Which Florida governor candidate would be best for the Everglades and estuaries? | Eve Samples

Florida's next governor will inherit a daunting to-do. 

He or she will be tasked with making sure a massive reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee gets built, gets federal funding and — most importantly — delivers meaningful relief to the Everglades and St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. 

Gov. Rick Scott last year signed a law enabling the $1.4 billion Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir project to be designed and partially funded by the state.

The follow-through will require years of persistence from Florida's next chief executive. 

With Scott wrapping up his second term, the question is: Which gubernatorial candidate will be the best advocate for the Everglades, the estuaries and Florida Bay?

More:What issues matter most to you in picking Florida's next governor? | Poll

To assess the field, the Everglades Trust and Ocean Reef Political Action Committee heard from five of the six major gubernatorial candidates during a forum Thursday in Key Largo. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam declined the invitation, but I contacted his campaign beforehand to learn about his position.

Here's what each had to say.

Ron DeSantis (Republican)

DeSantis, who represents parts of Northeast Florida in the U.S. House, was endorsed by President Donald Trump in December. On Thursday, he promised to leverage his good relationship with the White House to ensure Everglades restoration stays on track. 

Interestingly, DeSantis also signaled he thinks the EAA Reservoir should be larger than the planned 17,600 acres — putting the conservative Republican in alignment with environmentalists who have called for a bigger footprint to clean and store more water.

“I think you probably will need more land,” DeSantis told the audience in Key Largo via live video interview from Washington, D.C. “While this project is something that was definitely positive, most of the folks I’ve talked to said it’s not going to fully get the job done.”

Much of the land in the EAA is controlled by sugarcane farmers — and DeSantis is the rare Florida congressman willing to take on the sugar industry. He supports efforts to reform import restrictions and price protections for sugar in the current Farm Bill.

MORE:  Environmentalists ask Sen. Nelson to support sugar policy reform

At the moment, DeSantis is Putnam's closest challenger in the Republican primary. That could change if/when Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran enters the race.

Andrew Gillum (Democrat)

Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, was raised in south Miami-Dade County and said he has fond memories of visiting the Everglades as a child. 

While he is committed to sending more water south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades — and willing to consider eminent domain if necessary — he spoke passionately about the need for balancing those efforts with the economic impact on farm communities. He was the only candidate at the forum to talk about meeting with Glades residents who could be affected if farmland is taken out of production.

More:Lake Okeechobee reservoir stokes fear — well founded or not — in the Glades

“We’ve got to talk to them about what their new deal is. What’s their economic lift?” Gillum told the audience in Key Largo.

Gillum also was the only candidate to speak at length about the need for stronger growth regulations in Florida. As governor, Scott dismantled the state's development-regulation agency, the Department of Community Affairs.

“We don’t talk enough about the out-of-control growth patterns, largely north of the lake,” Gillum said. 

Gwen Graham (Democrat)

Graham, who served one term in Congress representing Northwest Florida, made news Thursday. 

She said she would not accept campaign contributions from the sugar industry to her gubernatorial campaign — even though she accepted them during her 2014 run for Congress.

Graham expressed disappointment in part of the 2017 law advancing the EAA Reservoir, pushed by state Senate President Joe Negron. 

“I was very concerned when I saw that eminent domain was taken off the table,” said Graham, the daughter of former senator and Gov. Bob Graham.

Don't take that to mean she's openly antagonistic toward the sugar industry.

“My message to sugar (and other agricultural interests) is I am looking forward to working with you. We all care about the future of Florida,” she said.

Graham also vowed to reform the South Florida Water Management District, the state's lead agency on Everglades restoration and flood control. It has had its budget gutted during Scott's eight years as governor.

“The South Florida Water Management District has become too ideological, too political," Graham said during an interview taped three hours before the forum, then played for the live audience.

Chris King (Democrat)

While every candidate participating in Thursday's forum expressed some degree of skepticism about the sugar industry, none was more brazen than King.

“For the last 20 years, one industry has had a near vise grip on environmental policy in the state of Florida: the sugar industry. And there has not been a statewide candidate who has been able to make the case to voters that this is wrong,” said King, who leads an affordable-housing company in Central Florida. 

King criticized sugar protections in the Farm Bill and said Florida needs a governor committed to change. Early in his campaign, he vowed not to accept sugar industry contributions.

MORE:  Water district buys land for Lake Okeechobee reservoir

He called for a "compassionate and strategic" way to protect workers whose livelihoods would be impacted if sugar policy changes.

We shouldn't be surprised King wants to disrupt the status quo. His father, David King, was the lead attorney in the Fair Districts case that forced Florida to fix its gerrymandered districts several years ago. 

Philip Levine (Democrat)

Levine, the former mayor of Miami Beach, said Florida needs a "Chief Resilience Officer" to make sure the state is adequately addressing sea-level rise and other environmental concerns.

He brought a CEO's zeal to the Thursday forum, leaping from one topic to the next and saying Florida needs a governor "with a big mouth" who can get things done. 

During his tenure in Miami Beach, he won France's highest civilian honor for his work on climate change — and, if elected governor, he said he would bring the state of Florida into compliance with the Paris Climate Accord.

“I did it in Miami Beach, and I’m going to do it in Tallahassee,” he vowed. 

Levine, who is funding a significant portion of his own campaign, has said he will reject contributions from the sugar industry, Florida Power & Light and the National Rifle Association.

“He who pays the piper picks the tunes,” Levine explained.

He did not detail his vision for improving the EAA Reservoir, saying, "I’m not an expert environmentalist.”

However, the cruise-industry entrepreneur said, he is "an expert at finding experts."

Adam Putnam (Republican)

Putnam declined the invitation to participate in the Everglades forum, citing a scheduling conflict, so I contacted his campaign beforehand about his approach to Everglades and estuary restoration.

In an emailed response, Putnam said he "absolutely" supports the EAA Reservoir plan designed by the South Florida Water Management District and submitted to the Army Corp of Engineers for review. 

"It is a worthy investment that I believe is critical to protecting both the water quality and water quantity in and around the Everglades," Putnam said in the email. 

He called for more attention to water projects already authorized by Congress as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, with a focus on work north of Lake Okeechobee.

Putnam is, by far, the candidate with the largest support from the sugar industry. Since 2015, his Florida Grown political committee has received at least $550,000 from U.S. Sugar Corp. and $80,000 from Florida Crystals — two of the largest landowners south of Lake Okeechobee. 

Eve Samples is opinion and audience engagement editor for TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers, which is part of the USA TODAY Network. Contact her at 772-221-4217 or eve.samples@tcpalm.com. Follow her on Twitter @EveSamples.