- September 6, 2024
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When Richard Green was attending high school in Louisville, Kentucky, he used to argue with his classmates about all kinds of issues.
He admits he often didn't know much about the subject.
"I would argue with a brick wall," he said with a smile.
It didn't take long for him to understand if he wanted to have meaningful outcomes to those debates, he needed to be fully invested.
So when he went to the University of Louisville, everything "flip-flopped" for him, including his environment. He grew up in a very "safe" environment not far from the private Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.
The university was more urban with "no protection."
"Louisville was a very left-leaning institution," said Green, who is running for the District 72 seat in the Florida House of Representatives. "It was great for me, starting out, but after a couple of years, I found myself with a different mindset than my classmates. I was being asked, "Why do you support George (W.) Bush? Are you a fascist?
"I spent my junior and senior years getting into politics."
While he has never followed his urge to enter the political arena, Green continued to delve into issues so if the time came for him to run for office, he would be ready.
That time is now.
Tommy Gregory was hired to be the president of the State College of Florida in April and will leave his District 72 office June 30. It left an unexpected void and forced those with political aspirations to make a quick decision.
Green talked it out with his wife Caitlin.
"We had talked about (running for office) for 14 years," Green said. "I feel we have centered a lot of our lives around this goal. It is our dream."
Caitlin urged him to be bold.
"This is what we've always talked about," she said. "It seemed like the right time. Politics is not something we are used to, but we are both rooted in our morals and how we were raised in God. We understand we will open our lives to scrutiny."
Green isn't worried about political attacks.
"My skin is stone," he said. "Some lawyers are highly emotional, and they take it home. At the end of a day, I proverbially close the pad. I am a dad, and a husband."
Green is a senior attorney with the Lewis, Longman and Walker of St. Petersburg.
He is the vice-chair of administrative, civil and appellate litigation and his law practice biography notes that he "has extensive litigation experience in a variety of areas such as real property, commercial, code enforcement and environmental matters. He represents various public and private entities in litigation in both federal, state and administrative forms. Primarily, he has represented clients in litigation regarding environmental matters such as environmental permitting, environmental contamination, and construction litigation."
He also handles, "all matters of real estate transactions including acquisition, sale and closing administration."
He will talk to voters about how his law background will help him make and support laws that will preserve "our values — limited government, personal liberty, respect for law enforcement — and I never will waver in being pro-life and pro-family."
Green said he understands how important balancing development and agricultural concerns will be. His district contains Lakewood Ranch and much of eastern Manatee County, which is where the county's agricultural base is located. Green said he wants changes in the legislature to help farmers and ranchers not be forced to sell their land because they can't make a living.
He will be facing former Manatee County Planning Commission Chairman Bill Conerly, AG Creative founder Alyssa Gay and Manatee County School Board Member Richard Tatem in the primary.
Democrat Lesa Miller will oppose the winner of the primary in the general election.
Green, 39, said that he is somewhat of an unknown commodity in the local political arena and that is fine. He said District 72 doesn't need more candidates who only want to be career politicians.
"I have certain talents I have been given," he said. "I am not doing this for fame, and certainly not for fortune. I am doing it to serve."
His election website, VoteRichardGreen.com, characterizes him as "Your Conservative Outsider Fighting for District 72."
He is a believer in smart development.
"I agree that master planning on paper as a philosophy should work very well," he said. "However, what we are talking about in practice is that the government wants something, the person coming in wants something, but a lot of times the interests (of the citizens) are not taken into consideration."
He said while property rights should be protected, neighboring lands also should be taken into account as well.
When laws are written, he said he will know how to break them down and understand them.
"I definitely think it gives me a leg up (in the election)," he said. "We are writing laws and people are well-intentioned, but they pass something and then it is up to my industry to interpret it. I have seen statutes with unintended consequences. We need people who when a lobbyist brings you a bill, you can read the bill. That's what I have been trained to do.
"We need someone who will shake the trees and mix things up. I am going to do a lot of knocking on doors. This is grassroots."
Age: 39
Current occupation: Senior attorney, Lewis, Longman & Walker, P.A., focusing on environmental, real estate and land use litigation
Resident of the district: 9 years
I am concerned that the typical rhetoric utilized by many in the various races will result in just typical red vote. No one is actually focused on the ramifications of actions made now on the future.
Also, I wanted to bring a voice for our agriculture community to the forefront to strengthen that community to benefit all of us in Manatee County, including preserving the culture that makes Manatee County such a wonderful place to raise our kids and hopefully have a place where my kids can raise their kids.
I have spent the last eight years as an environmental and governmental litigator, working with all of the state agencies, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Children and Families Services and the Florida Department of Agriculture, dealing with agency rules and how those rules are drafted from state statutes.
My experience includes drafting amendments, as well as changes to statutes.
Essentially, I have spent the last eight years dealing with the matters that originate in Tallahassee.
Additionally, as an attorney, I am uniquely equipped to properly interpret and draft legislation to avoid unintended consequences like we’ve seen recently and in the past.
Insurance industry; development versus agriculture; infrastructure development.
Oppose.
I oppose entirely. Such an amendment and policy is a cancer to the family and is gaslighting to women especially into believing abortion somehow improves their quality of life.
The language is particularly misleading. First, there is no law in Florida that prohibits medical procedures to preserve the life of a woman. If a pregnancy will truly endanger the life of a woman, then appropriate medical procedures are legal and are the standard to save the woman’s life.
Next, viability is not a definitive term. The interpretation of that term could result in late-term abortions based on certain physician opinions.
The 2024 Legislature took significant steps to help the insurance industry be competitive and bring re-insurance options back to the state.
But now we must evaluate the efficacy of the policies put in place. Re-insurance options need additional funding and policies to encourage this.
We need to partner with the insurance industry to understand what hurdles are in place preventing the market from providing competitive prices to citizens.
The Legislature has attempted to create a program to incentivize developers to either build new or redevelop properties into affordable housing. This is a noble idea, but the program could be abused.
What constitutes affordable is difficult, and the Legislature would be hard pressed to ensure affordable housing in a particular location.
The Legislature can create grants or funding for particular development that is located in an appropriate area for workforce. It would be more effective for the Legislature to direct an agency to work on partnering with local jurisdictions to permit and redevelop areas into workforce housing with use of state grants or funding incentives.
We cannot avoid taxation. Taxes should be limited and for a true government purpose. But they are unavoidable.
The idea of tax breaks for certain “holidays” is to assist people with specific needs. A blanket holiday or lowering of taxes for all sales could have negative impacts.
A sober approach to modifying our tax system to ensure lowering specific tax areas is always a needed legislative issue. Same goes for ensuring our budget is appropriate and balanced. If our budget can be reduced, then an associated tax decrease can be considered.
No. Education should not be a political tool. I may agree with the worldview of Hillsdale College, but that needs to be the choice of the student, not a program of the state.
Florida’s corporate tax rate of 5.5% is not a “high” tax rate compared to other states but is high enough to stifle business competition in many areas of the state. Lowering that rate will encourage business growth and reinvestment into business and employee wages.
No. I certainly desire as many people to have access to healthcare as possible, but a person’s skill is not an obligation to another.
Funding for transportation. By expanding Medicaid, we expand dependence. This is a long-term bad policy. Improving transportation infrastructure is a long-term good policy.
I prefer a consumption tax system and believe the government should tax for its obligations it is supposed to be responsible for. The government should not utilize tax dollars to grow government authority. By limiting government, we can limit taxation.
Limited government for areas such as infrastructure improvement, e.g., roads, disaster response, environmental regulation, health/medical regulation, agriculture regulation and ensuring basic constitutional rights within the state.
