Three running for Florida’s District 17 seat in Washington, D.C.
Incumbent Tom Rooney faces two challengers for the District 17 Congressional seat in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Also running for the seat are Democrat April Freeman and John W. Sawyer III, who is running without party affiliation.
District 17 includes parts of Lee County, including parts of North Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres; parts of Polk, Manatee and Hillsborough counties; and all of Hardee, Desoto, Highlands, Okeechobee, Glades and Charlotte counties.
– Tom Rooney
Age: 45
Occupation: incumbent
Residence: Okeechobee
Education: BA in English Literature, Syracuse University and Washington and Jefferson College
Family: Married, three sons
Tom Rooney, a Republican who has served in the House since he was first elected in since 2008 in what was then District 16. His public service record dates much earlier. He served under Connie Mack and as a prosecutor under former Gov. Charlie Crist, among other things.
Rooney said he has a sense of duty to the community that makes him want to serve.
“When the Mark Foley situation came up and Tim Mahoney won the seat, I felt a calling to run for office and make a difference,” Rooney said. “I still have that feeling.”
Rooney said his terms of office have given him the expertise in national security, and his knowledge of agriculture has helped feed the people in this country.
Rooney said he believes in limited government and strong national security, which is the backbone of his platform. He also believes the debt has to be addressed and that regulations are strangling business growth.
“We also have a divided government, so you’re not going to get what you want. You try to do the best you can with what you have, and many people don’t like that,” Rooney said. “I’m not one of those who wants to burn Washington down.”
As far as water quality, Rooney said the manmade problems in Lake Okeechobee will require a lot of time and money to solve. But unless the government restores earmarks for public projects and the Everglades restoration plan gets fully funded, not much is going to happen.
“I think dropping earmarks for public purposes is a mistake. We lost the ability to bring dollars back to the community and tell the Army Corps to get these projects done when we lost earmarks,” Rooney said. “It’s so cumbersome to find the solution to problems that we need.”
– April Freeman
Age: 52
Residence: Cape Coral
Occupation: media producer
Education: Communications, Economics and Political Science at Yale
Family: Married, two daughters
Democrat April Freeman has been here before, having campaigned for and lost the 2014 special election to Curt Clawson in the District 19 Congressional race.
Freeman said she ran two years ago to get her name out this time around. She has always been politically involved, working on campaigns for family members and on President Obama’s campaign in 2008 while living in Michigan.
“I realized knocking on doors and talking with people who were in situations they didn’t know how to get out of. I realized I could help these people and that they needed representation,” Freeman said.
Freeman’s platform includes taking care of Social Security and veterans affairs, rebuilding the nation’s economy and infrastructure and a desire to make solar energy king.
Freeman also has a unique plan to fix the Lake Okeechobee issue; making it, the dike and the land south of it into national landmarks.
“The president had made a freshwater lake and parts of the desert and declared it a national monument. I thought why can’t we do that with the lake?” Freeman said. “This will take the political rhetoric out of the issue in Tallahassee. The money will come from the federal government directly in to the project.”
Freeman said she feels she cares more about the people, as she’s been out there every day, talking to people, adding she will be more responsive and more accessible.
She also said she wouldn’t always tow the Democratic line because there are things from both parties that she doesn’t like. She would vote for what’s right for the people.
– John W. Sawyer III
Age: 74
Occupation: retired
Residence: Punta Gorda
Education: Lansing Community College
Family: Married, two grown children
John W. Sawyer III is no stranger to running for office or politics, having run for Lee County Commissioner in 2012, as well as serving on the Republican Executive Committee in Charlotte County and as chairman of the local Ted Cruz campaign.
He said he is tired of the way things are being run in this country by either party and believes he can do it better because of his business and military experience.
“Nobody is doing anything. I figure I can do more with my military and union background and I have honest solutions to problems,” Sawyer said. “We have three parties, Republicans, Democrats and Incumbents and the incumbents are the only ones who do anything, and that’s campaigning. Nobody governs anymore.”
Sawyer said his platform is basically to throw everyone out and start over, adding he can’t support either presidential candidate, and don’t get him started on his Republican opponent.
His three-point plan is to bring back jobs to this country and that race relations in this country need to improve before matters get even worse.
“If you drop the corporation income tax, businesses will flock back here. They did that in Ireland and it was very successful,” Sawyer said.
Regarding water, Sawyer said agriculture is the No. 2 business behind tourism, and that Big Sugar is the problem regarding the dirty water, not farming, and that too many people take big money from the sugar industry.
“We need to take the tariff off imported sugar and put Big Sugar out of business so they don’t dump crap in the water anymore,” Sawyer said. “Also, no farmer should farm within 1,000 feet of an estuary and the state should compensate farmers for land and take it.”
