Back to Tallahassee: Fine taking with him experience and a new agenda for the Indian River Lagoon

Randy Fine, by a healthy margin, earned a second term in Tallahassee Tuesday and he plans to hit the ground running.

He defeated political newcomer, Phil Moore,with 55 percent of the vote.

Even more emboldened with a second victory, Fine will be angling for a powerful subcommittee chair in Tallahassee, one that focuses on economic development, finance issues or appropriations.

One piece of legislation residents likely can count on being proposed by Fine: much stiffer penalties for municipalities for unauthorized sewage discharges into the Indian River Lagoon. In essence, it would force municipalities to upgrade their sewage and drainage infrastructure.

"Our Indian River Lagoon is dying," Fine said prior to his re-election. "And some of our local politicians seem OK with it."

Of course it's doubtful you'd find a local politician — or a community leader — who is "OK" with the problems plaguing the lagoon. It's those kind of provocative statements that ruffle the feathers of some lawmakers and community leaders in the area.

The 44-year-old Fine also wants much more of a focus on "city-level, municipal corruption." He already has called for state audits in the City of Palm Bay — which is underway — and in the City of Melbourne. There could be a call for more audits.

Translation? Rightly or wrongly, Fine is calling a lot of people out and he's not expecting everyone to be happy about it. And, he says, that is "OK" with him.

"This is how you create change," Fine said. "I didn't get elected to get an easy reservation at the most popular restaurant in town."

This last campaign, Fine, a self-made millionaire, boasted a much larger campaign war chest than Moore. And Fine was more than willing to highlight some of Moore's past mistakes, such numerous driving citations and a suspended driver's license.

Fine also quickly capitalized on misstatements from Moore, an instructor of medical devices, who said he supported no public funding for charter schools, which by law are considered public schools. Moore later conceded he goofed, confusing charter schools with private schools getting publicly funded vouchers.

This past session, Fine helped push through a controversial measure in the Florida Legislature which provided more flexibility in how tourist development taxes can be spent. It was a measure opposed by some in the local tourism industry, including members of the Brevard County Tourist Development Council who believed it would result in less spending on advertising and marketing efforts to promote the Space Coast to tourists.

Fine's proposal allows tourist taxes to be spent on lagoon projects. Under certain circumstances, the money also can be used for roads, sidewalks, bike paths, boardwalks, drainage projects, solid waste facilities and other capital projects that would directly grow tourism.

This time around in Tallahassee, Fine said he intends to continue to keep critics on their toes. He believes that's the message he received from voters this past election.

"People want blunt, effective politicians who care more about them than they do the good old boys," Fine said.

In a number of other local races for the Florida Legislature, there didn't seem to be too many surprises for local Republicans..

In the District 51 race, Republican Tyler Sirois bested Mike Blake, a Democrat and two-time mayor of Cocoa. Sirois received 58 percent of the vote to Blake's 42 percent.

While the primary race between Sirois and former Mayor Henry Parrish had a few nasty flashpoints, the contest between Sirois and Blake seemed fairly low key.

Sirois, the 34-year-old executive director of the Office of the State Attorney, ran on a platform pushing restoration of the lagoon and also advancing trade curriculum — plumbing, drafting, electrical, machining skills — in public schools for those not wishing to pursue college degrees.

Sirois said he was "humbled and grateful" for winning.

"I'm very excited but I'm relieved that it's over," Sirois said.

In District 52, Thad Altman, a Republican won a second term to the legislature. He faced first-time candidate Seeta Begui, a 54-year-old Melbourne nurse and radio talk show host.

Altman received 64 percent of the vote to Begui's 36 percent, 

Altman, 63, has spent much of his life in politics, starting with his election to the Brevard County Commission in 1984. President of the Astronaut Memorial Foundation in Titusville, Altman has served in the Florida house from 2003-2008, then the state senate from 2008 to 2016.

Contact Price at 321-242-3658 or wprice@floridatoday.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @Fla2dayBiz.