By Matt Wiley
After years of representing Wesley Chapel in the Florida House of Representatives, including the last two years as Speaker of the State House, Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) has reached his term limit, leaving his District 38 seat up for grabs on November 4. Two Pasco residents hope to fill Weatherford’s empty seat as the Wesley Chapel area’s representative in Tallahassee.
One of those candidates feels that the state can be “Led-better.” A long-time Pasco High social studies teacher, recently retired Dade City resident and St. Leo University adjunct education professor Beverly Ledbetter (D-Dade City) hopes to replace Weatherford in Tallahassee.
“It’s important that people have a choice (in candidates),” Ledbetter says. “In the past, we haven’t had a candidate run against (Rep. Weatherford). I feel like I’m a candidate who represents the diversity of the area.”
Ledbetter adds that her more than 35 years in education has helped her gain the experience necessary to do the job in Tallahassee. “I understand the demands of mandates and what standardized testing is doing to the morale of our students and teachers,” Ledbetter says. “I was there in the classroom, too. I’ve learned valuable skills as a teacher, like the ability to look at both sides of an issue and try to find commonalities. I’ll be going to Tallahassee with the mindset that Republicans are not always wrong, and Democrats are not always right.”
In addition to her educational experience, Ledbetter says her experience as a union member has helped her understand the concerns of working families — and that being a cancer survivor has taught her the importance of accessibility to quality health care.
Ledbetter says that she wants to improve our district’s poverty rate. She says that since 33 percent of the residents of District 38 live at or below the poverty line, she wants to give them a voice.
“Everyday people need a voice just as much as paid lobbyists,” she says, adding that since she moved to the Tampa Bay area and graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa in 1974 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education (before moving to Dade City), she has watched the Wesley Chapel area grow, another factor that will help her succeed, if she is elected.
“There used to be nothing along Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. or S.R. 54,” Ledbetter explains. “I’ve seen tremendous growth and how that growth can lead to overcrowded schools and can have a negative effect on transportation.”
The biggest issue in the district, she says, is education, specifically the over-reliance on standardized tests.
“We need to focus not only on education in terms of schools, but we’ve also got to educate, train and ‘up-skill’ our workforce so that they can get higher paying jobs, she says. “When people have jobs, that creates demand, which creates more jobs and also increases the tax base for the area.”
So far, Ledbetter has raised more than $33,000 for her campaign and received endorsements from the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, the Florida Fraternal Order of Police, the Florida AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations), the West Central Florida Federation of Labor, the Florida Chapter of the National Organization for Women, the Florida Education Association, the Florida Association of School Administrators, the United School Employees of Pasco Tiger Pride, Democracy for America, the Florida Democratic Environmental Caucus, the Florida Democratic Veterans Caucus and the Democratic Women’s Club of Florida.
For more information, please visit BeverlyLedbetter.com.
Young & Aspiring
Ledbetter is not the only candidate running for District 38, and despite his young age, her competition boasts several years of political experience in local offices. Former Zephyrhills mayor and City Council member Danny Burgess says that he also is ready to take his experiences to Tallahassee.
Burgess, 28, currently a practicing attorney at Dade City-based Johnson, Auvil, Pratico & Chane, P.A., has been involved with local government since he was elected to the Zephyrhills City Council at the age of 18 in 2004. He was re-elected in 2007, before shortly serving as mayor in April of 2013. He says he decided not to remain in office as Mayor so that he could run for State Representative. Gene Whitfield took over as mayor in April.
Burgess was born and raised in Zephyrhills and attended Pasco County public schools throughout his life, before graduating from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 2008. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Barry University School of Law in Orlando in 2011.
“I’m running because I want to give back to the area that has given so much to me,” Burgess says. “I want to bring my experience of serving the community on a local level to the state level. I think my experience with local issues here in this District is important to bring to the table in Tallahassee.”
Although he only served as mayor for one year, Burgess says that his experience in office will be valuable, if he is elected.
Burgess says that, as a Captain and Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army Reserves, he wants to work to help make Florida a more veteran-friendly state. He also wants to continue to help grow the local area, economically, as he says he did in Zephyrhills by working closely with the Zephyrhills Economic Development Coalition and the Pasco County Economic Development Council (EDC).
“I firmly believe in a model of economic development wherein the local government and community serve as setting the demand, and the state works as a clearinghouse for determining what economic incentives go where and how,” Burgess explains. A good example, he says, is the extension of S.R. 56 (from Meadow Pointe Blvd.) east to U.S. 301 in Zephyrhills, something that the growth in Wesley Chapel helped to spur. “This is going to link S.R. 56 to the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport, which is going to make a big economic impact for the district and Pasco County.”
Burgess says that it took the state government and local governments coming together to show the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) that S.R. 56 was a necessary artery. The project was bumped up into the state’s five-year plan last November and construction on the extension could begin as soon as 2017.
As far as education is concerned, Burgess says that he strongly believes in vocational programs, because not every high school graduate goes on to college.
“If we can promote the expansion of our vocational schools and programs, that’s going to arm a lot of our graduates with certifications and licenses that qualify them for a particular area in the workforce,” Burgess says, adding that it would help meet the demand from local employers who might be looking to employ from within the community, but can’t find qualified candidates.
“Serving as mayor has really honed my ability to understand the meaning of public service,” Burgess says. “The local government is the government closest to the people. You run into the people you’re making decisions for every day at Publix and Walmart. You’re not removed at all from the decisions you’re making.”
Burgess adds that perspective is what he will take with him, if he is elected to represent District 38.
With more than $135,000 raised for his campaign, Burgess has collected numerous endorsements from elected officials, including House Speaker Will Weatherford, Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco, Pasco Tax Collector Mike Fasano, State Senator Wilton Simpson, State Senator John Legg, Pasco Schools superintendent Kurt Browning and current Zephyrhills Mayor Gene Whitfield, just to name a few.
For additional information about Danny Burgess, please visit VoteDanny Burgess.com.
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