Candidate Profile: Ivette Palomo

For Ivette Palomo of Bushnell, running for Congress is a family affair. While she seeks the Republican nomination for Congressional District 11, her son U.S. Army veteran Gavriel Soriano is seeking the nomination in Tampa’s Congressional District 14.

The Bushnell resident homeschooled her two children — Soriano and his sister Naschaly — and together they ran the now-closed organic Heph’zibah & Beulah Farms, known for their kombucha brews. She’s based her platform on the importance of family and that universally known symbol of family — the kitchen table.

“ I understand that family is what makes up this country. Strong families is (sic) what makes up a healthy country,” Palomo said at a candidates forum hosted earlier this month by the Republican Party of Sumter County in Wildwood.

Palomo, 61, a federally recognized whistleblower for exposing corruption at Baker County’s Northeast Florida State Hospital, squares off in the Aug. 18 Republican Primary against former state legislator and former Lake County property appraiser Carey Baker of Eustis; Orlando neurosurgeon and law professor Dr. Nizam Razack; businessman Joe Strada of Lake Mary; and Christian media producer Tim Wilkins of Windermere.

The district encompasses parts of Orange County (including Winter Garden, Ocoee, Oakland and Windermere) and Lake and Sumter counties. U.S. representatives serve for two years and earn $174,000.

Palomo was first into the race, filing long before Congressman Daniel Webster announced his retirement in April. “We absolutely in Florida District 11 needed a change,” she said in an interview. “We needed to go a different path. The incumbent may well have started with good intentions. But after 15 years, there needs to be a little bit of a pick-me-up along the way.”

Here, Palomo answers questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

If elected what are the three most pressing problems you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

1. The insurance crisis.

We have algorithms that are telling people what they owe. And while there's an 18 percent cap on the increases, they're still pretty devastating for some families. And some families are losing their homes because they can't pay their insurance.

With insurance, there's black boxes, there's algorithms, there's all of these means of determining what someone's insurance premium will be. But neither you or I, no one in District 11, the state, the nation, have voted for that. And then what we find is that some families are losing their homes because they can't pay. Someone I spoke to called their representative and the representative says, Let me look into it. And then they look into it, and then they answer, There’s nothing that I can do. I cannot compel an agency to do XYZ for you. Then why did we vote to put that candidate in office? If he cannot compel and make changes for not just one person that's suffering, but many?

2. Lack of control over food sources.

If we were to enter into a war, where is our food coming from? Are we going to have enough to supply ourselves? And not just as a common defense issue, but as a daily issue?

We used to drive down roads and see eggs for sale. We no longer see that. And these little farms are finding it hard to feed their chickens and the money that they're getting for the eggs is not equivalent. It is in the red. That's the whole problem. If we don't have food sources within our state, we have to wait for a truck to come. And you know what happened during one of our hurricanes where we didn't have toilet paper at the supermarket. We have to pay attention to those things because that is important, not just for our daily lives in terms of nutrition and making sure that our food is traveling the least distance possible, but also as a common defense issue.

3. Healthcare.

First, for the veterans. It has gotten better, but it's still something that can be changed with the stroke of a pen. We need something that is solid for our veterans. My son is a veteran. People who have signed on the dotted line, in essence, they have taken a step. And we can't forget that. Much more so for those who have been injured in any way. And even as well as the injury, just experience a different life, that they were willing to stand on the line for everyone else. And so veterans' health has to be above board. We cannot forget that.

According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue?

Affordability has to do not just with one area, but just many areas. So there's the food area, there's the mortgage area. There is the “are we getting paid enough?” area. All the things that make up basic living. Many of those things that are crushing us come as a result of regulations that were not voted on by the people. And so once we introduce the REINS Act [requiring Congressional approval of federal regulations before they can go into effect], there will be a time period in which we can look back at the most pressing issues that we have experienced and be able to say, This regulation has done X,Y,Z, and it has crushed our families.

Will you vote Yes or No on the proposed property tax amendment?

I couldn’t support it or not support it. It’s a state issue.

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is really expected to exacerbate this issue How should Florida's utility regulators be responding?

It’s a state issue. From a federal perspective, the only thing the government must pay attention to is how they affect federal public lands.

What do you think the biggest environmental issue is that your government should address in Florida?

We hear a lot about the water in the aquifer and how that's affecting families in rural areas, in towns and cities. What we need to do about the aquifers is that we need to understand everybody has a stake in it. And so we need to look at what these stakes mean. In terms of federal, we need to determine that there is a portion here that is completely in the hands of the state. They have to handle it. We need to learn when it is that we need to take our foot out of the mix because if we continue to do that, then we continue to build laws upon laws upon laws. That is something that the state has to figure out. You know why? Because they're local.

Do you support the Iran War?

I do support what the president has done.

Have the tariffs grown our economy and reduced our cost of living?

That's been a difficult one because of course nobody wants to pay. So that's been difficult because at in the end, we're paying a lot more at the checkout. However,  making a good choice for something for your future often hurts today, and we don't want to hurt today. Sadly, that is life. Sometimes we have to hurt today, so tomorrow we can be in a better position.

What is your position on Ukraine?

We should not be involved in situations where we are nation building at every turn. Sometimes we stick our nose in where it doesn’t belong. I don’t know much about the country, but I don’t think we should continue [helping them defend themselves against Russia.] We have to have a fine line in terms of helping our allies. Is it going to benefit the family? Is it going to benefit our country? What I've seen so far is that we have given them a great deal of money. And yet, they have not utilized those funds.

[Ed Note: Much of the Ukraine aid is actually funding defense manufacturing in U.S. factories in 70 cities, making weapons that are either sent to Ukraine or are used to restock weapons that the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine during the conflict.]  

Going forward is we need to develop ourselves as a nation that has greater security with the things that we utilize most here. Starting with, of course, the basics, with our food. A lot of it comes from China.

[Ed Note: According to the USDA, less than 1 percent of U.S. foods are imported from China.]

Who won the 2020 election?

Biden.

Would you support a national abortion ban?

No. It belongs to the states. The more we encroach upon the states, then the less we dilute our own power and our own efficiencies.

Would you like to see the Supreme Court re-evaluate same-sex marriage?

I'm not opposed to any kind of relations that anybody wants to have. That is personal business. And you can carry on in terms of personal relationships as you see fit for your life and your future. However, I think that’s something for the states to decide. I think that what we need to do in terms of Obergerfel is we need to remember one basic point: Our nation needs a marriage between a man and a woman. Why? Because that is how the nation perpetuates. Without that, then when we give a standing as if male and female unions have no standing. then what we're doing is we are slowly giving up our nation.

America's support for Israel is at a crossroads. Where do you stand?

Israel has proven to be an ally with the United States for a great deal of time. It isn't something that just came up yesterday. Yes, I definitely think that we should support Israel.