Alan Grayson; Congress-elect

Alan Grayson Represents Central Florida Proudly
By Alex Barrett


ORLANDO, Fla. – Right now, incumbent congressman Ric Keller is hoping Central Floridians will keep him in office for a fifth consecutive term. The man he is running against, Alan Grayson, Is looking to end that streak.

In today’s election, the race for District 8 will be tightly contested between these two men, and to this point it has been an ugly race in which both sides have had to dig deep to persevere. Alan Grayson is looking for the upset, and promises to serve all members of Central Florida, but his quest does not end there.

You may remember Grayson from his television ads, speaking of how he has fought to recover millions of ill-gotten money from companies seeking to profit illegally off of the war in Iraq. Grayson earned his law degree from Harvard, and has put his papers to good use thus far. Now, he seeks to take the District 8 seat away from Keller, and his campaigning has not gone un-noticed.

“We’re very excited,” said Darren Vierday, the Grayson campaign spokesperson. Vierday was available to answer questions about the campaign Tuesday afternoon from the campaign headquarters. “We’re looking to regroup Central Florida as a whole, and welcome the new change in which all the classes not only here, but across the country are equaled, and no one will be able to throw their weight around. Alan Grayson looks out for all of the people.”

The overall mood of the Grayson campaign is positive, which is great in a time where we as a country have been having problems getting individuals out of the house to vote. This year is much different; record numbers of early polling have been confirmed, and as more and more people turn out at voting centers all over the country, we are most likely looking at a record setting voter turnout. Vierday is very pleased with seeing these results, and even remarked about the absentee ballots tripling this year, and attributes it to Americans, and Central Floridians, being ready for a change.

Reporters were able to touch on a few issues in their conversations with Vierday, and a few concerning collegiate students that may shine a light through some cloudy weather. With the cost of tuition rising every semester, not to mention the cost of about everything else, it is getting harder and harder to pay for college. This is even more disturbing considering the masses had begun to assume that the value of a degree is dropping rapidly. Vierday was very interested in this topic, especially since Grayson has put addressing Federal Aid increases near the top of his “To-Do” list. “We need to help the people want to help themselves. We can do this by assisting high-schoolers more efficiently, and by building more comprehensive student loans. It’s the up and comers that need to be helped in this situation, not the already wealthy, larger corporations. We want more people to be able to better themselves.”

Vierday also touched on raising minimum wages across Central Florida; stating that it is common sense to look at the economy and realize “more money in people’s pockets means more money to be spent. It all goes around and around to different places, but the end result is the same; we all spend money.” Grayson also believes in monetary relief for tipped employees as well, such as servers and bartenders whom only make around 3 dollars an hour. “It is chilling to look at the wages for tipped employees and see they haven’t risen to a competitive rate in some time. They (tipped employees) should not have to rely on random tips as has been expected of them thus far."

As the race got closer here in Central Florida, it took a few rough turns and “a lot of dust has been kicked up,” said Vierday. “We need to unite this country again, and that starts locally. We expect Grayson to be elected term after term, and Alan is a great man who is willing and able to address our problems and help to solve them. He is the right man for the job.”

(#1 for Reporting)