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Over Coffee
I sat down for coffee and a bowl of fruit at the Village Inn on Big Bend Road listening to Kirk Faryniasz talk in between bites of a piece of pie I wish I could have tried.
The conversation lasted a lot longer than the fruit and pie, during which I found that we had a lot in common.
Number one- we both live in the Summerfield Crossings development in Riverview.
Number two- we both think the same aspects of our political system need change now.
“Change” is a word we’ve heard a lot about in this election year. Tax change. Health care change. Energy. Fuel. And as prices go up faster than wages (in fact, more companies are laying off than hiring) people can’t keep up. That gives Kirk and I something else in common: we both know something’s ‘gotta give, and it better happen soon.
I write about things that need change and talk about them at local events and on my talk radio show, The Uncensored Reporter.
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| KIRK FARYNIASZ |
Kirk, however, wants to help change the system from within. He started by collecting signatures to get on the ballot to run for the Florida Legislative District 67 seat currently held by State Rep. Ronald Reagan of Bradenton.
“I didn’t like the idea of paying to get on a ballot,” Kirk said, which immediately perked my internal antenna. (Might this be someone who really wants to know- and good grief, even follow- the will of the people?)
“Too many candidates just pay the fee and run (for office). I wanted to meet the people and find out what they wanted. We’re supposed to represent them. When they’d ask me, ‘what do you want to accomplish?’ or ‘what do you believe in?’ I would say I wanted to represent their wishes but I couldn’t do that until I found out what they had on their mind.”
That type of personal introduction led to many dialogues that resulted in Kirk’s understanding of the concerns of people who live in the extremely varied communities that comprise District 67.
The 52-year-old former Air Force Major went door-to-door in retirement communities by day and walked the streets of working communities by night, talking with all kinds of people as he gathered 1,500 signatures to be sure he met the 1,333 required (valid) signatures to earn a spot on the ballot.
“I spent more than 200 hours listening to the people’s concerns and I will continue to listen right up until the Aug. 26 Republican primary,” he said.
Problems in Washington arise because so many people continue to sit in seats unopposed, he said. They get out of touch with reality, but because no one vies for their seat, little ever changes. “Of the 41 (Florida legislative) seats, 37 ran unopposed (last time),” he said. “Mr. Reagan has been running unopposed, so he doesn’t even have to appear on a ballot- he’s just automatically re-elected. But now he’s a three-term incumbent so this is the last time he can run and he won’t automatically get to keep his seat (because he has an opponent).”
Kirk has ideas he wants to bring to Florida that he’s seen work well in other states, like an “all encompassing” paid redemption plan for anything that’s recyclable, including all glass and plastics. This would greatly reduce the need for (and size of) landfills. He also suggests not charging property taxes to military families while the breadwinner is deployed in a combat zone; he thinks we should depend more on sales tax than property tax and is pushing for anything that can better the public education system.
“If all the people who can afford to send their children to private schools take them out of the public system, which so many are doing, especially in our cities, the public schools will only continue to get worse,” he said. “We must find a way to make people want to use the public school system again.”
Kirk says he has been studying the various areas of the huge district he is running to represent. It’s the second largest district in the state geographically, at 133,000-square miles, and has the largest number of registered voters. “The demographics have changed since the last election, with 53,000 new registered voters,” he said, obviously having done some homework.
He has talked to people in all the counties in his district, which runs through south Hillsborough County through Bradenton and parts of Sarasota. “Everybody has different problems. For instance, nobody realized when that fire jumped across I(nterstate)-75 that there was only one way out for the people who had to evacuate South Pointe (a development on US 301 in Riverview). I want to be made aware of serious problems like this and help fix them,” he said.
Born in Vermont, Kirk delivered newspapers from the time he was 10 and later wrote for the local newspaper. He joined the military three times, first in the Army; then got out and went to Castleton State College in Vermont on his GI Bill. He then entered Officer’s Candidate School and went back in the service- this time as a commissioned officer. An Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, he has served a total of 31 years in the armed forces and visited 84 countries. He was also a member of the National Guard while attending college.
He moved to Florida in November 2005 because he and his wife Allyn, known locally as AJ, had friends here and had visited previously.
Both work. Kirk works part-time for Lindt Chocolate (a major Swiss brand) and AJ is a coordinator for the Guardian ad Litem program. He also does volunteer work in the community and is on the Vestry of his church. Besides this, they find some time for fun and own two “rescue” dogs which he says play a major part in their free time.
When asked about the highlights of his military career, he immediately cited being late back to his military post on one particular day.
“We had just taken a plane load of supplies into Niger (Africa) and the President of the country actually came onto the plane to thank us. We sat and talked and drank Coke (Coca Colas) together,” he said. “This was their President. I tried to explain to our officials why I was late. You don’t just say ‘I have to go’ to the president of a country who comes to personally welcome and visit with you.”
Since moving to Riverview, he has been an officer of the Military Officers Association of America, a member of the Ruskin Veterans of Foreign Wars, and of more than one of Sun City Center’s Disabled American Veterans organizations.
So that’s Kirk Faryniasz. Now how about hearing from you? To find out more, call (813) 677-2606 or log onto www.votekirk08.com.
*Perhaps you have something you’d like to share. Or maybe you’d rather tell the community about your favorite charity or cause: or sound off about something you think needs change. That’s what “Over Coffee” is about. It really doesn’t matter whether we actually drink any coffee or not (although I probably will). It’s what you have to say that’s important. E-mail me any time and suggest a meeting place. No matter what’s going on, I’m usually available to share just one more cup. Or maybe you’d like to tune into the new radio show I’m hosting, “The Uncensored Reporter.” It’s available across the country on both AM and FM radio but so far I haven’t found out the call numbers for our area so I just direct everyone to www.themicroeffect.com on their computers Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-to-4 p.m. It’s a call-in show so maybe you’ve got some ideas or comments you’d like to share on the air. Just click on “Listen Live” and give it a whirl.
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