Plant City Mayor Throws Hat into District 62 Race

He's a former Florida State University football player, an accountant, father of Miss Florida and mayor of Plant City.

Now Dan Raulerson wants to add a new job title to his resume. He's running for the District 62 Florida House seat.

Current District 62 representative Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, is stepping down in 2012 due to term limits, and Raulerson, also a Republican, hopes to step into Glorioso's shoes.

District 62 includes Bloomingdale and Valrico, a population of 132,000. In 2000, there were 65,780 registered voters in the district, about half registered Republicans.

Speaking at a meeting of the FishHawk/Bloomingdale Rotary Club, the Plant City mayor noted that he grew up in Brandon where he played football at Brandon High School, going on to play under coach Bobby Bowden as a walk-on quarterback at Florida State University.

"I wasn't a scholarship student," he said. "I worked bagging groceries at Winn-Dixie while trying to get my degree in accounting," said Raulerson. "I finally gave up football so I could devote myself to my studies. That was Bowden's first year coaching. When I told him I was leaving the team, he said, 'I've watched you play and you're making the right decision.'"

Raulerson said he hadn't planned on running for Glorioso's seat but was approached by a group of residents who asked if he'd consider it.

"I have no idea why anyone would want to do this," he said. "This is not an aspiration; it's an obligation."

As both an accountant and mayor of Plant City, Raulerson said he's witnessed the excessive red tape in Tallahassee and wants to help simplify the system.

"We've reached a critical mass. There are 200 to 300 new laws passed each year and the regulators are incompetent to regulate," he said. "It's reached the point where the rules are so complex that all the leverage goes to government."

Raulerson has a three-pronged approach to making state government more user friendly. "We have to decrease the funding to state government, purge laws on the book that are unnecessary and decentralize decision-making."

He believes Gov. Rick Scott is on the right path in attempting to cut the state budget from $70 million last year to $65 million this year, even if it means slashing funding for museums, libraries and social services.

"I really want to do a good job and serve you," said Raulerson. "But if you want some guy to go to Tallahassee and bring back a lot of bacon, I'm not your guy. I'm a fiscal conservative and I'll take that kind of philosophy to Tallahassee. Tallahassee can operate with a lot less money."

As a state representative, Raulerson said he also will attempt to purge laws that no longer make sense.

"We're more accountable to government than government is to us," he said. "We don't need someone up there trying to regulate morality. We have to trust citizens to act sensibly and use their judgement."

In addition, Raulerson said he is a firm believer in decentralizing decision-making. He said he believes the local municipality, not the state, should control growth.

"We're quite capable of determining our own destiny," he said. "We don't need bureaucrats sitting at a desk and approving our land use plans."

That decentralization should extend to school districts, he said."Local school boards should have much more control," he said, adding that he doesn't believe in tenure for teachers. "We need to hire the right principals and the right teachers to get the job done. If a teacher isn't performing in the classroom, we need to terminate them."

After doing his own research into the subject, Raulerson said he also agrees with Scott's decision to reject federal funding for a high-speed rail system.

"I know there's a lot of emotions surrounding this issue. People say it's going to generate jobs," he said. "But there's no high-speed rail system in the world that's profitable."

He noted that the cost of a ticket on the proposed high-speed rail from Tampa to Orlando would be around $40.

"We already have high-speed rail," he said. "It's called Amtrak. And it costs $14."

Raulerson has been a member of the city commission since 2007 and has served as mayor for two terms.

He and his wife, Shirley, have a 17-year-old son, Alek, and a 20-year-old daughter, Jackie, who is reigning Miss Florida.