Jax Daily

Mario Rubio is currently a candidate for State House of Representatives, District 17. His brother, Marco Rubio, is the current speaker of the State House and is now serving his last term in office. Mario was kind enough to take a few moments to answer some questions for JaxDaily…

JaxDaily: Our area is electing a lot of fresh faces to the legislature this year. What about your background and experience qualifies you to hit the ground running if you are sent to Tallahassee?

Mario Rubio: For over 28 years of my business career I worked in an operational environment with the primary responsibility in customer service. The last couple of years I have been in the public affairs group and primarily dealt with constituency groups. This has given me a very unique perspective as to what the people are concerned with in our community and throughout the state.

I am currently the Chairman of the Florida’s Department of Elder Affairs Advisory Council, I am on the board of Jobs for Florida’s Graduates, that deals with at risk youths and I am also on the board of the Early Learning Coalition. Additionally I am a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville and have been involved with the United Way for over thirty years.

Because of my work with these organizations I have had the opportunity to learn about the true needs impacting our community and the state as well as the opportunity to meet and interact with many of the current and future legislators and see the legislative process up close. More importantly I have developed positive relationships in Tallahassee that will allow me to hit the ground running.

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Mario Rubio: My personal opinion is that it will have a very negative impact to our environment and the health of the river and we need to make sure that continue our efforts to stop this from happening. I think there needs to be more research done to determine the true consequences of this action but most importantly we need to make sure that other parts of the state implement conservation methods that curtail the use of water.

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Mario Rubio: We live in very difficult times where our value system has deteriorated and many children are in desperate need of parental involvement and support. Having said that we are where we are and as a community we can not turn our backs on kids because they are the leaders and the workforce of tomorrow.
Therefore, I believe that one of the most important issues for the long run is to provide the necessary resources for education. Our high school drop our rate is terrible and in my opinion contributes to the increase in crime. I coached soccer at the high school level for 7 years and can tell you that all high school students do not want to go college. Many of these kids would like to work at developing marketable skills that they can put to use upon graduation. This is why I think that we need to have alternatives such as vocational programs in schools.

In the short term we need to ensure the funding necessary to increase police presence in our neighborhoods. This will provide the necessary resources to deter crime but more importantly to establish relationships with the citizens within our community and engage them in taking ownership of their neighborhoods.

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Mario Rubio: It has been difficult because people jump to the conclusion that because we are brothers we are in agreement on everything and that is not true.
I love my brother but we are different people and have different perspective on life. I think this is because our life experiences have been very different. For example he is 21 years younger than I am, I served as a Green Beret the Army, and my children are grown. My brother did not serve in the military and is just starting a family. I think the stages and experiences that one goes through in life adds a bit of insight that builds as you mature and allows you to formulate thinking based on your life experiences.

To put it in perspective when my brother was born I had already served in the military and was going to college. When I moved to Jacksonville in 1976 my brother was 6 years old. So it stands to reason that we would look at things differently because we are from different generations.

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Mario Rubio: First of all I am an American but I am very proud of my Cuban heritage. If you break my life into years I lived in Cuba for 6 years, in Miami a total of 17 years, In North Carolina for three years (while I was in the Army) and in Jacksonville 32 years. So my question is what is the magic number that people are looking for in order to consider me a Jacksonville resident?

What is perplexing to me is that I choose to live here because I love this city. When I was in the Army at Fort Bragg I used to travel through Jacksonville when I went to Miami to visit my family. I thought then as I do now that it is a great place to live and raise a family so when I graduated from college I moved up here and met my wife of 30 years and raised a family.

What is also amusing to me is when we go visit my parents I am regarded as the guy from Jacksonville and for some in Jacksonville, even though I have been here 32 years, I am the guy from Miami.

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Mario Rubio: Jacksonville Chamber (JAXBIZ), Co-endorsement from the Labor Council, Florida Retail Federation, Fraternal Order of Police. There are several other organizations which have verbally expressed support however the law requires that you have a written notice of support so I am not a liberty to mention them at this time.

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Mario Rubio: I do not like to disenfranchise anyone from voting or from running for office. I served my country as a Green Beret, and spent many years seeking my own precious U.S. citizenship. I know as well as anyone why voting, and being allowed to seek elected office is key to our democratic process.

If a write-in candidate is running for the office because he or she is truly interested in serving, then I am ok with it. However if it is being used to manipulate the system then I think it is travesty. Maybe there needs to be a way to validate that a write-in candidate is truly seeking to run for office and not just doing it to close the election.

I have been focused on the primary election because we had and I think will have democrat candidate therefore the write-in candidate will have no effect on the election.

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Mario Rubio: I am currently in the middle of reading “Love & Hate” The Story of Henri Landwirth, by Bill Halamandaris.

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Mario Rubio: I love Carrabba’s

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Mario Rubio: I like wood working and home improvement projects.

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Mario Rubio: I think Jacksonville is at a key point in its maturity. We need to send new voices to Tallahassee in order to make sure that we get what we need for our city and our citizens. If we keep doing what we have always done we will get what we have always gotten. I think the electorate is beginning to realize that elections are not about candidates it is about the people who put their trust, dreams and desires in the hands of someone who they believe will represent their best interest and won’t forget who they are accountable and responsible to.

I think to often candidates look at elections as a natural progression of previous public service because they are entitled to it. I think we are becoming better informed and better voters thus better citizens.