June 2
Dean Black unfurls 'FAN' club, aims to unseat Brown in US House
Friday, May 7, 2010 at 4:03PM By Kay B. Day
Dean Black planted corn with his children on the family farm.Republican candidates are abundant these days, a fact that should not surprise because voters are getting a serious wakeup call from Washington. One race heating up Florida bears strong resemblance to what has become a mythic race for the US Senate seat being sought by GOP favorite Marco Rubio. GOP candidate Dean Black is unfurling the Fix America Now plan—FAN for short—as part of his campaign for the US House of Representatives.
Black is one of three GOP candidates competing in the Republican Primary with the goal of toppling Brown from her 3rd Congressional District seat in Congress. The other two GOP candidates are Chris Nwasike and Mike Yost.
There’s another rarity in this race—a Democrat challenger for Brown. Trial lawyer Scott Fortune is opposing her.
The race has national significance because if conservatives take Brown’s seat, it will be a victory not only for the Party but a symbolic victory. Brown has been in Congress for almost two decades; she’s part of the Washington body politic.
But things change. Black told The US Report, “She has a reputation here locally of being unassailable… but people within the district changed over the last 8 years. Over the course of the housing boom, many conservatives moved into the district. It’s now a majority conservative district, still majority Democrat, but they are conservatives.”
Dean Black does a meet and greet on the campaign trail.Black is ready for the battle. “We have an opportunity to actually defeat her this time.”
Talk to Black long enough and one of the biggest impressions is his message of unity. At a time when Washington appears intent on dividing the country, Black wants to reverse that course. “I am building a conservative coalition,” he said. “I’m a Republican, but I’m building a conservative coalition—it’s not a Red State or Blue State thing.”
And for Black, his message is not based on skin color either.
“We can join hands in a common cause,” he said. “It’s a red, white and blue thing.”
He said Brown was so confident she’d be re-elected she didn’t plan to campaign until 6 weeks before the general. “That has changed,” he said. And he believes her Democrat opponent will run a “credible challenge” for a spot on the Democrat ticket.
Asked about the issues, Black talks about his Fix America Now plan—the “FAN club.”
He said there are 3 components. First he’d address tax policy by working to pass the Fair Tax. He said that would “energize our economy and help us avoid the debt crisis just around the corner.” Few would disagree with him on the crisis, considering US debt is trending towards 90 percent of GDP.
Another plank in the FAN club is getting term limits passed. “Twelve years is long enough,” he said. “When it’s no longer possible to stay forever, the impetus to do all that can possibly be done to stay in power and raise money for special interests loses its power.”
The third plan in FAN is a balanced budget veto amendment instead of the oft-discussed balanced budget amendment.
With a balanced budget veto amendment, Congress would have to submit a balanced budget. “But in order to raise taxes you’d have to have a super majority,” Black said. “And if you don’t submit a balanced budget, then the president can and must trim or eliminate whatever he deems fit to bring that budget into balance.”
Black is a native Floridian born in Jacksonville. His dad was a military man and a fire chief. His mom was a homemaker—he calls her a “moral compass.”
As a boy, he worked in his dad’s lawn service. As an adult, he’s worked as a journalist, a radio talk show host and a businessman. He also served in the Florida Air National Guard and the US Air Force. He’s fluent in Spanish, having had tours of duty in a number of places including the Republic of Panama where he also served as an interpreter and liaison between U.S. and Panamanian forces.
He owns a small farm, and he and wife Kim enjoy raising animals and vegetables. Black said he and Kim have 5 children. “My wife is the hero,” he said.
Black said he got into the race as a result of what was happening to the country. He had downsized his business interests to have more time with his family. He said he’d watch TV and find himself yelling at it. “I thought…it may not matter what I do if they can ruin the country for my kids,” he said, “but I’ve gotta’ be able to look them in the eye and say ‘Your daddy did everything he could do.’”
The US Report learned about Black through his supporters. By chance Tony C. talked about his support for Black via Facebook, urging us to look at Black’s campaign site.
Asked if he’d like to go on the record, Tony explained why he’s supporting Black in the Primary: “What impressed me about Dean Black when I first met him was his questioning, of me, about what I saw in the world of politics today. He wanted to know what I held as ideals and what I saw as being of importance…Over the course of our hour or so conversation he did not come off as a politician talking in doublespeak parroting talking points, just trying to ‘get my vote,’ but rather a heartfelt honest family man who felt it was time to stand up and do something in order to get this country off the track the Left has put us on and back on the track of the Right.”
Black knows that with three Republican candidates and Brown’s Washington insider status, the race for Florida District 3 won’t be easy. But he’s got a perspective that may give him an edge and it's obvious from his Dean Black for Congress campaign site, he's committed to a positive campaign focused on the issues.
“The times they are a changin’,” he said. “And the rest of the conservative Democrats need to come home now. This is their natural home.”
[Photos used with permission, Dean Black for Congress.]
2010 election, Democrats, GOP, Politics, US Congress tagged Corrine Brown, Dean Black for Congress, FAN, Marco Rubio, US House, florida
Reader Comments (6)
While I applaud Mr. Black, voters should be very wary of candidates who support term limits in the months leading up to an election. In 1994 some 73 candidates were elected on personal pledges to term limits. 68 of them went on to break their word to the American people.
If Mr. Black and others like him want to be taken seriously by votes, they should bond their term limits pledges to their pocketbooks rather than just a politician's word. Contact the Alliance for Bonded Term Limits to find out how. (http://bondedtermlimits.org)
Andy Woerner
Candidate for U.S. Senate Hawaii
Andy, thanks for sharing that with us. My impression is that Black is definitely committed to term limits. best, KBD/ed. TUSR
Wow, Corrine Brown's district is gerrymandered in a big way. (My name has the Wikipedia link with a district map.) The very best of luck to you, Mr. Black! Hope you win!
Okay, that didn't work. Here's the link with the map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_3rd_congressional_district
I enjoyed meeting Dean at a REC event. He seemed personable and kind. I like the idea of him being a family man and promotes business. What really concerns me is why/how did Dean Black pop on the scene suddenly in mid January. As a constituent, I consistently heard from Mike Yost and a few times frrom Terry Martin-Black.
In fact, its odd how much money Dean Black has for this campaign-all of the sudden- and he has not disclosed it all. The first time I saw him, he was flanked by two top executives high in the REC party and they all three sat far apart from the rest of the crowd. This also concerns me.
In contrast, Mike Yost has worked very hard, meeting people, a few at a time; sitting with, visiting in homes, offices on the phone etc. Mike has stayed consistently focused and real. I've known Mike and his wife for a year now. They are genuine and intellegent people. Mike knows the Constitution-he knows District 3 and its needs. He has a very specific plan that will increase the value of our area without costing us-in fact, it will improve the value of our homes as well.
Mike is the real deal and Dean Black is, in my opinion, manufactured. Don't we have enough of that in D.C. already?
Thanks for sharing ideas about your candidate.
Only thing I'd add is that it isn't unusual for a candidate to wait to declare; happens all the time these days and in fact happened again after Black declared.
I think I can safely say this election season will be one of the most interesting in quite awhile and it comes at a critical time in our nation's history.
best, KBD