State House candidate Leslie Jean-Bart

Support for First Coast Connect is provided in part by Baptist Health and North Florida TPO. Good morning and welcome to First Coast Connect. Attorney and Advocate making her bid for Florida House District 13. Today, we ask State House candidate Leslie Jambar about her plans for the district, if elected, her endorsement from the current officeholder, and what differentiates her from her Democratic opponent, Audrey Gibson. Later in the program, we asked gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner, how he plans to move ahead as fundraising and poll numbers lag behind. But first, she is a known quantity in the pro bono legal arena and the nonprofit community, but she's less well known as a political entity, so we're going to get to know her a little better. We welcome to the program, Leslie Jean Bar. Thanks for joining us. Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. And we should note, we have pretty much insisted our candidates be here in person. You are joining us remotely because you are a little under the weather. So thanks for joining us regardless. So I want to start with just talking a little bit about who you are as a person. We had you on last year in your role as president of the Black Democratic Caucus. We'll get into kind of what that was about a little bit later. But you're an attorney. You come from a bit of a storied. political family here in Jacksonville. Tell us a little bit about your background. Sure. So I'm a fifth generation Jacksonville native. And as you know and many others know, my grandmother's Mary L. Singleton, first woman, first black, elected to the Jacksonville City Council. And she did later go on to serve in the legislature as well. Yeah, and I mean, she is known for being one of two, really the two first women elected to city council, one of two black women, the first in the 20th century. And she was. you know, broke some boundaries there, but she also went on to run as Lieutenant Governor with Claude Kirk back in the day. So is, did that influence you somehow as a child? Did you glean from her any political instincts or aspirations? Well, I would say yes. Probably at the time I didn't know I was doing that. So we pretty much always lived with my grandmother since I could remember. So when she was in Tallahassee, a lot of times my mom would be in Tallahassee with her. And then, you know, after a while, we actually moved to Tallahassee with her.

And my mom passed away from breast cancer when I was six. And at that time, my grandmother became the guardian for me and my sister. So after school, we would get picked up and just dropped off at the Capitol. It was the 70s. So you just drop a kid off and you just kind of let them run wild for a while. And I would sit in on legislative sessions and just because I thought it was fun. I mean, what else are you going to do when you're like six, seven, eight years old and you're at the Capitol? Just, you know, you try to. You just sit in and listen. So there's a part of that about watching government work that I'm sure had an impression on me, not to mention just the people who were surrounding my grandmother. She was always surrounded by people who were involved in politics. And so whether I knew it or not, I saw her and how she related to others and how she got along with others. And so now you're angling to go back to the Capitol, not as a child and a spectator, but as a grown-up and an elected official. And so talk to us about your district. We had your opponent on on Monday, and we can talk about that as well. But this district is a sort of west side, north-west side district, district 13. Describe to us who your constituents would be. So District 13 is a very interesting district because you do have Riverside, Avondale, and Murray Hill, you know, some areas that are certainly seen as very historic. And then you have the northwest side and the west side. And although it has sort of a different mix of people when you go to those different areas, it's still the same people who want the same things. So even though it's a district that, you know, it frankly needs a lot. The medium income is below the state average. But at the same time, it's got a lot of character. You know, it's got some of the best parts of Jacksonville as far as I'm concerned. And so I'm excited to have the opportunity to represent such a diverse group of people. Your role as an attorney has evolved over time. You're a double cane, we should say. You went to the University of Miami. You went there for undergrad. You got your law degree there. And the law that you practice has evolved. Tell us how you began and what kind of legal work you do today. So I started off in legal services and legal aid. I came home one summer and I interned at Jackson area legal aid. While I was in school, I interned with Legal Services of Greater Miami as well as Legal Aid Society of Day County. There are two down there. And then after I graduated, I started working at Legal Services of Greater Miami in the housing unit, helping people make sure that they were able to stay in safe and affordable housing. Once I was ready to come home, frankly, because my now has...

