Tom Gallagher

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Tom Gallagher is an American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. He is a Republican and is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the state. He is running against state Attorney General Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination for Florida governor in the 2006 gubernatorial race.

Contents

1 Early life
2 Family life
3 Political career
4 Platform

Early life

Gallagher was raised in Delaware, where he was a high school swimmer. In 1961, he moved to Florida to attend the University of Miami on a partial athletic scholarship. After graduating, Gallagher was commissioned in the United States Army, where he served in the 3rd Infantry Regiment. Gallagher was later honorably discharged and returned to Miami to start a business career.

Family life

During his 2006 campaign Gallagher noted that he smoked marijuana more than 25 years ago and had an extramarital affair, revelations stemming from court documents from his 1979 divorce from Ann Louise Gallagher. [link]

Gallagher married Laura Wilson in 1998. Wilson comes from a sixth-generation family and is chairman and CEO of the North Florida Ladies Prayer Brunch. Gallagher and his wife have a seven-year-old son, Charlie. Tom is the brother of Doug Gallagher, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination in Florida's 2004 U.S. Senate Primary.

Political career

Gallagher was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1974 and served until 1987. In 1984, he proposed a 10-year freeze on state taxes and spending, and was for some time the Republican whip. Gallagher served as the Secretary of the Department of Professional Regulation under the Martinez administration. He served as Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal from 1989 to 1995, and Education Commissioner from 1999 to 2001, and again as Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal from 2001 to 2003. After that office was abolished, Gallagher became the Chief Financial Officer, with essentially the same duties.

Platform

According to his campaign website, Gallagher is running on a conservative agenda that includes protecting seniors and families, expanding educational opportunities, creating a strong business climate, and strengthening families. While some view Gallagher's conservative (and religious) conversion as a politically expedient attempt to woo conservative Christian votes in the GOP primary, Gallagher maintains that his recent renoucing of previously held beliefs in abortion and gay rights are due to his religious awakening. He has gained strong support among Christian conservatives.

According to his campaign website and public pronouncements, Gallagher as governor would:

Abortion: Support a 24-hour "waiting period" for abortions and would encourage the state Supreme Court to allow the so-called "informed consent" statute to go into effect. Gallagher also indicated support for the recent South Dakota act that prohibited nearly all abortions in that state.
Adoption: Encourage the Department of Children and Families to work closer with private adoption agencies, create community-based adoption specialists, and would reduce the financial barrier of adopting a special needs child by allocating a one-time $20,000 stipend.
Affordable Housing: Increase home ownership by keeping prices down, allow homeowners to move within the same county without paying additional property taxes, and propose a constitutional amendment instituting a property tax rebate plan.
Cuba: Establish the Office of Cuban Transition Coordinator to work with the Cuban exile community, the State Department's Cuba Transition Coordinator, economists, human rights advocates, and business leaders to position Florida as a strong economic partner in a free and democratic post-Castro era.
Education: Expand student choice by continuing Opportunity Scholarships for children in failing schools, require schools to spend at least 65% of their budget in the classroom on teachers and materials, and insist that funding for Bright Futures Scholarships remain at current levels or increase.
Elected Officals: Require Cabinet-level elected officials to place assets in blind trusts to discourage the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Energy Independence: Implement at least $15 million in tax credits to encourage the development of alternative fuels, particularly biodiesel and ethanol created from Florida's sugar, citrus, cotton, and corn crops. He would also endow $25 million in research at state universities into development of more effective power generation, most notably solar power.
Environment: Oppose off-shore oil drilling, which currently threatens to damage Florida's native habitat and beaches.
Family Values: Increase power of families to instill their own values system by requiring public libraries receiving state funding to install software filters protecting underage users against pornography, make it illegal for minors to rent or purchase Mature or Adult rated video games, and provide a sales tax exemption for parental control devices used in the home.
Foster Care: Host an annual conference on foster care to bring together prospective foster parents, charities, faith-based organizations, civic organizations, churches, and synagogues.
Government Growth: Propose a constitutional amendment preventing local governments from raising spending growth above the inflation and population growth rates without prior approval by direct vote of the population.
Gun Rights: Enforce penalties against businesses who fire employees for keeping guns in their car while at work.
International Trade: Coordinate with the federal government so that necessary security measures do not impede tourism.
Lawsuit Reform: Reform class action law suits so that Florida is no longer an attractive location nationwide to file such suits, abolish joint and several liability so that defendants are only required to pay for the portion of accidents for which they are responsible, require expert medical witnesses to be licensees in the state, shift the burden of proof for accidents from defendants to plaintiffs, and establish business courts in each circuit so that judges ruling on business litigation can streamline commercial disputes and provide more expert rulings.
Property Insurance: Use tax revenue generated by hurricane recovery to offset assessments and provide tax relief for hurricane-related expenses. He would use a portion of the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to retrofit older homes to meet modern building codes. He would cap Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, at $1 million policies, thus reducing the state's risk exposure by $810 million. He would also encourage Congress to end America's status as the only country to tax catastrophe reserve savings.
Transportation: Partner with private business to greatly expand and repair Florida's aging transportation infrastructure, currently ranked as one of the worst in the country. He would implement a value pricing lane in highly congested areas such as Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. He would also prevent the Legislature from continuing to use the State Transportation Trust Fund for non-transportation projects.
Workforce Training: Modernize the state's community colleges by providing curriculums that meet specific industry employment standards.

Source: [Official Campaign Website of Tom Gallagher]

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State Treasurers of the United States
AK: Bill Corbus AL: Kay Ivey AR: Gus Wingfield AZ: David Petersen CA: Phil Angelides CO: Mike Coffman CT: Denise L. Nappier DE: Jack Markell FL: Tom Gallagher GA: Daniel Ebersole	HI: Georgina K. Kawamura IA: Michael Fitzgerald ID: Ron Crane IL: Judy Baar Topinka IN: Tim Berry KS: Lynn Jenkins KY: Jonathan Miller LA: John N. Kennedy MA: Timothy P. Cahill MD: Nancy K. Kopp	ME: David Lemoine MI: Julie Croll MN: Peggy Ingison MO: Sarah Steelman MS: Tate Reeves MT: Dan Bucks NC: Richard H. Moore ND: Kelly Schmidt NE: Ron Ross NH: Michael A. Ablowich	NJ: Bradley Abelow NM: Douglas M. Brown NV: Brian Krolicki NY: Alan Hevesi OH: Jennette Bradley OK: Scott Meachem OR: Randall Edwards PA: Bob Casey, Jr. RI: Paul Tavares SC: Grady Patterson	SD: Vern Larson TN: Dale Sims TX: position abolished by voters UT: Edward Alter VA: Braxton Powell VT: Jeb Spaulding WA: Michael J. Murphy WI: Jack Voight WV: John Perdue WY: Cynthia Lummins

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