Anselm Weber (Photo: Anselm Weber for Florida House District 76)
Sept. 3, 2020 by David Silverberg
When Anselm Weber, the Democratic candidate for Florida House District 76, talks about helping working people, he knows whereof he speaks: Like so many starting out in life he’s held jobs in fast food and convenience stores. At one point he sold hot sauce at the Pepper Palace in Sarasota.
“I’ve had a lot of jobs with little pay,” recalls the 24-year old Florida native and Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) graduate. “The highest pay I got was $10 an hour.”
He knows what it’s like to have money be tight. He lost his mother to a heart attack when he was 14 years old and was raised by his father, an adjunct professor at the University of Tampa.
His early jobs gave Weber a perspective on the world of work, the long hours, low pay and meager benefits and the needs of working people. Thanks to his history studies at FGCU, where he graduated this past December, he’s been able to put those experiences into a larger perspective.
One of Weber’s more recent jobs was with NextGen Florida, an offshoot of NextGen America, a progressive political organization founded by billionaire and former presidential Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer. There, Weber helped register voters and update their voting information, particularly on the Florida Southwest University campus where he engaged students and encouraged political participation.
“That experience helped confirm that more people felt the way I felt,” he recalled in an interview with The Paradise Progressive. “I was organizing a lot of young people. The ones who were engaged had a different worldview from those who were disengaged. Those didn’t feel incentivized.” Despite that, Weber believes his efforts helped over a thousand students.
Weber is now seeking to put that hands-on knowledge—of hard work and political activism—in the service of the people in Florida House District 76.
Water, water, everywhere
Florida House District 76
The 76th District encompasses the coast of Lee County. It starts at the northern Lee County line at Pine Island and includes Captiva and Sanibel Islands. On the mainland it includes Punta Rassa, Iona, Harlem Heights, Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Springs to the southern Lee County line.
Since 2012 the District has been represented in Tallahassee by Ray Rodrigues, a Republican politician who spent his previous career in Lee County positions. Rodrigues is term-limited and this year is running for the State Senate against Democrat Rachel Brown.
Water looms over all the District’s other physical attributes. Consisting of low-lying islands and coastal communities, it’s vulnerable to hurricanes, storm surges, sea level rise, erosion and all the ills of climate change. Polluted water from Lake Okeechobee dumps into San Carlos Bay and the Gulf, giving rise to red tide and toxic blue-green algae blooms. Here, climate change is not an abstraction; it’s a clear and present reality—and danger.
“We have 3 years left to stop a 1.5 degree rise in global temperatures, which is the threshold we cannot cross to stop massive climate catastrophe,” Weber’s written. “We have a plan for this in Florida. We are especially hard hit from sea level rise and increasingly harsher hurricanes. That is why several FL state candidates have come together and crafted a Green Jobs Program for Florida.”
Formally known as the Florida Climate and Economic Defense Initiative, the Green Jobs Program, of which Weber was a founder, will both combat climate change directly while also helping the District’s need for good-paying jobs, he argues.
But it’s not just the overall climate that presents a threat. The District’s water, Weber has written, “is constantly under assault.” Ray Rodrigues’ relationship with the sugar industry around Lake O brought him the most fire from his primary opponent, state Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen (R-78-Fort Myers). She accused him of being a puppet of Big Sugar.
When it comes to upstream water polluters, Weber says, “we really have to go after them. If we find polluters we revoke the licenses of farms that are polluting and we get the companies to pay back for the pollution. I think we can go after these companies.”
He is calling for reforming the Clean Waterways Act to manage Lake O runoff and sequester its polluting carbon, phosphorous and nitrogen.
A stressful time
While protecting and preserving the District’s natural environment is vital, it’s helping its over 150,000 people that really drives Weber.
He’s running in an unusually challenging time. There’s the coronavirus pandemic, a devastating economic crash and the uncertain future of the businesses built on tourism, hospitality and seasonal influxes. “People are struggling,” he says.
In Lee County rent increases have outstripped wages by 9 percent and with the economic crash 51 percent of renters nationwide are at risk of eviction, he points out.
“It’s abominable to throw people out of their homes while a pandemic is raging through our state. We need to keep the eye on the ball with this crisis. Working and poor Floridians are the most at risk because of this crisis,” he says.
“Before COVID-19, Florida had a 13 percent poverty rate and 56 percent of renters were spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing,” he has written. “The state minimum wage is $8.46, which is almost half of what a living wage is for Florida. Now with the harshest economic recession since the Great Depression, Florida is in desperation mode and we need people in office who will fight for working Floridians.”
What’s worse, all this is occurring at a time when people’s healthcare is under threat. President Donald Trump and his followers are relentlessly attempting to destroy the Affordable Care Act.
“I believe we need universal healthcare for the state of Florida,” Weber maintains. “We need to fight for universal healthcare for Florida so no one is foregoing essential medical needs simply because they can’t afford the out-of-pocket costs.”
He’s particularly incensed by the treatment of veterans’ healthcare needs. “The GOP in Florida refuses to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act,” he points out. “These men and women have served their country yet the GOP does not believe we should expand healthcare so our veterans can get the healthcare they need. I’ll fight for Medicaid expansion so no veteran goes without the healthcare they need.”
He’s also fully conscious that if elected one of the first issues he’s going to be facing will be participating in re-drawing the legislative maps based on the 2020 census. He’s calling for an end to gerrymandering and fair and equitable redistricting.
“We should district the state so the lines are proportional, fair and balanced,” he says. “I’m not in favor of Democrats doing the exact same gerrymandering as Republicans.”
Getting there
In the general election Weber is facing Adam Botana, from Bonita Springs, who calls himself a businessman although it’s unclear from his campaign website and social media postings exactly what business he’s in.
“Personally, he seems like a chummy guy. But he’s running on Trump’s agenda,” says Weber.
Botana, a first-time political candidate, is backed by corporate and ideological political action committees (PACs) like Novartis Finance Corporation, the Florida Beer Wholesalers Good Government Committee, the Associated Industries of Florida PAC and A Bold Future for Florida, a politically conservative PAC.
During Botana’s primary run his opponent, Jason Maughan, portrayed him as a wild party animal with a 2012 misdemeanor conviction for driving under the influence and seven reckless driving citations.
Adam Botana, as depicted in an ad by his primary opponent, Jason Maughan.
No one is hurling accusations at Weber—yet. But is he worried about being smeared with the “Socialist” label that Trump and his minions are throwing around?
“The Republicans say you’re a socialist if you’re picking up groceries for your grandma,” he laughs.
Weber is fully aware that he’s facing an uphill fight. The District has long voted Republican, is overwhelmingly white (83.5 percent) and older (29.6 percent between the ages of 60 and 74).
Nonetheless, these are extraordinary times and they may yield extraordinary results—and extraordinary change. In this he may be aided by his support for the top of the Democratic ticket.
“I’m voting for Joe Biden, no matter what,” he says. “I think he’s the best candidate right now.”
For Weber the experience of running for office has its highs and lows—but the ultimate goal justifies the effort.
“It is stressful. It’s a lot to deal with,” he admits. But “it’s really exhilarating to really engage with people. There are a lot of moving parts but it’s a worthwhile experience. This gives me a good place to be advocating for change in Florida.”
To learn more about Anselm Weber see his website or Facebook page.
Liberty lives in light
© 2020 by David Silverberg