husband was out of school and we were on the move. And we moved back here to Jacksonville. I had a great opportunity to work with the legendary Bill Shepard. He basically said, you know, look, come back to Jacksonville. And while you're looking for a job, you can work with me. And that ended up being a job. He was a civil rights known for kind of a civil rights work here in Jacksonville. Yes. Yes. And so while I was with his office, I did. the civil rights work. I never did criminal cases, which people find surprising because he's also known for his criminal work, right? But I did the civil rights cases, employment discrimination cases, education cases like that. That's what I handled while I was with him. And then it progressed into a wonderful client who decided to tell her lawyer boss about me. And next thing you know, I'm doing personal injury as well as some of the civil rights. And here I am today, you know, focused on personal injury of civil rights. So that's how I got here. And so you've done a fair amount of pro bono work. also worked with activist groups. I think you define yourself more as a community advocate than an activist. But what is your role? How do you see the work that you've done? And who have you worked with? So, you know, for me, it's just always been any way I could fit in. And so with activist groups and advocate groups, any time that I could see where I could help, I really wanted to lean in and help. I think a lot of the groups knew that if they needed somebody, a lawyer, to look at something, they could ask me, and I certainly would. I don't think I've ever really said no unless I was really just at my max and really knew that I couldn't help out. Otherwise, whenever some of the groups are just people just give me a ring, it's not something I necessarily probably, you know, sought out to do. It just was a natural progression of my community, you know, give my give back to the community. It was just, just happened that way. Yeah. If you're just joining us, we are talking to Leslie Jean Barr. She's a candidate for Florida House District 13. And this is a. election that is largely expected to be settled in the Democratic primary on Tuesday. You can join our conversation if you have a question or a comment for the candidate. You can call 904-549-29-2937 to reach us on air, or you can email First Coast Connect at wjCT.org. We do have an email from Jim. He says, having read this candidate's background, I am impressed by her work in civil legal aid, providing free legal representation to people who cannot afford an attorney. May I ask what motivated her to do that? How will it inform her governing?

You know, sometimes I don't always know why, because sometimes, you know, there's not a grand scheme behind it. I just think it was a natural progression for me. You know, I always tell people there's a reason why I do personal injury and civil rights is because if I had to charge people up front, I would never make any money. So I think that I'm just inclined to want to help first. And, you know, legal aid and legal services allowed me to just kind of just throw myself in. have to worry about whether or not they could afford it. And it's sort of the same thing today, even with personal injury and civil rights. I don't have to worry whether or not my clients can afford my services. So I think it's just a natural progression. And I like helping people. And so in terms of how that would impact you as a leader, as an elected official, does your work on behalf of people who've been injured or people who live in poverty, does that in any way drive your policy, your governing philosophy? Without a doubt, it certainly does. And so, you know, when you actually see people going through sometimes what is the hardest thing that they've ever dealt with, you understand firsthand just how fragile. life can be. You know, you're out of work for two weeks. You miss that one paycheck and everything gets derailed. People don't have savings. People's lives get turned upside down. What are they going to do next? So I think that puts me in touch with that, you know, very much on a daily basis with my clients. And so I see. the effect that the Florida laws have on people, not to mention as a lawyer, of course, I'm working with the laws that the legislature has given us, which is sometimes very difficult to do. very often not designed to help everyday people. And so that will certainly influence how I look at legislation. I'll look at legislation on how it's going to affect everyday people, the people who need it most, the citizens, constituents, because those are the people I'm in touch with on a more regular basis. So I want to ask you about a couple of places that I could see potential sticking points with some interest groups or even with other lawmakers. start with the fact that you're a trial lawyer. That's often a target of the legislature in terms of, you know, where they think money's coming from, where they think influence is held. So as someone who works in personal injury law, are there, do you find that any kind of fundamental friction that you would experience with your colleagues in Tallahassee were you to be elected? I don't think so because, you know, as a trial lawyer, and I'm very proud to be a trial lawyer, and I served on the board for the Florida Justice Association for six years, and that takes a lot of time and, you know, financial commitment to represent the statewide trial lawyers. And so as far as I'm concerned,

