Orlando Sentinel Editorial


Saturday, October 04, 2008

Andy Gardiner talks of the importance of keeping Florida Senate District 9 in Republican hands. Dan Webster is vacating it because of term limits. Thad Altman, too, wants to retain District 24 for the GOP. Bill Posey is leaving it to run for Congress.  We believe the most important thing for voters to consider in assessing the candidates isn’t party but their capacity to benefit the district and region. It just so happens that Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Altman are more primed and better able to do exactly that than their respective rivals for the Legislature, Democrats Darius Davis and Kendall Moore.

District 24
Mr. Altman, a building contractor in Viera, has been a member of the Florida House since 2003. He’s a knowledgeable and diligent lawmaker who was tapped by party leaders to chair one of the House committees on education.

As his top priority for the Senate, Mr. Altman pledges to continue the efforts he’s led in the House to prepare for the loss of thousands of good jobs on the Space Coast after the shuttle’s 2010 retirement. He has a smart approach, advocating state incentives to attract more commercial space ventures while backing initiatives to nurture other high-paying industries that would diversify the area’s economy.

Mr. Altman also understands the economic importance to this region of not cutting state funding for the University of Central Florida’s new medical school, the hub of the medical city sprouting at Lake Nona. His can-do attitude toward commuter rail in Central Florida could be critical in the Senate.

Mr. Moore, a lawyer, is a former Rockledge City Council member. He’s articulate on problems facing the district and the state, but vague on how to address them. He offers only conditional support for commuter rail, and his misgivings match those cited by the project’s opponents. Central Florida needs legislators who are fully behind this project.

The Sentinel endorses Thad Altman in Senate District 24.