When state Sen. Jeff Brandes spoke with the St. Petersburg Republican Club, he made it clear that he was ready for a bigger role within the Legislature.
“Can the Supreme Court justices hold you guys in contempt of court?” asked an individual in attendance, in regards to the Legislature’s continued failure to redraw congressional districts.
“Not to my knowledge,” said Brandes, 39, who represents the Senate’s 22nd District, which includes western Hillsborough and southern Pinellas counties. “But if they did, I can think of a few members to recommend.”
The joke got a laugh, but the sentiment behind it was genuine.
“The Florida Legislature needs to come together to sort this out,” continued Brandes. “One of the challenges I’ve seen in this process is, in the last two years, we have not had the one person that could walk across the aisle, and walk across the chamber to work things out.
“That person used to be John Thrasher […] He was basically the glue that was holding this process together. He was able to work through both chambers and the Governor’s Office to get things done.”
Thrasher, a 71-year-old Republican from Jacksonville, is a former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. He left the Florida Senate and became president of Florida State University in September of 2014.
“We’re missing that person now,” said Brandes, just before making the comment that was always intended to follow the preamble: “I hope to play that role a little bit this year.”
Brandes concluded: “This isn’t a Democrat/Republican issue. This is a personality issue among members of the same party [and] we’ve got to rise above personality issues to do what’s good for [the state of Florida].”
Solar power was another topic on Brandes’ mind — apropos, since the Legislature’s most dominant amendment scuffle this go-around is arguably going to be over solar power.
“I was on the phone with a reporter today,” said Brandes after being asked by a supporter about which upcoming legislative issues to get behind, “and she asked, ‘What’s the Florida Republican Party going to do about solar energy?’ and I said, ‘they love solar energy; they just don’t want to subsidize it.'”
Some believe businesses should be able to create and sell up to 2 megawatts of solar power to “adjacent neighboring properties,” which, in theory, will make installing and using solar power a more financially viable option. Since 2014, according to the state’s Public Service Commission, Florida’s energy-efficiency goals program has been reduced, while the homeowner power rebate program has been eliminated.
“Once solar is available for a price that’s competitive with fossil fuels,” said Brandes, “they [Florida Republican Party] will have no problem with installing solar and being advocates for solar energy.”
Brandes compared the solar energy fight to other related and recent state legislative battles, saying, “Think about the Growler bill. It was craft beer versus big beer. Solar is going to be solar power versus big energy companies, just like it’s Uber and Lyft versus big taxi.”
Throughout the discussion, topics ranged, and Brandes had something to say about them all, even when asked to predict the future of the Republican Party: “I feel like young Republicans are more libertarian in their thinking,” said Brandes, before acknowledging that he believed the entire Republican Party would eventually follow suit.
However, when it came time to play the political game, Brandes could do it. After being asked about the state’s and country’s “immigration problem,” the first-term state senator replied by saying, “My goal is that we create a state that is robust, that has a robust education system, that has robust insurers, that has a robust transportation network, that has beautiful beaches and is a place that people want to live. If we can create that, then many of these other things will come into play and many problems will be solved.”
He concluded his comments on a sobering and straightforward proclamation: “I’m going to focus on the areas where I can have the most impact while I’m elected, for however long that is.”
