by Javier Manjarres

The Republican congressional primary race in the 20th congressional district (soon to be the 23rd CD) is really starting to heat up, as both Joe Kaufman and Ozzie deFaria are ratcheting up their rhetoric towards the presumptive frontrunner Karen Harrington.  The winner of this primary will face Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in November. 

During the first official debate between the candidates, deFaria shot off a couple of salvos at Harrington- the first being when he questioned her motive for registering as a Republican just weeks prior to her filing to run for office in 2010.  Harrington stated that she has always been a ‘conservative’ Independent before deciding to register as a Republican.

The second slight came when deFaria questioned Harrington’s business acumen, and how much she has really  contributed to job and economic growth. deFaria’s has been trying to cut into Harrington’s advantage by touting his own small-business experience compared with hers. deFaria claims that as the CEO of a two mid-size businesses, he created more jobs than all of his Republican opponents combined.

deFaria continues to assert that, “the single most important issue in this election will be the economy.”  The question for the constituents of the district is will a former “big business” CEO’s message and experience resonate more with voters than a ‘small business’ owner’s experience will.

 Here is deFaria’s questioning of Harrington’s business acumen:

 Karen has said she owns this business for 30 years, let’s put the cards on the table. She owns 1/6th of this business that she herself has valued between one and fifteen thousand dollars. That’s her value of this business. So, that’s not creating value, that’s not creating jobs, look at my record. –Ozzie deFaria

This is Karen Harrington’s response to deFaria:

As proud as you are about what you’ve been able to accomplish in the corporate world, my family and I have been able to create in the private sector, through our own dime, through our own investment, through our own work, and its a company that has been in my family for 38 years. And which I have helped to manage for 30 years. Whether I own 1/6th, 1/5th, one-half, I know one day I will inherit all of the business. It’s a business that I am extremely proud of, you can’t put a dollar figure on what that means to us personally, as a family. –Karen Harrington

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Related posts:

Ozzie deFaria Says He is Better Equipped Than Allen West, Marco Rubio, And Others

Republican Congressional Debate Wrap-Up

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