I don't see that as a sticking point. I see it as, you know, I'm going to be someone who's informed. I know what these laws do. I know how they affect everyday practice. And it works both ways because, you know, I can have practical conversations with those on the other side about what these laws really mean and what is really happening and who it's really affecting. They may think sometimes it's just affecting the trial lawyers. And that's just not true. It's affecting the people who are hurt. It's affecting doctors. It's affecting businesses. And so I think I have an insight that will certainly help to bridge that gap. I'm not an extremist by any means. So I can look at some laws and say, hey, what you're trying to do might work, but this is maybe how you need to do it to, you know, to achieve your goal and to also be a law that's going to actually help. In another area where you have also been out in front, we mentioned that you were on this program last year. That was as a representative of the Democratic Black Caucus. You were president. And you were concerned about text messages that had been sent among city council members during a meeting. You believed that they were violating the Sunshine Law. You asked both the state attorney and then the governor for an investigation. In both cases, I don't think you got necessarily a response, but you were raising concerns that some might say would be personal in terms of the political consultant that was representing some of these city council members that you were critical of as possible, you know, violators of the Sunshine Law, the fact that they shared that political consultant with a state attorney. So there was, I would say, a little bit of heat, heated rhetoric and... I wonder about those relationships. So if you're looking to be elected and sent to Tallahassee to represent this area, how does that impact your ability to partner with those same people? You know, I think I have an interesting way about handling situations and people. And that was one situation where, first of all, I'm always going to call it like I see it. That was a violation of the Sunshine Law. I will never take that back. I think that that is the intellectual definition of a violation of the Sunshine Law. And it's a problem because accountability and transparency is very important. And I do think we should hold elected officials accountable, including myself, if I get an office, I believe I should be held accountable. And so I will always call it like I see it. Now, I think most people probably understand that it probably doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat when it comes to me. There certainly are definitely times that I've gone in just as hard on Democrats when they do something wrong. So it's not a partisan view that I have on accountability and transparency. But as you also know, not too long after that, I represented a group on the east side. And some of the same people who were involved in the Sunshine Law violation are people I partnered with to get legislation passed for the community benefits agreement. So even though that was a heated situation,

by the time, you know, you find common ground with people. And when you find the common ground, you work with that. And if you're in elected office, you've got to have a thick skin. And there are times that, you know, people might be offended by me. And I said, you know what? You're in elected office. You know, you've got to be able to get past this. And so I would be the same way. You got to get past the personal and get your job done. And ultimately, we were able to do that with the Community Benefits Agreement, with the vote from Council of 18. the one. So I think I've shown that I can hold people accountable and still work with people at the same time. One other area I want to ask you about in the same vein is your relationship with the with police, with law enforcement. You had a fairly public clash with the former head of the... Fraternal Order of Police locally, then he went on to be the statewide leader, Steve Zona, on Facebook. This was after a protest where some people had been yelling epithets at police. You were speaking out. in support of their right to free speech, but it turned into a pretty, well, heated back and forth. So that also came after the FOP. You had run for office back in 2015. They declined to endorse you. They endorsed your opponent, Kim Daniels, who continues to serve in the legislature. And so how would you view your relationship with law enforcement? And again, how does that pass? impact your ability to work with these partners if you're said to Tallahassee? So one, I want to separate the fact that Steve Zona is Steve Zona. The FOP is FOP, and law enforcement is law enforcement. And they're not all the same thing. They're not the same group of people. The situation with Steve Zona was very heated, without a doubt. But I'm not the only... person that he's had very heated exchanges with. And there are four other documented black women that he has had very public disputes with. So, you know, I would say one of us has a problem and it's not me. So. When it came to Steve Zona, it became personal, and it really didn't need to be that. I woke up, I saw the protests, and I simply stated the law. The law is that you have a First Amendment right to say what the protesters were saying. I mean, that's his sacred right. He wanted me to condemn the individuals who were saying it. You know, first of all, who is he to tell me to condemn anybody? And I just wasn't going to do that to people who, frankly, had been thrown to the ground and were arrested. And it was a terrible scene if you saw the videos. I wasn't, no one was going to tell me to condense somebody free.

exercising their free speech. That was just absurd. And then it just sort of devolved into that. And he said I was upset because of the endorsement of Kim Daniels. And I pointed out that I don't know why it has something that he's bragging about. And so I just don't understand why it had to be what it was, but it was a very heated exchange. And then you have the Fraternal Order Police as an institution. That institution has historically made it a little bit more difficult. for police accountability. And, you know, so is that a sticking point for me? Absolutely, because I believe in police accountability. Then you have law enforcement. That's your everyday people who are out there doing their job and doing it to the best of their ability. I don't have a problem with law enforcement. When I call 911, I want a law enforcement officer to come and I want them to do their job. I just also want them to make sure that they don't infringe on my rights or the rights of anybody else. I don't think that's too much to ask. Very good. One issue that is going to be front and center for anybody who is sent to Tallahassee or who is currently in Tallahassee is this issue of the property tax amendment. That goes before voters in November. It would effectively... remove homestead, excuse me, property taxes via this amendment, ultimately over a period of years, essentially kind of, there's a provision to ultimately kind of get rid of it. And so municipalities are facing enormous challenges in terms of funding their budgets and their basic services. We've heard from a lot of local leaders about that concern. If this passes, and we should say it is polling, most recently I think a poll I saw over 70% likely to pass. So what do you do with that as a lawmaker? You know, you try to. do what should have been done before they put it on the ballot, which is try to make this more responsible. This was put on the ballot without a lot of public debate and input, and it's very irresponsible to put something like this on the ballot that one is going to certainly seem attractive to voters. You know, it seems, yes, who wants to pay more taxes? Nobody. But. they don't necessarily understand the circumstances and the consequences because government has to work. You know, government has to be paid for. And it's not just what people think is the waste that's out there that's going to be cut. Services are going to be cut. Road resurfacing, infrastructure, things like that. And once they realize that, and the government starts having to add on additional taxes here and there and fees here and there. And you know what? Guess who's going to be hit?