Three running for Florida’s District 17 seat in Washington, D.C.
Incumbent Tom Rooney faces two challengers for the District 17 Congressional seat in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Also running for the seat are Democrat April Freeman and John W. Sawyer III, who is running without party affiliation.
District 17 includes parts of Lee County, including parts of North Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres; parts of Polk, Manatee and Hillsborough counties; and all of Hardee, Desoto, Highlands, Okeechobee, Glades and Charlotte counties.
– Tom Rooney
Age: 45
Occupation: incumbent
Residence: Okeechobee
Education: BA in English Literature, Syracuse University and Washington and Jefferson College
Family: Married, three sons
Tom Rooney, a Republican who has served in the House since he was first elected in since 2008 in what was then District 16. His public service record dates much earlier. He served under Connie Mack and as a prosecutor under former Gov. Charlie Crist, among other things.
Rooney said he has a sense of duty to the community that makes him want to serve.
“When the Mark Foley situation came up and Tim Mahoney won the seat, I felt a calling to run for office and make a difference,” Rooney said. “I still have that feeling.”
Rooney said his terms of office have given him the expertise in national security, and his knowledge of agriculture has helped feed the people in this country.
Rooney said he believes in limited government and strong national security, which is the backbone of his platform. He also believes the debt has to be addressed and that regulations are strangling business growth.
“We also have a divided government, so you’re not going to get what you want. You try to do the best you can with what you have, and many people don’t like that,” Rooney said. “I’m not one of those who wants to burn Washington down.”
As far as water quality, Rooney said the manmade problems in Lake Okeechobee will require a lot of time and money to solve. But unless the government restores earmarks for public projects and the Everglades restoration plan gets fully funded, not much is going to happen.
“I think dropping earmarks for public purposes is a mistake. We lost the ability to bring dollars back to the community and tell the Army Corps to get these projects done when we lost earmarks,” Rooney said. “It’s so cumbersome to find the solution to problems that we need.”
– April Freeman
Age: 52
Residence: Cape Coral
Occupation: media producer
Education: Communications, Economics and Political Science at Yale
Family: Married, two daughters
Democrat April Freeman has been here before, having campaigned for and lost the 2014 special election to Curt Clawson in the District 19 Congressional race.
Freeman said she ran two years ago to get her name out this time around. She has always been politically involved, working on campaigns for family members and on President Obama’s campaign in 2008 while living in Michigan.
“I realized knocking on doors and talking with people who were in situations they didn’t know how to get out of. I realized I could help these people and that they needed representation,” Freeman said.
Freeman’s platform includes taking care of Social Security and veterans affairs, rebuilding the nation’s economy and infrastructure and a desire to make solar energy king.
Freeman also has a unique plan to fix the Lake Okeechobee issue; making it, the dike and the land south of it into national landmarks.
“The president had made a freshwater lake and parts of the desert and declared it a national monument. I thought why can’t we do that with the lake?” Freeman said. “This will take the political rhetoric out of the issue in Tallahassee. The money will come from the federal government directly in to the project.”
Freeman said she feels she cares more about the people, as she’s been out there every day, talking to people, adding she will be more responsive and more accessible.
She also said she wouldn’t always tow the Democratic line because there are things from both parties that she doesn’t like. She would vote for what’s right for the people.
– John W. Sawyer III
Age: 74
Occupation: retired
Residence: Punta Gorda
Education: Lansing Community College
Family: Married, two grown children
John W. Sawyer III is no stranger to running for office or politics, having run for Lee County Commissioner in 2012, as well as serving on the Republican Executive Committee in Charlotte County and as chairman of the local Ted Cruz campaign.
He said he is tired of the way things are being run in this country by either party and believes he can do it better because of his business and military experience.
“Nobody is doing anything. I figure I can do more with my military and union background and I have honest solutions to problems,” Sawyer said. “We have three parties, Republicans, Democrats and Incumbents and the incumbents are the only ones who do anything, and that’s campaigning. Nobody governs anymore.”
Sawyer said his platform is basically to throw everyone out and start over, adding he can’t support either presidential candidate, and don’t get him started on his Republican opponent.
His three-point plan is to bring back jobs to this country and that race relations in this country need to improve before matters get even worse.
“If you drop the corporation income tax, businesses will flock back here. They did that in Ireland and it was very successful,” Sawyer said.
Regarding water, Sawyer said agriculture is the No. 2 business behind tourism, and that Big Sugar is the problem regarding the dirty water, not farming, and that too many people take big money from the sugar industry.
“We need to take the tariff off imported sugar and put Big Sugar out of business so they don’t dump crap in the water anymore,” Sawyer said. “Also, no farmer should farm within 1,000 feet of an estuary and the state should compensate farmers for land and take it.”
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