Grimsley, Gissendanner Vie For House Seat

After four years in the Florida House of Representatives, Republican Denise Grimsley has plenty of specifics on the top issues she would pursue if she's re-elected to a third two-year term.

Democrat Elton Gissendanner, a former state representative, mayor and director of the state Department of Natural Resources, lists four proposals he would pursue in Tallahassee but doesn't have specifics on them yet.

Grimsley, 48, a registered nurse, puts these issues at the top of her priority list:

•Insuring that agriculture thrives and is not hurt by the sometimes competing interests of the tourism industry;

•Reforming the health care system to make it safer and more efficient; and

•Cutting out inefficiencies in the Medicaid system, which she says makes treating poor people more expensive than it should be.

"The health care system is the most unsafe and inefficient system we have in America because it is still paper-based," said Grimsley, who works 12-hours shifts in the emergency room of Florida Hospital in Sebring.

"We live in the days of Blackberries and instant messaging," she added. "But when you step into the health care arena, you step back in time 30 years to a paper-based and inefficient system."

"In Sebring," she said, "we have a lot of people from Miami, and when they come into the Emergency Room at night, or even in the daytime, for that matter, there is no way to get their health records quickly."

If re-elected, Grimsely said, she will make another attempt to secure state funding to record people's health care information electronically and share it, quickly, between different hospitals and doctors.

"I've got it passed in the house, but it's the senate where we haven't been able to get it through," she said.

Gissendanner, 80, said he would pursue the following:

•Getting home rule in Highlands County, so county government, with voters approval, could set its own rules instead of operating under state statues;

•Raising the age of truancy from 16 to 18, so that there could be no high school drop-outs, which he says can be accomplished without new taxes; and

•Providing for non partisan election of all election officials in the state, to prevent another fiasco like the 2000 presidential election.

Gissendanner and wife, Frances, will be in Orlando this weekend, attending a special seminar put on by the Florida Democratic Party for candidates running for the state house of representatives. In the near future, he said, he'll put out position papers explaining his major issues in depth.

"The problems we have cry out for solutions and the solutions will require change," he said in announcing that will run for state representative in the 77th district.

"It takes guts and gumption to make changes and appropriate actions to solve our problems for our families' sakes," Gissendanner continued.

"The people are looking for new leadership and are ready to make adjustments in their life and make changes in their elected officials if that is what it takes to get back on track," he said. "These issues transcend partisan politics, gender, age, economic status and occupational pursuits."

Grimsley said that, when she was in her mid 20s, she never dreamed she would ever get involved in politics, let alone run for elected office. That changed when her father became ill in the mid 1990s and she stepped in to run his petroleum and convenience store businesses for a while.

In looking out for her father's business interests, Grimsley said, she traveled to Tallahassee to speak with state officials. She was shocked when she heard how legislators were discussing important issues, such as the threat to the citrus industry from the canker disease.

Grimsley said too many of the legislators she heard, especially senators, were arrogant, uninformed on important issues, and not interested in learning about, let alone dealing with real problems that affected people in Highlands and other counties.

"They just didn't care about a lot of issues, and I thought that I could do just as good a job," she said.

In four years, for the 2012 elections, Grimsley will be term limited out of her state representative seat and state Sen. J.D. Alexander will be, too. Grimsley has been talked about as a possible successor to Alexander in the state senate.

Is she interested in running for state senate in four years?

"Highlands County is an important part of that senate district and it's traditionally been held by someone from Polk County," Grimsley answered. "But I think it can be won by someone from Highlands County.

"In four years, it depends on whether I still am making a positive contribution. If I am, then I will consider it."

Gissendanner entered politics in 1963 when he was elected mayor of North Miami.

In 1967 he became the first veterinarian ever elected to the Florida legislature, winning a seat in the house. He then won the Democratic primary for a congressional seat but lost in the general election, and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. In 1969, he won another term as mayor of North Miami.

In 1978, Gov. Bob Graham made Gissendanner the director of his cabinet and legislative affairs office. A year later, the governor appointed him director of the state Department of Natural Resource, a position he held for eight years.

As a legislator, Gissendanner said, he helped pass the state's "Sunshine Law," was a principal sponsor of creating the new College of Veterinarian Services at the University of Florida, and was the prime sponsor of legislation regulating roadside animal attractions and also preventing the deaths of baby chicks, rabbits and ducklings at Easter time.