harder with a lot of those additional taxes and fees, especially if sales tax goes up, it's going to be people who can least afford an additional expense in their life, and that is low income and working families. And so it is sort of a bait and switch. This could have been done in a far more responsible manner. And I, you know, even if it passes, I don't think it's too late for the legislature to act. to put something responsible on the next ballot that modifies this. Make it so that sure, if you have paid off your house, then, you know, maybe you shouldn't have to pay property taxes on it because now you own your house. And why should your house be taken away because maybe you can't afford to pay your taxes? That's pretty crazy. But there are ways to do this in a responsible way. And then there's the way that it was done this time. So as a legislator, I think I would look at ways that we can, if this passes, to try to minimize the harm that it's done. I want to ask you about your opponent, Audrey Gibson. She was a member of the House. She was a Senate Minority Leader for a number of years in the state Senate. She was on this program Monday. And, you know, at one point, you, we mentioned that you ran for office previously back in 2015. She was on your host committee. She endorsed you. I'm curious if you have had any kind of falling out with her. And then just how you differentiate yourself from her as a candidate. So I've certainly known Senator Gibson for most of my life. When I first moved back to Jacksonville, we had the Mary Singleton breakfast. And Senator Gibson was on that committee. That was before she held elected office. And I was just new coming to town and sort of watching and observing how the committee worked. And then later, you know, actually chaired the committee. So I've known Senator Gibson for a very long time. And I respect her record. can look at her record and can see what she's done and it's certainly admirable and i will never take that away from her this is a different time you know 2026 is a very different government that we've got going on as a very different type of partisanship that we have going on. And District 13 has become a very liberal, progressive district. And I felt as if, you know, that district deserved a very progressive voice and that voters deserved an option to see if they wanted someone who was more progressive to represent them in that district. And that's what led me to actually put my name in and to run for office for this seat.

And she was on our program Monday, as we mentioned. We got a lot of feedback about that segment from people who thought that she seemed sort of sluggish, but also disconnected from issues of the LGBTQ community. I wonder if you listened to that and your thoughts on it. Yes, of course, I listened to it. And of course, I saw a lot of the discourse afterwards. And, you know, That question was surprising that she wasn't aware of it because, I mean, I personally know people who've left the state. I know people who have family that are still here that they worry about a lot. And it's a very real fear about being part of the LGBTQ community and being in the state of Florida and the hostile laws that have been passed. And so she was in the legislature when some of these bills. were passed. She voted against them. And so I don't want to insinuate that she is in any way against the community, but it was shocking that she wasn't aware of the impact those laws have continued to have on people. I want to ask you about your representation in one particular case because I believe it's been. important to you, the El Farrow case, which was a cargo vessel that traveled between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico on a regular basis and was lost at sea during a storm, a number of lives lost in that case. And I believe you represented some of the families of the victims of the El Farrow. Will you tell us how you got involved in that case and a little bit about just how it has impacted you? So we, my firm became involved in the case when some families contacted at the time Ben Crump was working with Daryl Parks out of Tallahassee. And so some families that contacted. You remind us who Daryl Parks is, please. Ben Crump is a civil rights attorney who's fairly well known nationally. Yes, and Darrell Parks was his law partner in Tallahassee, also civil rights attorney and personal injury attorney. And so they contacted our firm to co-counsel the case with them. So that's how I got involved in the case, you know, right away to meet up with the family. And it was a very, it was a very emotional type of representation because we were dealing with a lot. very fast and we had several families who were going through the unimaginable not knowing what happened to their family, finding out more about what happened to their family, and then getting answers and ultimately getting some legislation that was passed in Congress to hopefully help prevent incidents like this from happening at sea. So it was definitely a very emotional case to deal with. But working with those families was truly an honor. All of those families were incredible people who were incredibly strong during a very difficult time. And so it was definitely an honor to work with them. Your number one legislative priority if you are elected.

