Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Palm Beach Post

State House District 87 is one of those seats Democrats must win to become the majority. Perhaps they’ll have better luck in 2010, when term limits will force out three-term incumbent Adam Hasner, whom voters should elect to a fourth term on Nov. 4.

Al Gore carried District 87, which includes much of southeastern Palm Beach County and a slice of northern Broward. Yet in 2002, 2004, 2006 and again this year Rep. Hasner has outraised and outworked a series of Democratic challengers. His ability to raise money has increased with incumbency and his House leadership role. This year, the Democrat is Rob Ostrov, who claims that Rep. Hasner is “not representing his district” with votes to let employees bring guns to work and create a religious-themed license plate. “This is a moderate district,” Mr. Ostrov says, “not a socially conservative district.”

Similarly, The Post also has disagreed with a number of Rep. Hasner’s other positions, such as his gimmicky idea of requiring school districts to spend a certain percentage of their operating budgets on classroom instruction. Fortunately, that didn’t become law. But Mr. Ostrov, the in-house lawyer for a financial company, hasn’t campaigned very hard for a seat that requires an all-out effort to win. That creates doubt about how effective he could be in what would be the Democratic minority.

And recently, Rep. Hasner has backed progressive legislation that helps not just District 87 but the state. This year, the Legislature passed his bill that will end the dumping of treated sewage by utilities into the ocean. He has secured money for the new medical residency program at Florida Atlantic University. He supports the state’s efforts to increase renewable energy. He supported the bill to widen insurance coverage for parents of autistic children. He agreed that the FCAT should be less important in determining high school grades.

It also seems possible that in his last term Rep. Hasner would try to correct some of the other mistakes from the Jeb Bush years that he and almost everyone in his party supported. Mr. Bush privatized many services, claiming that companies could deliver them more cheaply and efficiently than government. Rep. Hasner acknowledges that “some of the technology has been a failure.” In fact, most of the privatization has been a failure. When the state had lots of money, Republicans could ignore that waste. They can’t now. Even with the state’s problems, though, Rep. Hasner says that the Legislature “should not try to balance the budget on more gambling.”

Whichever party controls the Legislature in 2010 will control redistricting. Control will go to the party that can win competitive seats like District 87.