhance Citrus County's heritage-tourism efforts.
There are differences, of course, beyond their party affiliations (Wooten is a Democrat, Valentino is a Republican), political experience (Wooten is completing his first term, Valentino has never held elected office), residence (Wooten lives in District 5, Valentino does not) and gender.
Wooten, who runs a car dealership in Hernando, is seen as the candidate of the business community, a perception solidified by his campaign contributors and the recent formation by builders, real estate professionals and other business leaders of a political action committee aimed at getting him re-elected.
Valentino has spent more than a decade as the voice of various community groups, from the Heatherwood Community Homeowners Association to the Citrus County Council. Her supporters, including a political action committee headed by local environmentalists that is just forming to back her, tend to come from the ranks of government watchdogs, working families and senior citizens.
The two camps are not mutually exclusive and both Wooten and Valentino can claim friends among business owners and community groups. However, in a race that may tip the balance of power on the five-member board, the question for voters is which candidate will best represent the needs of all of Citrus County's residents?
The St. Petersburg Times' choice is Joyce Valentino.
The core of Valentino's long record of community service is helping ordinary people - homeowners, veterans, senior citizens - often in struggles against government bureaucracy or powerful business interests.
More than just a citizens' advocate, Valentino has tried to improve the county by pushing for items such as a new firefighter-training center, a stronger tree ordinance and a veterans center. After years of such efforts, she is well-versed in the workings of state and local governments. She is ready to take the next step and become a commissioner.
Wooten, for his part, can claim similar victories. During the past four years, the County Commission has made great strides in road projects, county office space needs, curtailing illegal dumping and building new parks. While Wooten cannot take sole credit for these improvements, they did occur on his watch.
Wooten calls this evidence that he is a leader and an effective commissioner; Valentino calls it a commissioner simply doing his job.
Also occurring during Wooten's term was the commission's hugely controversial approval of the Halls River Retreat condo project, with Wooten casting the deciding vote. Wooten says he agonized over the issue at the time and offers a plausible justification for his decision. But it stands as one of the most scrutinized votes in recent memory.
Many citizens, especially those who pay only passing notice to complicated growth-related issues, may not grasp the significance of the issue.
In his ruling to overturn the commission's 3-2 vote, Circuit Judge Jack Springstead explained the context. The majority of commissioners, he said, had their minds made up before the vote. They ignored the public's pleadings and the Planning Board's recommendation. They willfully violated the county's growth management plan.
The implications of a County Commission majority that would take this approach when faced with a commercial project that would cause irreparable harm to an environmentally sensitive area are staggering.
Wooten is right to say that this one vote should not define his entire term. He also cast the deciding vote to halt the commission's move to implement mandatory garbage collection service in the county. He has voted for the improved tree protection ordinance and for higher standards for "big-box" retailers. He has pushed ahead on needed road and sewer projects.
Wooten proudly notes that the commission has not raised the property tax rate during his four years in office. Valentino says the commission did not need to raise the rate because the soaring property values have meant increased revenues, money she says should have been returned via a lower tax rate and not used to grow the budget.
The two candidates also differ on the issue of whether the state should extend the Suncoast Parkway through Citrus County. Wooten supports the extension while Valentino says she personally is against it but that as a commissioner, she would have to weigh the studies and do what is best for the county. While some have labeled that as being indecisive, what is wrong about being cautious with a highway project that is many years away?
The measure of how important this race is to the future of Citrus County can be seen in the explosion of last-minute political advertisements, particularly direct-mail pieces by the local business political action committee Citizens For a Better Citrus that strongly support Wooten.
One piece caused a ruckus when it praised Wooten for eliminating fraud in government, leading to an angry backlash from two other County Commissioners and from Valentino, who called on Wooten to either identify the fraud or denounce the ad and its makers. Wooten did neither, but did admit that "fraud" was a misleading term.
A second piece attacks Valentino by saying she has a "secret" plan to raise taxes and fees. Meanwhile, a group backing Valentino has run a newspaper ad focusing on a line item in the county budget for money for a possible county water park and concludes that Wooten is out of touch with taxpayer priorities while implying that he is not spending tax dollars wisely.
Such scare tactics bring to mind the ugliness of the 2002 County Commission elections when the building community dumped tens of thousands of dollars into Commissioner Jim Fowler's campaign account, money used for a similar barrage of negative ads. Fowler's opponents, in turn, ran a series of cutting newspaper ads. Ultimately, Fowler prevailed.
These actions raise the obvious questions: Why is it so important to the building community to have Wooten on the board? And why are these business leaders so afraid of Valentino?
Besides running an auto dealership, Wooten serves as chairman of the Tourist Development Council and has been the county's representative on the Economic Development Council, so he is in tune with the needs of local businesses.
In fact, all of the commissioners are cognizant of the needs of the business community and they are well aware that a vibrant, successful economy is essential to the health of Citrus County. For that matter, every candidate for elective office, including Valentino, knows this as well. No one wishes to see local businesses fail.
Citrus County, though, is at a crossroads in its development and the County Commissioners in the next few years will be making decisions with far-reaching implications for the county's growth. Business leaders clearly know this and they wish to ensure that their needs are met through the commission's decisions.
But the business community has never had trouble getting the attention of the commissioners.
The challenge now is to make certain that the voices of ordinary citizens are heard just as clearly.
While Wooten's commission tenure has been a mixed bag, with more successes than failures, the election of Valentino would go a long way toward bringing about a necessary balance.
The Times recommends that voters choose Joyce Valentino in the County Commission District 5 race.
OPPORTUNITY TO REPLYCandidates who are not recommended by the Times editorial board are invited to respond. Replies must be received no later than 5 p.m. Friday. Replies are limited to 250 words. Deliver to: Greg Hamilton, Editor of Editorials, Citrus Times, 301 W Main St., Inverness, FL 34450; e-mail to hamilton@sptimes.com or fax to 860-7320.