Number one, so that's hard because I have a lot. But I would probably say the thing that, of course, I think is. more of a massive undertaking. So it would be a priority from day one because it might not happen on day one, but I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it done is I want us to look at public education, not as how we keep patching things here or there, but how we can really reform public education, how we can start at. an earlier age, kids need to start school earlier. And then by the time they graduate, I want them to graduate with more than just a piece of paper and then they have to go on to do something else in order for that paper to mean something. I want kids to graduate from high school and be able to really go out into the real world and make a living wage. And so I think that requires sitting down and taking a look at public education the way it is right now and saying just because we've always done something one way doesn't mean that we have to continue to do it. that way. Let's look at this about what's happening in the world today and how we can best prepare kids to be responsible, independent adults by the time they get out of high school. So that would be my biggest, biggest, you know, effort that I want to start on day one. Well, Leslie Jean-Barre, she is the Democratic candidate for Florida House District 13. That primary is on Tuesday. Leslie Jean-Barr, thanks so much for joining us today. Oh, you're welcome. Thanks, Ann. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. For sure. Up next, Paul Renner earns praise, but no endorsement from the current governor. What's next for him in the final week before the GOP primary?

Well, it is just six days before the primary in what has become an ugly race for governor. We're talking today to candidate Paul Renner, who has largely managed to remain above the fray but is still underwater when it comes to polling and fundraising. Here to discuss how he plans to use. The last week of the race is former Northeast Florida lawmaker and House Speaker Paul Renner. Paul, welcome back. Good to be back with you and not to like challenge the first words out of your mouth. But our fundraising has actually been better than everybody else these last several weeks, but Byron Donalds's. And also our polling is on the rise pretty substantially. So we are the fast galloping horses, they would say, which is a good time. If you're going to have a break of a momentum, now's the time to have it. A lot of undecided voters on the Republican side. people that just don't know what they're going to do. And here we are a week out. And you did just put a fair amount of campaign cash behind a new ad that's on television that people may be familiar with. And so I would say this is the period of sprint, right? This is the last little bit. And we appreciate you coming on today. I imagine you are doing a lot of appearances around the state and a lot of speaking to people. A lot. We were in Tampa last night, Jacksonville, obviously, today. And we'll be making our way down 301 with some events. And then back kind of in that same area in Lakeland this afternoon. And then central Florida, Orlando area tomorrow. And off we go through the weekend. And we're all over the place. We're in Miami most of the last week. And had a great time. I speak a little bit of Spanish. I lived in Venezuela. My wife's Colombian. So we did some Spanish media as well. And we've had a really good run. And again, things are moving in our direction. And we'll see where that takes us for next Tuesday. But we're optimistic. We have a shot to win this thing at the tape. I want to talk a little bit about the political scene because, you know, just recently the governor offering kind of his first real direct candidate praise in this race. for you. And it was a bit of a change because when we had you on last time, the governor had kind of responded sarcastically to a question about you entering the race, said that he thought it was ill-advised and that he wasn't going to support you. But now he's saying, you know, he thinks that you'd be a good governor and that, you know, he doesn't necessarily, you know, he didn't advise you to run. But, well, let's just take a listen to what he had to say. You know, like somebody like Speaker Renner, I mean, people said, you know, when he ran, I said, you know, I didn't, I didn't advise him to run. It wasn't because I didn't think he would be a good governor. I think he'd be really good. He's got a great record of policy. But how are you going to get? What's your strategy to get known? How do you get known to people, right, when you're doing that? And that's been, that's just something that's very difficult. So it has been difficult in part because your opponent, Byron Donalds's, had this early endorsement from the president. But I would guess that the praise that the governor had for you there might have been a little more useful to you in the early days. What do you feel about it now? I know that you've continued to be a vocal supporter of him. Well, a campaign is a long job interview and, you know, people that are in the race or in elected office.

