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Politics & Government

Q&A with State Representative James Grant

James Grant talks economy, unemployment and why he loves Carrollwood and Northdale.

District 47 Representative James Grant is known for many things.

His father is former Sen. John Grant. His politics lean more toward the conservative side. And he is endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

Grant sponsored HB 385, which would remove the legal distinction between simulated sexual activity and actual activity, and HB 751, which would exempt gun owners who have a permit from a hunter’s safety course if they are hunting on private land.

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Patch talked to Grant recently to find out more about the representative.

Patch: Are you the youngest state representative?

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Grant: I am not the youngest. During the campaign session, I was expected to be, but we discovered that Carlos Trujillo of Miami District 116 - who has become a very good friend of mine - is about five months younger than I am. But I often get mistaken for the youngest.

Patch: How do you feel about being one of the youngest reps
in the state?

Grant: I’ll tell you, it's humbling. I said during the campaign and I still maintain that I don't necessarily want to see a chamber full of 28-year-olds. There's a unique perspective that some of us in that generation can bring. I think there's a tremendous amount of value that we can bring; the same as the older members or members of different professions and walks of life. When you talk about it being the people's chamber, it's kind of nice to see the range and diversity that we have right
now.

Patch: What issues are important to you and how do you plan
to tackle them?

Grant: I don't think there's any mistaking that the number one issue in this state is the lack of an economic foundation that can sustain a recession. We have symptoms from job loss to a four and a half billion dollar budget deficit. It's time to do surgery. It has to be done right, and it has to be done with precision. We shouldn't be doing it
on the backs of Florida's future. We're going to be accountable in four, six
or eight years to untangle whatever mistakes we make.

Patch: What are your plans are to curb the county's 12 percent unemployment rate?

Grant: The one priority is the bill I'm running to restore Moffitt [Cancer Center and Research]’s funding to the five percent of the tobacco tax where they were. The appropriation wouldn't kick until 2013. Any time you're talking about a long term increase in funding, even though it’s not a tax increase and there's no additional revenue taken from the state, you get people who are uneasy. We're still fighting we're still moving forward. We're optimistic that we can get it done.

Moffitt would be a big step in the right direction inside our county. The Moffitt funding would be going directly to a new facility right around the corner that would bring about 1,200 high paying jobs. In the short term, if we could get it passed this year ... we could put about 6,000 people to work building it.

At the state level I think it's really a matter of actively recruiting businesses to let them know that Florida is the greatest place in the Union to come do business and raise a family. And we're going to have accountability here. We're not just going to let businesses run over the consumer.

Patch: Why did you get into politics?

Grant: Really just the political climate. Growing up around it, I swore that I'd never run. I had no interest in running. I finally got to a point where I remember sitting back and thinking at some point, somebody's going to ask the question, "When did America stop being the land of the free and when did it start being the land of big government?"

I wasn't going to let that answer be because I was too scared to run or I was too uncomfortable to run or because my life was too easy to run. I decided that if that battle's going on now then I don't have the luxury of waiting until I'm 35 or 40 to get into politics.

I don’t envision a career in politics. I'm going to keep fighting as long as the fight is going on.

Patch: What do you do for fun?

Grant: Right now, I'm a lawyer and a legislator, and there is no free time. But I'm an avid outdoorsman – fishing, hunting, getting in the woods, getting on the water. I play a lot of sports, whether it’s softball or football. I grew up playing hockey, so I still like to skate a little bit. So really just athletics and the outdoors.

Patch: What do you like about Carrollwood and the Northdale
community?

Grant: I tell people all the time I think I have the greatest district in this state, because of the diversity that we have. At the southern most point of my border we're five miles from downtown Tampa. We're less than five miles from the bay. Additionally, you're not more 10 miles from good quail hunting.  And then you've got an incredible grounded community all around it.

And so I think I'm pretty darn fortunate to represent the people inside of District 47, because of the different perspectives we bring. Like I talked about in the chamber, it's a great place to live it's a great place to work and it's a great place to have a
family.

For more information on James Grant, visit his profile at the Florida House of Representatives site, or his Facebook page.

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