Former AP Mayor Has Plenty To Say On The Issues

AVON PARK - It has been more than a year since then-mayor Tom Macklin brought up an ordinance to penalize landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. Though it failed in June 2006, it mobilized several businesses and most of the Hispanic community, and for better or worse, it changed many residents' views of their city and the actions of City Hall, even to this day.

"They're (the customers) more careful now, because they know they're after them," said Angel Del Valle, who worked at the Broken Spoke Flea Market during the unfolding controversy last year. He now owns the store, and had several Hispanic customers browsing the shelves when interviewed Wednesday afternoon. "They try not to be too obvious."

Though Macklin was the mayor of Avon Park for six years, most people only remember him for his final months, when he brought the Illegal Immigration Relief Act to the council chambers.

He earned a large group of detractors, but also earned the support of those like James Geer, who wrote in a 2006 letter to the editor that "the federal government is not doing its job."

Geer, who lives immediately outside the city, said Wednesday he would hope to see a similar act come to the council again, though he did not think that would happen.

Even Councilman George Hall, who with then-Councilwoman Sharon Schuler voted twice against the act, said he didn't think there was anything wrong with Macklin's intentions.

"I think he has been a great leader and a great citizen," Hall said.

Maria G. Ayala, an insurance agent, felt differently. She is of Mexican descent, and having several friends she said were illegal immigrants, believes the controversy kept her friends from going to the grocery out of fear they would be caught and deported. Though she said things have calmed down since last year, she said she was glad to see Macklin out of office.

Editor's Note: Highlands Today Reporter Doug Carman sat down with Tom Macklin to discuss his past and current activism in the city council as well as his direction with the APF. The following is an edited version of that conversation.

Q: Currently, you're with the American Party of Florida. What kind of influence does your party have with the state, and also, are you reaching beyond Highlands County with the party?

A: Our influence is not very wide ranging. We do have interest in approximately 10 other counties but so far, the only executive committee we've actually formed is here is in Highlands.

We've done a lot as far as the party, the local executive committee and the local party being active over the past less than a year.... So as we turn the corner into 2008, expect to see, after our one year anniversary, the local party really stepping things up.

Q: Is there going to be a point where you think the American Party of Florida will become a considerable force in politics?

A: Not in the near future. As much as I am an optimist, I also am a realist too.

Where I think we're going to be able to see success certainly more earlier than later, will be in our support for local candidates who will be doing the types of things that are important to the citizens at the most local of levels: county commissioners, school boards, constitutional officers, city councils and commissions.

Q: You brought up getting candidates for the 2008 election. Do you have any lined up so far?

A: None that are willing to announce their candidacy yet. We, I, some other members of the party and those who are supporters of a minor party mindset believe there are people who are interested in running. We have spoken to several potential candidates for county commission, a candidate for sheriff, a candidate for (Florida House of Representatives) District 77, none of which are ready to announce their intentions.

Q: For you specifically, what political aspirations do you have right now?

A: None.

Q: None?

A: I've been asked that, I've been encouraged. They (supporters) were calling at my home asking to run for mayor again and I said I would not. One of the parts of the platform for the APF is my support for term limits, and I have served in Avon Park. At this point in time, my efforts need to be spent on expanding the footprint of the American Party of Florida here in Florida.

Q: When you ran for the Lt. Governor with the Reform Party, did you believe you made any achievements, or was it more of a statement you and (2006 Reform Party gubernatorial candidate) Max (Linn) both made? Also, going back to that point in your career, would you have left your seat for mayor to run for governor again?

A: Yes, on both counts. As far as the first part of that question, Max Linn and I... we raised, I think, a significant amount of awareness to some of the issues that I don't believe that (then-Republican gubernatorial candidate and current Florida Gov.) Charlie Crist and (then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate) Jim Davis quite were willing to speak to with the level of passion or intensity that Max did. Certainly, the immigration issue was one that neither of them wanted to talk about very much. Quite frankly, everywhere I went and I had the opportunity to speak, one of the most important issues aside from property insurance was immigration.

We continue to hear those same types of comments from our congressmen and women. Ginny Brown-Waite says the same thing. Adam Putnam says the same thing. But is it being spoken about very much at the state level?

As far as, would I have resigned my office if I had to go back and do it again? Absolutely, because that was an opportunity of a million lifetimes in my mind. The experience that I was able to gain from that two-month period that I was involved in the statewide campaign was invaluable, and quite frankly it is what galvanized in my mind the need for a new political party here in Florida, because that's what I heard over and over again as I traveled the state with Max.

Q: The ordinance (Illegal Immigration Relief Act) last year created a major uproar even though it ultimately died in the council. Did you feel a personal or professional backlash from it?

A: There were people that were, shall we say, less than friendly. There were definitely a large number of people who mobilized to spread absolute untrue statements and lies about the proposed ordinance and what it would and would not have done.

Professionally, no, I felt no backlash. I didn't take it personal because the number of years I sat on the council, I learned that we cast many votes every single Monday night that we gather as a group. This was one of many votes, one issue out of literally hundreds that we cast our vote on.

What I was disappointed in was the way some of the people reacted to an honest attempt to deal with the ongoing issue of code enforcement, relating to far too many people not related that were living in dwellings, many allegedly illegal, undocumented workers in this country. In the absence of getting any help from the Legislature, after asking for several years our legislative delegation turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the desires and complaints of the city, (I) decided something needed to be done.

Q: Concerning the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, did it cost you some of your friends or did you gain any new friends in the aftermath?

A: Cost me some of my friends? That's an interesting way to put it. I'll say it put me at odds with some of my long-time friends and acquaintances. Some of those relationships are probably irreparably damaged, but I always believed that there is never any time like the present to do what you feel is the right thing, and at that point in time, in the absence of any other mechanism to address the issue, I felt like it was the right time to do exactly that.

If the ordinance hadn't been proposed a year later when the public sentiment was so high in opposition to amnesty and other issues along those lines, it very well may have passed.

Q: Speaking to me earlier, you denied being a "sixth councilman."

A: (chuckling) Right.

Q: But in that same conversation you said you contact the council members frequently with suggestions.

A: Absolutely.

Q: So how else can it be described?

A: Well I would hope it would be described as an involved citizen. Someone who would like to offer feedback and constructive criticism or just accolades for a job well done, because as I said before, far too often, or seldom is the case that anyone ever contacted me. And I think that if you polled the council members and asked them how often they received feedback or suggestions from the citizens, they would tell you not nearly often enough.

Q: About the current elections that are coming up, are you preparing to endorse any of the candidates in either race?

A: Public endorsements? No. I will tell you that I have two signs in my front yard. I was approached by the candidates and asked if they could place a sign in my yard, and I told them yes-actually I told them they had to check with my wife and my wife told them yes (laughs). Mayor Sharon Schuler's sign is in my yard and Michael Shirey's sign is in my yard.

Now if you're expecting me to come write a letter to the editor or say as a chairman of the American Party I am endorsing so-and-so and this other person for elected office, I don't expect you'll see that. I haven't been approached by anyone else to place a sign in my yard.

Let's be fair, there are some candidates who feel that an endorsement from me may be the kiss of death.

Let me add one thing, there were a lot of people who felt I was opposed to now-councilman Joe Wright. Joe publicly opposed the illegal immigration relief act, he spoke against it in July '06, and subsequently he volunteered to annex into the city, an annexation that I voted against. I didn't think that it made sense, as far away and quite frankly, I had this conversation with Joe. A lot of people thought that I didn't like Joe Wright. It didn't have anything to do with it. I have privately and in open meeting since then said that I think he is doing an outstanding job. I look at the issues, I don't look at the people.