By Bob Fliss
Charlotte Sun-Herald

Ken Roberson has announced that he has the 1,203 signatures needed to put him on the ballot as a Republican candidate for the District 71 seat in the Florida House of Representatives now held by Michael Grant.

Grant, also a Republican, is running for the District 23 Senate seat being vacated by Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota, who is reaching her term limit.

District 71 encompasses parts of Charlotte County -- mainly the Port Charlotte area, along with parts of Sarasota and Lee counties. It has 120,335 registered voters, according to the Florida Department of State.

State law requires partisan candidates for the state House of Representatives to qualify for the ballot by either collecting signatures equivalent to 1 percent of the voters in the district, or paying a fee of $1,916.

Roberson, who announced his candidacy last May, said that going the signature route was an easy decision. Door-to-door canvassing is a big part of Roberson's campaign, and he said that he's getting signatures from Republicans, Democrats and independents.

Roberson, 64, is owner of Roberson Funeral Home, with locations in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. He founded the business in 1975 as Roberson-Schlossberg Funeral Home and bought out his partner four years later.

Roberson is past president of the Florida Funeral Directors Association. He served as a member and chairman of the regulatory State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers from 1998 to 2003.

He ran in 2004 for the District 72 House seat now held by Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda.

A Bradenton native, he has been a Florida-licensed funeral director since 1966. He is also president of Restlawn Memorial Gardens, Charlotte County's first perpetual care cemetery.

Roberson's announced Republican primary opponent is Dr. Christopher Constance, a Port Charlotte plastic surgeon.

Roberson said he sees himself as a fiscal conservative in the Michael Grant mold. "Government needs to be run like a business, and when times are tough you need to pull in your horns and make do with what you have," Roberson said about the 2008-2009 Florida budget, which is dropping from about $70 billion to about $65 billion.

"We need to fight for lower property taxes and lower insurance costs. Those are the keys to economic recovery this year," Roberson added.