We all get to kind of observe them under pressure and inform opinions or sometimes those opinions change. I think the governor and I have always had a lot of respect for each other and he vocalized that. I think what you can characterize it as is his choice. He has to vote for who he wants to replace him. And he didn't say that explicitly, but I think it's pretty clear having singled me out in a press conference that had nothing to do with the governor's race. about where his his mind is on who he's going to vote for and who he thinks should replace him. And so. We'll take it. And it's been helpful. It's moved a lot of Republicans who have been waiting because they respect the governor quite a bit. They want someone like I was that was there during COVID that was willing to stand up to a lot of coercion and make sure we kept Florida free, follow the science, and we're going to continue doing that when I'm governor. So the party itself has been a little bit, I don't know if I would say not supportive of the alternate candidates, but certainly there was this event that they put together. that was designed as a debate, and then ultimately they decided that there wasn't going to be a debate because of some rules that Evan Power, the head of the party, said, had been agreed upon by all of the candidates. This was something that is known as the kind of 10, 10, 10 agreement. I believe that that is that, you know, the candidates in order to participate had to have raised $10 million, had more than 10,000 supporters, and be polling better than 10%. And they said none of the candidates met that threshold except for Byron Donalds, so they didn't have a debate. What a coincidence. Yeah, that was never anything discussed with any of the candidates. There was never any agreement. And I'll tell you what's really happening is, and you see this, certainly in this race, is. a desire to have a foregone conclusion to coronate one candidate. And that pressure on the party was from the Donald's campaign. And so it was always going to be that. And if it had been 15, 15, and 15. But nobody ever shared any criteria whatsoever with me or any of the other candidates for that matter. None of us would have agreed to that. That's ridiculous. 10,000 donors. I mean, it's not a presidential campaign. And the governor pointed out that he wouldn't have qualified. And somebody came back and so, yes, you would. No, he would not have back in 2018. And so the bottom line is voters want a debate. They deserve a debate. And it's disrespectful not to give him one. And if you're, you know, all that and you have all this money from out-of-state special interest and you think you're going to, you know, come in and lead the free state of Florida, you ought to show up in debate. And if you can't stay on the stage with fellow Republicans. and come out at the other end being acknowledged as someone who would be well qualified to be governor, maybe that's because you can't answer the question of why you and not the others. And I think that's where we are. And it's a very dangerous place, I'll say, for Republicans, just kind of taking my candidacy out of here and just talking as someone who is a student of the political world or just competition, if you have someone who's never been...

truly vetted, who's never been exposed to scrutiny, who's running my way of saying at a Joe Biden basement campaign of just hiding and having curated questions, you set yourself up to be taken out and lose to a Democrat, David Jolly, in November. And I think there's a very strong likelihood where I say things happening in the resentment from Republicans. and how this campaign has been going to shove down their throats, there's a very good chance that we're going to face the music come November. And Byron Donalds's would have done himself a lot of favors to show up for one or two debates. He can debate. He's not a bad debater. I know, Byron. But he would also have to say, what have you ever led? What results have you had in office? Why did you miss over 150 votes? What about your stock trades? All these things that would have been... exposed, that will be exposed by David Joll. You can be certain of that, would have been discussed so we put the best possible candidate forward after the primary. That's why we have primaries. It's competition. You had one on just earlier. You want the best candidate for your party to go and compete against the other party. And we're not going to have that with the race if it goes the way they want it to go. But we do believe. that we're gaining momentum. We do believe that we can win. And at the end of the day, people want somebody who is the adult in the room, who's going to show up, who's been battle test, who's had experience, who's delivered results, who's taken on tough challenges and actually solved problems. I want to ask you about the nature of what did result. You know, there wasn't this. party-sponsored debate. There ended up being a debate that involved the three of you, James Fishback, Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins and yourself. And it was put on by a podcast personality. And it was a little bit of a kind of a game show feel to it. I mean, there was a woman in a short, shiny dress parading around with items asking you how much she thought they cost. So I don't know that necessarily, you know, the dignity of the office attended that event quite in the way that perhaps you would have wanted. I'm curious if you feel that the nature of this race and a lot of the, excuse me, social media elements that have been getting the most attention, if you feel that that's detracting from the office, from the significance of the role that the governor. plays in the state of Florida? Well, first of all, I'm very, very, very grateful to the host for having that debate because it was a debate. We had a debate. And the part you're referencing, I happened to lose, but I won the substantive part, most people said. And there were very substantive questions. I thought the host did a very good job with the rest of that debate in terms of the questions. And I would encourage people that want to see me and these other candidates if they're making a choice and have not voted is just Google Republican primary debate in Florida, and there's only one. You'll find it.

