Rodriguez deserves GOP support

The district is mostly in Northwest Miami Dade, including Miami Lakes, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Doral and part of Miramar.

It’s rare for two credible Republican candidates to seek the same political office in heavily Democratic Broward.

But Republican voters in the Aug. 18 primary have two strong choices in Tom Fabricio, 43, of Miramar, an insurance defense lawyer; and Nelson Rodriguez, 50, of Miami Lakes, an elected city commissioner for eight years and a firefighter paramedic for Coral Gables for 32 years.

The winner will face first-term Rep. Cindy Polo, D-Miramar, in November — in a toss-up district that Republicans want to reclaim. Both men have refreshingly avoided attacking each other, and both would be problem-solvers in Tallahassee. They are workhorses, not show horses. Rodriguez gets the Sun Sentinel endorsement because of his deeper community service and expertise in public safety, an especially relevant subject in this “defund the police” moment. He also completed our candidate questionnaire (Fabricio did not) and showed a willingness to address some gun safety issues. Rodriguez, a former PTA president in Miami Lakes and father of three, favors closing the notorious gun show loophole and requiring background checks and a three-day wait on private sales. Republicans refused to close the loophole last session, despite polls that consistently show a large and often bipartisan majority of Americans support comprehensive background checks for private gun sales and gun-show purchases.

Rodriguez, a concealed weapons license holder, also said he would have voted against a 2019 bill that allowed teachers to be armed in class. That’s the right position, in our view. Fabricio said he would have voted in favor of arming teachers because school boards can opt out of the program.

As Republicans who need votes from their party’s base, Fabricio and Rodriguez both support President Donald Trump. But it could be risky for them to cozy up to such a polarizing president in this district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 4,000 voters, and independents outnumber both parties. A serious problem in the district — one that has festered for far too long — is the disruptive use of explosive charges by the mining industry to extract lime rock for use in construction. The Sun Sentinel has reported on blasting problems in Miramar at least since 1996, yet the blasting goes on, with no solution in sight.

During an endorsement interview with the Sun Sentinel editorial board, Fabricio and Rodriguez both told stories of damage to their homes. Both promise to seek state intervention to help distressed homeowners.

The problem, Rodriguez noted, is that the state itself is a major lime rock customer and state law requires homeowners to navigate a costly, time-consuming administrative hearing system that requires proving that a specific blast caused specific damage. Rodriguez, who said he has four cracks in his backyard swimming pool, faults Tallahassee’s lackadaisical attitude for a lack of solutions.

Fabricio, whose campaign website says he opposes “frivolous lawsuits,” has suggested a possible new cause of action against blasting. But creating an easier legal pathway to sue blasting companies would be highly controversial in Florida’s pro-business Legislature.

Fabricio served on the Broward County Charter Review Commission and supported a countywide referendum on the question of creating an elected mayor (we agree). He is the son of Roberto Fabricio, a longtime South Florida journalist who extensively covered Latin American affairs for the Sun Sentinel and The Miami Herald.

In a political environment greatly complicated by the coronavirus, Rodriguez continues to campaign after testing positive for the virus in June. He said he felt only minor symptoms, but that he and his wife tested positive and self-isolated at home.

On his campaign’s Facebook page, he said he feels fine, but he cannot return to work until he tests negative twice. “You’re not in it alone, my friends,” Rodriguez says on the video.

In the Republican primary in House District 103, the Sun Sentinel recommends Nelson Rodriguez.

Rodriguez