Securing our border, improving economy are top priorities for Rep. Haridopolos | Opinion

Freshman U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indian Harbour Beach, listed securing our borders, maintaining space superiority and fixing the economy as among several top goals during a video call with me this week.

As someone whose Florida home is along the Indian River, Haridopolos ― who won the seat after Bill Posey retired ― also pledged to continue fighting for the health of the important estuary.

"The Indian River Lagoon is vital to all of us. I happen to live on the river. We've seen some improvements there but I know that we need to make more," he said. "I'll be a proud member of the Congressional Estuary Caucus. These are bipartisan issues which we can come together on to improve the river system."

I've known Haridopolos for a long time now ― from his days teaching history at Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State College) and, of course, his days as a state representative and then as president of the Florida Senate ― and always believed him to be a straight-shooter.

While tough on crime, he's a firm believer in justice. Haridopolos wrote and pushed bills through seeking compensation for wrongfully convicted Brevard County men Wilton Dedge and William Dillon, who each spent more than two decades in prison, when other Republican lawmakers shied away from the issue.

"I couldn't imagine spending one night in prison, let alone over 20 years. which both those people did for crimes they did not commit," Haridopolos said this week. "The reason I'm so tough on crime is because I believe in the fair and just system which we have. But, when you make mistakes as the government, you need to own those mistakes. We're a tough-on-crime state and I think it's yielded us a lot of success, but when we make a mistake we need to compensate these people for the horrific time they have to spend in prison for a crime they did not commit and that's what the scales of justice are all about."

Yes, before you flood my email, I do plan on speaking with him about the Crosley Green case to see if there is any help he might be able to provide.

Here's what he had to say about the country's border crisis:

"I think everyone — both Republicans and Democrats — have finally recognized that if we don't secure our border we're going to have continued problems. It's not just the obvious, where the costs that are incurred when people come across but the more devious ― the violent actions that have taken place throughout our country (that) you've read about whether it's Laken Riley or other people murdered by people who simply should not be here," he said, stressing that he supports legal immigration. "Also, there's the deadly epidemic that is the fentanyl crisis you and I have covered for years."

Both Haridopolos and his wife ― Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos ― were instrumental in getting Florida to crack down on pill mill doctors and pharmacies at the height of the opioid epidemic. Now, the congressman hopes to give the same attention to the fentanyl crisis.

"Right now, China is producing this fentanyl the drug cartels are allowing to get into the United States and it's killing tens of thousands of Americans every year," he said. "And so I'm so glad to see that President Trump has been aggressive on not only closing the border but also going after those violent offenders who have caused havoc in our community and I'm glad to see it is no longer tolerated."

Haridopolos said a close second to securing the border was trying to get a handle on rising prices at the grocery store. He said reducing energy costs will be key in producing a trickle-down effect to reduce the sticker-shock many of us feel while trying to feed our families.

"We think we can do it by two things. One of course is increased energy production so the overall gas prices go down," he said. "Second is the government is simply spending too much money and that's an inflationary pressure I think every economist recognized."

Haridopolos spoke at length about the space race and the need for the U.S. to maintain the narrowing edge it has over China, right now. I'll tackle that in a column next week or so. In the meantime, the congressman promised to keep lines of communication open with us, including the possibility of monthly video-calls.

"You guys are always fair with me and whatever questions you have I'll always answer, because people deserve to know," he said. "You've always been fair and I I love the coverage you've done in the past whether it be taking on the opioid crisis or when we worked on the issue about the Innocence Commission together. You know, being an elected official has a lot of responsibility and one of those is to make sure that we serve justice and I love how you guys are aggressive on some of those issues that are so vital in our growing community."

I look forward to continuing the conversation.