It was about two hours long. You can skip past the, it was like a Price's Right kind of deal that you're talking about. I mean, that part was not so important. But there was a lot that was shown there. And this is my point, is if Byron stood on the stage, Byron Donalds stood on the stage and debated, people would walk away with a different impression of all of us. I'm certain of that. Positive or negative. And so if he is the right guy and if he thinks he has the leadership capacity to lead the free state of Florida, by gosh, he should be able to stand on the debate stage with me and debate the issues. He's refused to do that. And as a result of that, he's going to have a lot of very grumpy Republicans. Should he become the nominee, I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're, again, I think we're the fast-scalloping horse, and we're going to be catching him between now and Tuesday. And so we'll see where that goes, but we do believe we have a lot of momentum. We're talking to Republican candidate for Florida Governor Paul Renner. If you have a question for the candidate or a comment, you can reach us on air at 904-549-29-2937, or you can email comments or questions to First Coast Connect at WJCT.org. We have a call from Daryl in St. Augustine. Good morning. Daryl. Go ahead. Okay. Hey, good morning, Ann. Thank you for taking my call. And Mr. Renner, you've stated that in reference to Florida's free kill law, that you believe in caps. That's politicians deciding the value of someone's of their constituents' lives. Why do you believe that politicians should decide that instead of jury of their peers? Yeah, you're talking in the free kill law. You're talking about adults over 18 recovering for the death of a loved one. I supported that change, the change that you're obviously an advocate for. And what you're talking about with respect to caps is on non-economic damages. In other words, if you're hurt, you have hospital bills. Those are economic damages. You get every penny of those. Non-economic damages in what I've said and been on record, and I actually just responded to someone today on Facebook, that I would support a change to that free kill law. I supported in the legislature. But I also agree with the governor that that should come with something else that leads to unbalance and unfair results on the other side where... lawyers and a small handful of litigants win the jackpot lottery, and we all pay for it in higher insurance premiums. So those caps on non-economic damages need to be reasonable. But we're talking about, you know, the person that goes in there and they've got, you know, $100,000 worth of hospital bills and they get a $10 million judgment for pain and suffering. And if you can define that for me. I'd love to hear it. But that's where we are with caps. And I think there's a place that I would say we'd agree are not reasonable, but there are places where they are reasonable. And we should have fair, balanced laws, both for the litigants, which is your point. And I agree with your point on the free kill law, but also on the other side. So you don't have a small number of people that are winning these major nuclear verdicts, they call them, that pass along cost to everybody who's struggling to pay their bills today.

I should say that, you know, we have spoken to Daryl before. He lost his son. And one of the reasons that he is an advocate for the free kill abolishment, as that bill is known, is because he hasn't been able to access any information about his son's death. His son was over 18 and therefore... absent litigation, he hasn't been able to access any information. I wonder if you would consider, aside from the monetary, the economic side of thing, a way for parents, if they feel their child was in a wrongful death situation, could at least learn what decisions were made? Absolutely. Now, more than that, I've voted where Darrell wants to go, which is what he's asking for is to have a cause of action right now. If you're over 18 or in his case, his son, I guess, was over 18. There's no recovery for the parent. And so I do support his position on that. But additionally, and I think politics is part of a compromise, because I think that's unfair. I think what he's experience is unfair, and I support his position. But what's also unfair is where we have these nuclear verdicts, and that's where the caps come in. So there are two separate issues that came together in the legislature. I support that combined compromise, because in my opinion, it relieves and removes two unfair aspects of our litigation climate that address his concerns fully, but also don't allow for, as I mentioned, a $10 million verdict where the economic damages are something different. I want to ask you a question we've got from Michael in an email. We're going to have to wrap, though, and I'll come back to it on the other side. We've just got to take a two-minute break. We're talking to Paul Runner, running for Florida governor.

