Fine-Moore race for District 53 House seat heats up as election nears

Florida House candidate Phil Moore is feeling the heat from his opponent, incumbent Florida Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican who represents District 53 in south Brevard County.

At the same time, Moore supporters are raising questions about Fine's residency in a race that has increased in visibility and nastiness in recent weeks.

Moore's numerous speeding tickets, his seat-belt law violations, his license suspensions, a citation for passing a stopped school bus and other traffic infractions were the subject of a recent campaign mailer paid for by the Republican Party of Florida and approved by Fine.

Less than a week after voters received the mailer, Fine called on Moore to drop out of the race for what he calls "Moore's false comments regarding his extensive negative background" in a video Moore posted on his own campaign Facebook page in response to the mailer.

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Moore, a Democrat, quickly dismissed Fine's advice.

“I’m definitely not dropping out of the race," Moore, a first-time office-seeker, said in a recent interview with FLORIDA TODAY. "One of the reasons I’m running is to end this divisiveness and bullying, and these are tactics that he has played with our elected officials and everyone since he has been in office.”

Meanwhile, the issue of Fine's residency also is popping up. Fine's home on Spoonbill Lane, south of Melbourne Beach, was severely damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and is being rebuilt. Since then, Fine has lived with his family in a hotel, a rental condominium in Indialantic and now another house in the town of Melbourne Beach, which is not in his House district.

Fine said as soon as his house is rebuilt on Spoonbill Lane, he and his family will be moving back to that residence.

Fine's time in the Indialantic condominium caused a minor dust-up when the property owner, Wiley Larson of Colorado, didn't want the Fine family to remain there past an initial four-month lease. Fine, who was waiting on his home to be rebuilt, said there was an agreement to extend the lease if they couldn't move back into the home. Court documents indicate the matter was settled to both parties' satisfaction.

“We were assured we wouldn’t have to move if our house wasn't done in four months," Fine said. "And when the end of that four months came, the landlord took the position that ‘No, you don’t have that right to extend the lease.’ And that’s what we argued about. We ultimately resolved it amicably.”

Larson could not be reached for comment.

The Fine-Moore disputes comes as the two candidates enter the homestretch for a campaign to represent House District 53 for the next two years. Fine was first elected to that seat in 2016, succeeding Republican John Tobia, who could not seek re-election because of term limits. Tobia — who served four two-year terms in the Florida House — now is the District 3 Brevard County commissioner.

Prior to this year's general election, some of Fine's political efforts were to aimed at defeating District 4 Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith, a Republican, who ultimately defeated his opponent in the GOP primary, Trudie Infantini.

With that contest over, Fine — who had no primary opponent — is focusing on Moore and the Nov. 6 general election.

Moore did have an opponent in the Aug. 28 Democratic primary. He defeated  FiorD'Aliza Frias by a vote of 9,759 (73.5 percent) to 3,525 (26.5 percent).

At a recent candidate forum in Cocoa Beach, sponsored by Space Coast Daily, Fine said Moore's driving record that included 36 moving violations, as well as a home foreclosure and personal bankruptcy filing from 2008, indicated a level of irresponsibility that didn't square with being a lawmaker.

"When you've been irresponsible in how you've dealt with law enforcement, with driving, with your creditors, with your finances, how can you ask the voters to trust you to make those laws and to be responsible for the state's finances?" Fine asked.

Moore said he never hid from his driving record and paid the penalties for his citations.

As for his finances, Moore said he experienced money problems, as did so many people across the United States during what's been called "The Great Recession."

Moore said he has been transparent about all of it, adding that "I will not make personal attacks upon my opponent, and I'm sure there's history that can be brought up there, too. But that's not how I want to run my campaign."

Moore then went on to list some of his priority issues, such as the economy, education, the environment and infrastructure.

"You don't vote (a candidate) in or out, based on their personal history," Moore said. "You vote on that person, based on what it is they're bringing, in terms on the issues they can bring for Brevard County and for you and the state of Florida up to Tallahassee."

Fine responded that "I guess that's a decent answer — when you don't have a good one. The truth is not an attack. And I fundamentally disagree with the notion that how you've conducted yourself in the past doesn't have an effect on how you will conduct yourself in the future."

During the forum, Fine also brought up Moore's candidate financial disclosure statement, which showed annual income of $6,634 for 2017 and a negative net worth of $5,000 as of June.

Moore, a resident of Grant-Valkaria, is a medical device instructor, and a former personal trainer and athletic trainer. He said in a subsequent interview that he was just starting a new job at the time, and had liabilities from a car loan.

"How can we trust you to go and run an $80 billion budget and be responsible for tens of millions of people in the state of Florida? This is not where you go to get a pay raise," Fine told Moore during the forum. "This is not where you go to learn how to be responsible. This is where you go when you've proven that you can be."

In contrast, Fine reported a net worth of nearly $23.1 million as May 31 on his financial disclosure forms, including the value of his real estate properties, bank accounts,  investments and business holdings. Fine reported $106,253 in annual income, most of it from his business, Fine Consulting Inc., and from his Florida House salary of $29,697.

Then, just after saying he wouldn't go negative, Moore asked Fine during the forum whether he though a House member should live in the district he represents. 

After explaining the circumstances regarding the hurricane damage to his home, Fine said he thought it was "unfortunate" that Moore brought up the issue after saying he was not going to go negative. Fine said that is an example of Moore's character.

"Character matters. How you've behaved in your life matters," Fine said. "If you say one thing, and then, minutes later, you do something else, what are you going to do in Tallahassee when people are literally screaming at you? When they're standing outside of your office? When you're getting arm-twisted by your own leadership to do something that you don't agree with?"

Moore told Fine that "you can continue doing what you feel you need to do to try to win this campaign. In terms of character, you're going to see that I'm not going to do that."

In further discussing Fine's statements, Moore told FLORIDA TODAY: “I’ve spoke on the issue, and I think I’ve been transparent about  it — the things that I have done. I want to talk about the issues that we have to deal with here in Brevard County and in Florida. Those are the things that we should be discussing and people should be valuing in an elected official.”

Regarding his past financial issues, Moore said: “I, like many people in Brevard County, in the state of Florida and the United States, lost a home. We had an economic downturn. I understand what many people in Brevard have gone through, having lived here during that time. I still understand to this day that many people might not have fully recovered from the recession.”

The Fine campaign's call for Moore to drop out of the race was contained in a four-page news release that included three pages headlined "fibbing Phil Moore fact sheet."

Among the Fine campaign's criticism was Fine describing Moore's questioning the legitimacy of a ticket that Moore received on a charge of passing a stopped school bus as "claiming that Sheriff Wayne Ivey's deputies write up false tickets on citizens." Fine described that as "both offensive and unbecoming of a potential elected official." 

Fine also raised issues about Moore not paying some of his traffick fines in a timely manner.

Moore said he expects more negative statements and mailers to come out of the Fine campaign, potentially on Moore's financial past, including the personal bankruptcy and the home foreclosure.  

“I absolutely think he’s going to go there as well," Moore said. "I wouldn’t put it past him.”

The 53rd House District is the most evenly split of the six Florida Legislature districts that include Brevard, based on voter registration figures. In the district, 36.3 percent of the registered voters are Republicans, 34.1 percent are Democrats, 28.5 percent have no party affiliation and 1.1 percent are registered in a minor political party.

The candidates' latest campaign spending reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections show that:

• Through Sept. 14, Fine raised $222,114 in cash and in-kind contributions, and spent $66,134.

• Through Sept. 28, Moore raised $18,156 in cash and in-kind contributions, and spent $14,232.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY. 

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

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