Campaign finance in District 11 race shows Debbie Boyd with wide lead

The fourth fund-raising quarter for candidates has come to a close, and with that some insight can be gained into the standings of the race.

Unsurprisingly, the incumbent Democrat Debbie Boyd has racked up a considerable financial lead, and she still hasn’t received any money from her party. She raised $36,385 this quarter, bringing her total to $82,760. She’s managed to spend a couple hundred more than $5K, and we can expect spending to increase when the legislative session comes to a close and real campaigning begins.

So far Boyd has enjoyed healthy support at the grassroots level. Her largest contributor base by far, she’s raised $32,028 in small donations. This bodes well for reelection, apparently the constituents are happy enough to give out of their pockets. Still, it’s early and anything can happen.

Boyd champions the farmers and agricultural workers who make up a large part of her districts economic populace, and it goes along with her credo that they should be one of her largest donor bases. As well, most of her money is coming from within the state, but it’s interesting to note that, behind Tallahassee, New York City is the metropolis that’s given the most to the Boyd campaign, a total of $5,000 this election cycle.

Senate Bill 6 in District 11: Rauch says drop testing, give all students vouchers

Recently, Representative Debbie Boyd voted no on the controversial senate bill SB6, which would, among other things, require students to pass a standardized test for every subject taught, as well as decide teacher’s pay in accordance with their students’ test scores.

The bill had educators across the state up-in-arms, as many felt its passage would be detrimental to the curriculum, as well as push good teachers to leave the state for better paying jobs in places like Georgia or Alabama.

The bill did pass the Senate and the House with a great majority of support, but thankfully for the teachers, the bill was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist. However,  the overwhelming support for the bill in the legislature shows the need for education reform.

Terry Rauch, a Republican candidate with opinions, said he thinks the thing to do is get rid of standardized testing completely and give every child a voucher to get in to whichever school they’re parents choose.

“It gives power to the parents,” Rauch said. “It would create free market enterprise and make education a product.”

The future of energy in District 11

How do the candidates vying for representative of district 11 feel about solving our rising energy needs?

Incumbent Debbie Boyd is one of only two Democrats in the House who voted in support of off-shore drilling. According to Boyd, drilling shouldn’t be discarded as an option because it could help generate jobs for her constituents. She does believe that with today’s technology it’s possible to drill in an environmentally sound manner, although living in a land-locked district must make it easier to forget about spills in Texas and California.

Boyd may be singled out in her own party, but she fits in right at home with her Republican rivals on the issue. Paul Watson, the Baptist Pastor from Bell, Fl., agrees that anything we can do to get off of foreign oil is just what the doctor ordered.

“I feel strongly in using resources we have locally … as long as it’s done in an environmental way,” Watson said. “I don’t believe in just going out there and wreaking havoc.”