Welcome back. If you're just joining us, we are talking to former Northeast Florida lawmaker and House Speaker Paul Renner, who is running for Florida governor. I want to get to some questions and calls very quickly, an email that we got about your proposal to raise the referendum voting requirement from 60% to 67%. This is something that you announced last week at an anti-abortion group forum. making it more difficult for voters to put items in the state constitution? Well, it's what's in the U.S. Constitution. So the two-thirds, that's where I get it. I didn't come out of my head with it. And the problem is you read the U.S. Constitution, it has the fundamental structures of government. You read the Florida Constitution. It's starting to read like the phone book of a small town. It's getting larger and larger with things that are just substantive policy matters. And so... And I don't know that that would pass. You know, people may or may not approve that, but I think it's a sound way to go. And if you look at things with medical marijuana, I think got 70 plus percent, it would pass. You can look at other things that truly are, it could be done through the legislature. But things like term limits, balanced budget, those belong in the Constitution. Every little, you know, policy dispute doesn't belong in a citizen initiative. That's not how constitutions are supposed to function. And the bigger problem is it's been funded mainly by out-of-state interest. and also out-of-state petition gathers who fly into the state, gather these signatures. And so we don't want people from coming outside our state or even outside our country, which has happened, to try to fund things to change forever our state constitution. We've got a call from Elbin on the west side. Good morning. Go ahead. Good morning. Good morning, Paul. First, thank you for your service to us. My quick question is, under your party's watch for 28 years, we see Florida has become unaffordable in all aspects. Why should we continue to trust the Republican Party and trust you as our next governor? As we have the 40-year-old people in Florida right now, they've never used to the other side. Should we not have the right to try? Tell us how we can trust the Republican Party after becoming so much unaffordable. Thank you. Well, everything's unaffordable throughout the country, maybe more so in Florida because of our success. I don't see that as failure. People want to move here. They're voting with their feet. They're leaving, frankly, if I can be so bold, states like New York and California that have a different approach to government and coming to Florida. But because of that, we're a victim of our success. That's driving up the cost of housing, property taxes, insurance, electric rates. You can't pass platitudes, but you can pass plans. And I've got plans, specific plans, to reduce all three of those at VotRenner.com. It's in our contract with Florida. It's a bold, 100-day plan to lower cost and make Florida more affordable again, exactly what you're asking about. And we did that when I was speaker. We had record tax relief. We lowered the burden for parents trying to send their kids to school through the school choice scholarship. We also, you know, lowered cost in other areas.

as we also put on a homestead exemption inflation adjustment. So we took many steps to lower cost during my time as Speaker and we'll continue to do that. But Florida, frankly, is a victim of our success because people want to be here because of what we've done in those 28 years. Do you support the property tax amendment that's going before voters in November? I have a plan that I think is a far superior plan. Look, if you are struggling to pay your bills, you should vote for this plan. If you're concerned about core government services and the fact that there's no backup, then that's a reason not to. But I mean, what if you're both? What if you are having trouble paying your bills and you don't want to see your government lose significant funding? I'm very frustrated that the legislature after two years of being prompted by the governor threw something together in four days to do this. And so my plan is better in two respects. One is the benefit. It truly eliminates homestead property taxes for residents, but also has backup revenue where we spend a little more replacement taxes from tourists, people who speculate here, out-of-state private equity who's buying up. single family homes and turning them into rentals and those that are moving into the state so that we take care of people who make Florida home. We have enough money there and replacement taxes for police, fire, schools, infrastructure. Both are important. And so my plan, and it's a specific plan, I'm the only candidate with a specific plan, goes farther in the direction of relief. to help people that cannot afford to live here, but also has allowance to make sure we're not in harm's way with respect to, you know, I don't want to be to defund the police governor. And so we're going to make sure we're taking care of core services. And then, of course, a big chunk of that plan is savings. Local government has gotten a lot more money over the last several years. And so there needs to be permanent dose throughout the state at all levels. State, local universities, special districts, independent districts. We can save. five or 10% of the $200 plus billion that we spend every year. And now we'll focus on that as well. And so one of the ways that you propose, you know, backing, backfilling some of that lost revenue is a real estate transaction fee. Do you think it's fair to say that this property tax amendment as written, if approved, will require additional taxes? Well, it depends on where you're talking about. And what I've learned in this campaign is one size fits all doesn't. So is the question about the city of Miami where I think 8% of the city's revenues come from homestead property taxes? They can do this without a single dollar of replacement taxes. If you're talking about Baker County, if you're talking about some other counties, fiscally constrained counties, union county, it's going to be tough because if they're principally... Homestead property is their main source of revenue to pay for police and fire. The governor had a grant program for those counties. That got taken out. And so I approved and supported the governor's plan, which went farther again on the benefit side and also had some backup revenue in case there was a challenge. That's the kind of policy that's good policy. What the legislature came up with was a little bit half-baked. But look, if you're in trouble and you can't pay your bills, it's a yes vote. I get it. I really do.

Paul Renner, running for governor. The primary is Tuesday. Thank you so much for being back on the program. Thank you. All right. Join us tomorrow when we speak with author of Rachel Knox about her Florida-centric debut memoir anywhere else. I'm Ann Schindler. You've been listening to First Coast Connect on WJCT News 8999. Support for First Coast Connect is provided by Baptist Health and the North Florida TPO.