MARCO ISLAND — Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fort Myers) knows where many avid supporters reside. It was Mack’s fourth speaking engagement with the Marco Island Police Foundation as he discussed immigration, health care and an extension of tax cuts on Tuesday. If there was a theme to the discussion, it would have been one of freedom.

Mack, seeking reelection to District 14, spoke to approximately 100 attendees at the Luncheon with the Chief held at CJ’s on the Bay with police officers and their supports, including City Council members and Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala.

Mack didn’t shy away from tough questions or controversial topics, including his thoughts on Arizona’s immigration law. The bill, he said, pits one group of Americans against another.

“You can be an American citizen in Arizona and not look like me and not look like most of the people in this room and be stopped and asked for your papers,” Mack said. “Florida will get an immigration bill, but it won’t single out a group because they look different.”

His stance isn’t to get votes, he said. “Less than 2 percent of my congressional district is minority ... so for me, this is about freedom.”

Bill Morris, president of the Marco Island Police Foundation, expressed his support for Mack.

“He (Mack) is focused on ensuring Southwest Florida maintains its quality of life,” Morris said. “He understands that government doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem.”

Mack shared his opposition to bank bailouts, the economic stimulus plan, President Barrack Obama’s healthcare reform and Obama’s stance on international affairs.

He opposes government-run healthcare. “It’s unconstitutional for the federal government to force you to buy something,” Mack said.

Rather, he suggested tort reform, expanding health savings accounts and creating association health plans for groups of workers such as those in the service industry to lower insurance costs.

Mack supports continuing tax cuts for what he said are small business owners earning $250,000 or more each year. “Everything they (democrats) do to create jobs penalizes those who create jobs,” Mack said.

Mack took a strong stance against the current approach to international diplomacy.

“The posture of the United States is to reach our hand out to our enemies,” he said.

Mack took particular exception to the relationships with Latin American countries. He seeks free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia, which would be good for Florida, he said.

Calling the removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya a “military coup” was a slap in the face to freedom, Mack said, because Zelaya sought a lifetime term, which violated the Honduran Constitution.

Freedom in the U.S., including freedom from government is also important to Mack.

“I believe in the individual,” he said. “The more power you have, the better it is for our country.”