Florida House District 71: Andy Mele

Name: Andy Mele

Age: 71

Family: I was born and mostly raised in Woodstock, N.Y., and have lived in Sarasota, Bradenton and Bradenton Beach for the past 12 years, after spending much time visiting here for the three decades prior.

Bio: I am a U.S. Navy veteran, serving two tours in the Tonkin Gulf, and a graduate of Bard College, where I received both bachelor's and master's degrees (environmental science). I spent 17 years building and restoring wooden boats and am a published author. My book, "Polluting for Pleasure" (WW Norton, 1993), led to a lawsuit that all but eliminated the use of two-stroke outboard boat motors, which were emitting five or more Exxon Valdez oil spills-worth of unburned gasoline into America’s waterways every year. Today, most outboards are four-strokes or direct-injection two-strokes, which are 93%-98% cleaner than the two-strokes. 

From 1995 through 2005, I worked for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, or just plain Clearwater, as executive director for six of those years. I helped bring the venerable environmental group out of an economic and existential crisis and back to its place as a valued resource in New York and the nation. On my watch, General Electric was finally backed into a corner and forced to sign a consent decree to clean 300,000 pounds of toxic PCBs out of the upper Hudson, after 25 years of dogged resistance. 

Then it was to Florida full time as my mother and stepfather began failing, and I have been here since, living in Sarasota, Bradenton Beach and northwest Bradenton. I started working with Suncoast Waterkeeper as a volunteer and eventually became full time, also serving as executive director. 

Why are you running for office? 

As an environmental activist with Suncoast Waterkeeper, first as the Waterkeeper, later as executive director, I watched as the Florida Legislature responded to crisis after crisis — overdevelopment, springs degradation, the worst red tide in history, declining water quality — with nothing, or weak tea at best. And when I heard that there was no Democrat challenging Will Robinson in 2020, I realized that it was time to step up. There is literally no one with my qualifications in the legislature. Many give the environment lip service but don’t have the depth and breadth of knowledge that I do, both from an academic perspective and after decades of practical experience.

What are three priorities you hope to accomplish if elected? 

1. Get control of COVID-19. I will advocate for common sense measures based on science and facts, and New York’s epidemiological model, to ensure we protect the health and well-being — physical, as well as economic — of all Floridians.
2. Cure Florida’s sick waters. The environment is the economy, especially in Florida. As a life-long environmentalist, I will fight to preserve the ecology of our beautiful state and all the jobs and leisure activities it supports.
3. Ensure all citizens of Florida have access to affordable, quality health care. Step one is to enact Medicaid expansion.

With Florida revenues expected to finish the year at $1.6 billion below expectations:

What budget cuts would you propose? 

In business and in nonprofit governance, I became convinced that cost-cutting must be a last resort. Cost-cutting reduces institutional capacity, decreases output, lowers morale and causes the loss of key personnel. Therefore, the budget cuts I would immediately propose involve new initiatives and some old, bad policy. I will attempt to repeal SB 7068, the three M-CORES “Roads to Nowhere.” These roads have no established need and will cost taxpayers billions. I would also reduce inmate populations by enacting prison reform in which certain nonviolent offenders and the elderly can qualify for early release, also saving taxpayers billions. 

The immediate focus of the Legislature needs to be on getting control of COVID-19, so that businesses can reopen and return to normal, people can get back to work, and visitors return to our state. The current pandemic is wreaking havoc not only with the state’s budget but also with those of Florida families. By adopting state-of-the-art epidemiological controls over the pandemic, we can strengthen the economy statewide. Without healthy people, there can be no healthy economy. 

What would be your position on raising taxes to close any gap? 

I would work to restore corporate taxes to previous, higher levels. Many larger businesses do not pay their fair share. I would not put the burden on small businesses. I would raise the severance tax on phosphate ore from $1.80 per ton to $100, generating more than $100 million in new revenue. I would require Mosaic and other large industrial water users to pull water from the Lower Floridan Aquifer and foot the bill themselves for desalination. This will save the residents of one single county more than $250 million and statewide would save billions in desalination construction and maintenance costs while funneling the best and least expensive waters to residential households, where it belongs. There is room to elevate gasoline taxes and other “sin” taxes, such as on alcohol and cigarettes. 

There are millions of very wealthy families that take up “residence” in Florida, enjoying the benefits of no income tax without giving back. I would commission an inquiry into the feasibility of a limited state income tax on some of Florida’s wealthiest part-time residents. 

What’s your position on calls for the state to expand its Medicaid spending? 

I support the expansion of Medicaid for Florida. Florida is one of a few states that have not taken advantage of Medicaid expansion and currently has the fourth highest uninsured rate in the country. The expansion of Medicaid would result in between 1 million and 2 million Floridians gaining health coverage, with 90% of the cost being funded by the federal government. 

