Fried offers ideas, Caldwell the usual
The top of Matt Caldwell’s campaign website asks viewers to read “Matt’s history of fighting for the Everglades.” In fact, the Republican candidate for Florida agriculture commissioner is known more for fighting against the Everglades.
Caldwell is finishing his term-limited eight years representing Lee County in the Florida House. In 2013, he sponsored the legislation that eased the burden on farmers to clean water that enters the Everglades. The bill delayed the deadline for meeting water-quality standards and shifted yet more costs from the farmers to the public.
Seeking to cleanse his record, Caldwell notes his support for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program. His bill, however, undercuts that plan. Caldwell has received $12,000 in direct contributions from U.S. Sugar and joined Gov. Rick Scott and other Republicans for a hunting junket at a U.S. Sugar ranch in Texas that the participants sought to keep secret.
So if Caldwell wins on Nov. 6, he will protect the sugar industry, which he claims has been made “unfairly the scapegoat” for the Lake Okeechobee algae crisis.
There are many reasons for the lake’s problems, but to say that the sugar growers have been made a “scapegoat” is to excuse decades of stonewalling, while back-pumping from fields south of the lake. Caldwell also favors the federal program that keeps sugar prices artificially high.
The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services also runs background checks for concealed weapons permits. Caldwell voted against the mild gun control bill that passed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Massacre. He blamed “technical glitches,” but the National Rifle Association then gave him an A-plus rating.
Given that vote, Floridians have no reason to believe that he would oversee the background check program any better. Under incumbent Adam Putnam, the department issued permits before the background checks were reviewed.
Caldwell is running a garden-variety Republican campaign. He says, “I support the president.” He says, “I’m a small-government guy.” He says, “Freedoms are under attack by Washington bureaucrats” without naming which freedoms and which bureaucrats. That’s chum for the GOP base, not a vision for a better Florida.
Fortunately, voters have a much better alternative in Democrat Nikki Fried. The Miami native and Fort Lauderdale resident has good ideas for the agriculture part of the job and for the consumer part of the job.
Fried worked as a public defender and public interest lawyer. Having lobbied for the medical marijuana industry, she wants to allow the growing of industrial hemp. Many states are examining its potential, and the Department of Agriculture oversees pilot programs.
The crop is similar to marijuana, but has a much lower level of the chemical that causes marijuana’s psychological effect. Hemp’s commercial uses range from textiles to animal feed to insulation. Fried also favors legalization of recreational marijuana for those 21 and over, though she vastly overstates the revenue potential for the state.
Regarding the state’s legacy crop, Fried supports additional research into citrus greening. The disease threatens orange and grapefruit groves far more than citrus canker ever did. Where Caldwell blindly accepts President Trump’s tariffs, Fried favors a narrower approach that poses less risk to Florida.
Fried says the department has done “a poor job” when it comes to protecting consumers. She would devote more resources to enforcing the Do Not Call list and stopping “skimmers” who steal credit/ debit card information at gas pumps, which the department regulates. She would audit the process for issuing concealed weapons permits, and believes the permitting function should shift to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which performs the background checks. Such a change makes sense. The NRA opposes it.
Fried also differs with Caldwell on the constitutional amendment that would automatically restore civil rights to exfelons who’ve paid their debt to society, except those convicted of murder or sexual assault. She favors it. He opposes it. The agriculture commissioner sits on the clemency board, so Caldwell could hinder restoration, even if voters approve it.
Caldwell and his fellow Republicans similarly have tried to thwart the will of voters who allowed medical marijuana. The Legislature wrote very restrictive rules, such as banning smokable marijuana. Fried opposes that ban and other restrictions.
Finally, Fried would be more aggressive than Caldwell on the state’s algae and red ride crises. That helps to explain why Fried has raised about $517,000, one-third of Caldwell’s total.
A vote for Caldwell is a vote for the status quo when Florida needs change.
The Sun Sentinel recommends Nikki Fried for Florida Agriculture Commissioner.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Andy Reid and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.