Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie is this week's guest on a Special Edition of "Political Connections."
The entire 30-minute show is dedicated to an interview with Wyllie, who is looking to be more than just a third-party spoiler in the race for Florida governor. Wyllie spoke on a range of issues with show host Ybeth Bruzual, including jobs and the economy, energy production in the Sunshine State, education, gay marriage, medical marijuana, and more.
Political Connections has offered this 30-minute availability to gubernatorial candidates Gov. Rick Scott (R), former Gov. Charlie Crist (D), and Adrian Wyllie (LPF), and will air each of them over the course of the next three weeks as we get closer to the November election.
Here are a few highlights from this Sunday's show:
ON INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE
"Actually, I do not support a minimum wage increase. The one thing I know for certain is when you increase minimum wage, jobs are lost. It's kind of like the fast food workers who are pushing for a $15 an hour minimum wage. I can guarantee you that, should that happen, within weeks you would begin seeing electronic kiosks at fast food restaurants where you would key in "I'll have a number seven, extra large" and then you'll look in the back and see a robotic spatula flipping your burger, so increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs. The market always adjusts to the natural forces in it, and when you try to manipulate that, you always get the unintended consequences that hurt people. In the long run, those don't help people."
GROWING JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
"Well, that's actually easy, believe it or not and as a small business owner, and someone who travels the state speaking with small business owners, I ask them that question. 'What can we do to help you to create jobs? What can we do to help you grow the economy?' Almost universally, the answer is 'Get government out of our way,' " so one of the things that I am proposing as part of my economic plan is the Florida State Intracommerce Act. Now, what that does is any business that operates exclusively within Florida's borders is immune from any federal regulation whatsoever. Now, the state has still has the full authority to regulate, but it lifts all those burdens, all those volumes and volumes of federal regulations that stack from floor to ceiling that really... it's been estimated that no business actually can, is even capable of, complying with all of them."
ON HIS OPPONENTS, RICK SCOTT AND CHARLIE CRIST
"Well, you know I think that the position that Rick Scott is in right now is that he has really upset a lot of people who thought they were electing him to do one thing and he's failed to live up to his promises. Charlie Crist? I think the voters are confused as to where he stands. Rick Scott is not answering questions, not doing the things that he said he was going to do as Governor, and Charlie Crist has a moral compass that spins like a ceiling fan, so we never know what direction he's coming from, and I think that, really in general, the voters are tired of that kind of politics. I think they want someone that's going to shoot straight with them, tell them where they stand on the issues, why they believe what they believe, and that's something I've pledged to do, and, you know, I've had a lot of voters come to me and say 'I don't agree with you on many issues, but I believe that you're telling me the truth, and that's the reason I'm voting for you' and I think that is such a radical change, just being direct, being honest. That's something that Florida people want."
ON SOLAR ENERGY IN FLORIDA
"I would like to see initiatives that would allow people to, you know, put solar panels, photovoltaic cells on their homes and their businesses, and also allow them that if they generate more electricity than they need, to back-feed the grid and receive payment for that electricity. I think that's a great free market incentive for solar energy, but we have to understand that through, you know, government agencies such as the Public Service Commission, such as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, they've actually made it virtually impossible for alternative energy here in the state of Florida, so lifting those regulations ... it's kind of counterintuitive, but lifting government regulations in the energy sector actually means that we have a much better chance of clean, green energy here in the state of Florida."
IS ADRIAN WYLLIE STEALING VOTES FROM CHARLIE CRIST AND/OR RICK SCOTT?
"I kind of reject the argument that we're stealing votes from either candidates. We're out there earning votes, and if the other two candidates aren't earning the votes for themselves, if they're not convincing the people that they are the right choice, we can't be blamed for that. We're polling anywhere between eight and twelve, almost thirteen percent, depending on the polls you look at, and that's because we're convincing people that we're the right choice, that I have the right solutions for the direction of Florida. It's not because of, you know, stealing votes from any one of the other campaigns."
This Special Edition of "Political Connections" airs Sunday at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Viewers in the Orlando/Central Florida area can see it on News 13 (Ch. 13/HD Ch. 1013) and viewers in the Tampa Bay area can see the show on Bay News 9 (Ch. 9/HD ch. 1009). After Sunday, the show will be available through Election Day on Bright House Networks Local on Demand, Ch. 999. Navigate to News, then select Political Connections, and you'll find all of the shows that have recently aired. News 13 and Bay News 9 are exclusive channels of Bright House Networks.