How would you rate Florida’s public education funding: too little, just right, too much? What would you change?

I applaud Gov. Ron DeSantis’ salary increase for teachers earlier this year. Still, there is more that needs to be done. Florida spends $8,800 per student — many other states invest more than $20,000 per student. All Florida’s children must have equal access to a high-quality education. I will fight to address the inequalities of Florida’s charter school voucher system. Providing choice to families for their children’s education can be a good thing. I went to a private school for all four years of high school. But there was no subsidy involved. We paid full freight, with or without scholarship. The existing system strongly benefits those who can afford to pay the additional tuition and transportation costs, essentially subsidizing private school for wealthier families with public — aka taxpayer — dollars. I would fight to begin a common-sense process of increasing and restoring the state’s education budget. The education budget cannot be the low-hanging fruit whenever some extra dollars are required to enact aspects of the conservative agenda. Our children must be taught to think, and they must be given one of the best school systems in the nation.

Gov. Ron DeSantis made the environment a top priority when elected, committing to spend/invest $2.5 billion during his term to help clean up and protect Florida’s water systems. How would you describe your position toward this spending? 

For better or worse, most of the money I have seen going into the state’s water problems — which are many and very serious — have been going into the Everglades. Which is great! But our springs are running brown and choked with filamentous and rooted algae; our water bodies are tainted with a long list of pollutants, from heavy metals to nutrients; blue green algae, frequently toxic to humans, blooms constantly all over the state; and it is just a matter of time before another red tide threatens the Gulf Coast with sickness and death. Studies are showing that red tide is not the temporary nuisance it was once thought to be. It might have long-term impacts on the human body. 

The state’s water management system does not work, period. Not one single TMDL (total maximum daily load) has been achieved statewide, and ironically, most of the state’s Outstanding Florida Waters are also listed as impaired for one of more pollutants. 

We need less photo-op spending and more spending to address the root causes of our water crisis. We also need to strip politics out of the FDEP. It is simply not doing its job.

And we need, at the state level, much more support for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. District 71 has a sewage blowout every couple of weeks, and it must stop. I have many ideas for working with county and municipal utilities to prevent spills.

Visit Florida’s budget went from $76 million to $50 million in the last legislative session. Given the pandemic and its effects on Florida tourism, what would you propose in the next session? 

The Republicans, including the Florida House speaker, have been highly critical of Visit Florida for “wasteful spending.” The reality is that Visit Florida makes up a very small percentage of the overall spending on tourism promotion for the state. We should absolutely take a comprehensive strategic look at Florida’s tourism promotion spending, with an eye toward upgrades.

The November ballot will have an amendment to require a $15 minimum wage by 2026, increasing by inflation every year after. What’s your position on the minimum wage? 

In favor — all Floridians deserve to earn a living wage.

For the past three years, the issue of who should regulate short-term residential rentals has come before the Legislature. What’s your position: Should the state or local governments regulate them? Why? 

These are decisions best left up to the local cities and to the county in unincorporated areas, who are then directly answerable to the citizens of that community. Community control over “party houses” has been thwarted repeatedly by lawsuits brought under the Bert Harris Act, which I will seek to repeal. A balance needs to be struck between providing desirable accommodations to attract tourist revenue and the rights of property owners with the impact on neighborhoods and surrounding communities.

State funding for the arts increased from $2.6 million two years ago to $21.2 million in the most recent session. Arts groups requested $62 million. What’s your position on state taxpayers funding the arts? And if you support it, how much should they get? 

I grew up in an artistic household, and I am a strong supporter of the arts. For example, we need more art curricula in our public schools. The arts are important to a thriving economy, especially in a destination state like Florida. That said, the current pandemic and its devastating effect on the economy is a harsh reality that might require that programs, such as this, be carefully examined and possibly scaled back if needed. Our immediate focus needs to be on getting control of COVID-19 and repairing the state’s economy.

Florida’s unemployment insurance compensation system was roundly criticized during the pandemic. It pays one of the lowest amounts in the nation — a maximum of $275 per week for 12 weeks. Should that be changed, and if so, to what? Why? 

There are two issues here: 1) the way in which the current unemployment system functions (or fails to function); and 2) the unemployment system itself. Although unemployment cannot, and should not, be a full replacement for lost wages, a maximum payment of $275 a week is, or should be, an embarrassment for our state. Florida has the fourth lowest maximum unemployment payout in the country and the shortest duration of unemployment payments of any state (tied with North Carolina), despite ranking about in the middle (26th) in cost of living. The majority of U.S. states pay for more than twice Florida’s 12-week period, and the average maximum benefit is almost double that of Florida. So not only does the state need to address its antiquated unemployment system, which left tens of thousands of out-of-work Floridians waiting months to receive their benefits, but it also needs to adjust its benefits rate to be more in line with the rest of the country.