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Outsider casts himself as alternative to longtime politician in 11th Congressional District race

 
David Kollerm, who calls himself a  nonpolitician, ran in 2014.
David Kollerm, who calls himself a nonpolitician, ran in 2014.
Published Oct. 5, 2016

The 11th Congressional District features two candidates divided by the politics of their parties, and by the question of whether extensive political experience is good or bad for constituents.

Though the seat is open — U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent announced last year that he would not seek re-election — Republican Daniel Webster, 67, of Clermont, is a current House member.

He represented Central Florida for 28 years in the Florida Legislature and for nearly six years has been in the U.S. House of Representatives. He announced his candidacy in the 11th District after his current district was redrawn to include more Democrats.

The Democrat in the race, Dave Koller, 45, of Ocala, is also a familiar face, having run for the same office in 2014. But he calls himself a nonpolitician, campaigning against what he says is Washington's corporate-dominated status quo.

"Money has corrupted our democracy. Special interests are running our government," Koller wrote in response to a Times questionnaire.

"I am the only candidate who hasn't made politics a career. … I can't be bought."

Webster said he has also fought the status quo, and has done it with the skills he learned during his long service as a politician.

He is best known for his two runs for speaker of the House, challenging former U.S. Rep. John Boehner last year, and then running unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as Boehner's replacement.

Though support for his challenge came from the far right, Webster said the purpose was to give rank-and-file members more say in the process of governing. He is confident of the effectiveness of that approach, he said, because of his experience as Florida's House speaker.

"I want a principle-based, member-driven House of Representatives," he said, "as opposed to a power-based system run by a few people at the top of the pyramid."

More proof of how experience has helped, Webster said, was his role in one of the few bipartisan successes of recent years, a bill devoting $305 billion over five years for roads and transit that passed in December.

"Most people said, even the Democrats said, 'Yeah, this is the way we should do it,' " Webster said.

That does not mean he's a centrist. Webster, who with his wife, Sandy, has six children and 13 grandchildren, made his name in Florida as a Christian conservative. He opposes one of the transportation funding options favored by Koller and many other Democrats — raising the federal gas tax for the first time since 1993.

Instead, Webster said, "I'm a big supporter of toll roads. … Toll roads are what I would consider a good Republican idea."

But that would result in a network of toll roads in the state and the nation, Koller said.

"Raising the federal gas tax by 10 cents a gallon will cost the average household less than $10 a month, will make the Highway Trust Fund solvent again, and will provide the ability to make the long overdue repairs. It will also provide for millions of jobs throughout the country," he said.

The recent toxic algae in the Indian River Lagoon is an example of a problem that can't be solved by beholden politicians, Koller said.

Webster, who has raised about $775,000 — about 25 times as much as Koller — has taken $6,000 from the sugar industry, according to federal campaign reports. Koller said he has a record of fighting for clean water in Central Florida, and that if state government will not address the issue of the algae, which has been partly blamed on sugar industry pollution, "the federal government will have to take the lead."

Webster, however, said he has a long history as an "advocate for accelerating projects and ensuring that the federal government fulfills its commitment to Everglades restoration."

He said he is currently backing a $1.9 billion project, half of which would be paid by the federal government, to treat polluted water and redirect it to the Everglades — and ultimately "address the proliferation of algae."

Both candidates also say they will be strong advocates for veterans in the district, which has one of the largest such populations of any district in the country.

Webster said he would preserve the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities that care for patients with severe war-related injuries.

"They are phenomenal at putting people back together," he said.

But for more routine care, he said, veterans should see private doctors.

"Give the guys a card and let them go where they want to go," he said.

The two candidates also share some common ground on gun control.

Webster rejects any form of gun control, including a ban on assault weapons or gun ownership by people on the federal terrorist watch list. A better solution to combat violence, he said, would be improved mental health resources.

Kollar, who owns a company that provides services to developmentally disabled adults in Marion County, ran unsuccessfully against Nugent in 2014. He lives in Ocala, and he his wife, Victoria Boyne, have four daughters, ranging in age from their mid 20s to mid teens. He also casts himself as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment rights of gun ownership, and said no new laws are needed.

But he said he could support limiting the size of ammunition magazines in firearms and that guns should be sold through stores that perform background checks.

On most other issues, the candidates' positions are in line with their parties' majorities.

Webster opposes President Barack Obama's move toward open relations with Cuba and is a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act.

Koller says Obama's policy on Cuba will promote democracy and improve the economy in both countries. He praises the Affordable Care Act as having made health insurance more widely available and denounced the Republican-led Congress' repeated votes against it as a waste of time and money.

Neither candidate lived in the district when its boundaries were finalized earlier this year. Webster has moved into a house he owned in the new district. Koller said he will move if elected.

The race also includes no-party candidate Bruce Ray Riggs, 49, the owner of an online head shop who has a previous felony conviction for his part in an unsuccessful murder-for-hire scheme.

Riggs, whose legal name is Raymond Bruce Riggs, has not responded to repeated requests from the Times for information about his candidacy and his positions.

Contact Dan DeWitt at ddewitt@tampabay.com; follow @ddewitttimes.