Spending less than $500, (FReeper) ALZONA wins 72,610+ votes in Maryland Republican Primary election

Alzona for Comptroller Campaign ^ | September 12, 2002 | Hail Caesar

[Hail Caesar]

For immediate release

9/12/2002 10:00 P.M. EDT

Despite spending less than $500, Alzona, a fiscal conservative, wins 72,610+ votes (42.3%) in the statewide Republican Primary Election for Maryland Comptroller

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Augustus Alzona, 301-530-8883 e-mail: alzona@verizon.net

Press Release

In his very first campaign for statewide public office, Augustus Alzona (R), a Bethesda CPA and management consultant, received an impressive 72,610 + votes (42.3%) cast in the September 10th Maryland Gubernatorial Primary Election. A well-known grassroots conservative, civil/constitutional rights advocate and minority community activist, Alzona, was around 7.7% short of the votes required to become the very first Filipino American Republican ever nominated for a statewide office in U.S. history.

Mr. Alzona, an elected member of the Maryland Republican Party Central Committee (Montgomery County, District 16), spent less than five hundred dollars ($500) on his humble bid to become the Maryland Republican Party's nominee to challenge entrenched incumbent, William Donald Schaefer (D), in the November 5th general election. Alzona was the very last candidate to file for statewide office on July 1, 2002.

Despite his conservative credentials, Alzona earned some of his top vote percentages in Baltimore City (48.35%), Baltimore County (43.38%), Montgomery County (47.07%), and Prince Georges County (47.17%). He even did surprisingly well in the more rural counties of Talbot (45.65%) and Kent (46.15%) on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Had he won the primary, Alzona would nonetheless have faced an uphill general election battle due to the incumbent's tremendous fundraising advantage among certain elements of Baltimore's gambling, developer and business establishment especially since Alzona refuses to accept campaign contributions from any industry tainted by corruption.

Alzona, the only statewide Republican candidate to sign the Maryland Taxpayer Association's "no new Maryland taxes" pledge, was campaigning on a platform to stand up for the constitutional and privacy rights of all Maryland's citizens. Also, he would have ordered a thorough, outside independent "People's Audit" of all government agencies, contracts and "sweetheart deals" involving Maryland politicians, lobbyists, contractors and government employees. Among other considerations, this would have rooted out any potential systemic corruption and helped assure the people of Maryland that the state would not face a crisis analogous to the Enron or WorldCom type bankruptcies. Maryland currently faces an over $1 billion dollar budget deficit and the $25 billion employee pension fund has recently declined over $3 billion under the current incumbent's watch.

Alzona's primary opponent Gene Zarwell (R), the 61 year old former military officer who finally won this primary, has publicly praised the tyrannical, 80 year old Democrat incumbent and former governor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer (D), as his "mentor." Zarwell did lose several previous Republican primaries for statewide office (Comptroller, U.S. Senate - twice) and U.S. Congress before this one. Alzona has won three previous Republican primary elections for local office in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Republican gubernatorial nominee, U.S. Representative Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. (R), did not endorse Alzona's candidacy. Instead, the Republican congressman has declared his support for Democrat candidate Schaefer for quite some time now.

###

Authority: Elizabeth Alzona, Treasurer

Augustus Alzona, Candidate

[sultan88]

"You could be right, Mud. There might just be a faint glimmer of hope. In Maryland, anyway."

Wonder how our Virginia FReeper guy will do against John Warner. He will be spending $0.00 from what I understand.

[Mudboy Slim]

LOL...hey, Mr. Alzona's a well-known politician apparently. 72,000 votes would be very tough to match. Then again, I know a lotta folks who'd vote fer anybody but BigBadJawn if they had their druthers.

FReegards...MUD

[headsonpikes]

When you stand up for liberty, it's always a victory.

Over defeatism, at least. Good work! ;^)

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Way to go! Good job for putting the rest of the Maryland GOP on notice that CONSERVATIVES DO GET VOTES!!!!!!!!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Earned 95% of all educational expenses. Completed college degrees full-time at night while maintaining full-time employment and raising a family.

I went to your resume and found that piece of information. God bless you for working so hard to earn your college degrees.

[Libertina]

Republican gubernatorial nominee, U.S. Representative Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. (R), did not endorse Alzona's candidacy
THIS is SHAMEFUL! I think I'll just be giving my $ directly to candidates of my choice rather than the republican party. I have an empty RNC envelope sitting in my room which I believe I'll throw away. Thanks for running Hail Ceasar, and please try again. BTTT

[Nonstatist]

Why can't Erlich simply refrain from endorsing *anybody*

Schaeffer isnt "anybody". He's a 2 time Dem. governor and mayor of Baltimore who has all but endorsed Ehrlich himself. Having someone like that on his side (even implicitly) is a big plus for him. Should he turn down Union "endorsements" too?

[Black Agnes]

If the dem's are endorsing him and he's refusing to endorse pubbies, why is he a pubbie? (is he *really* a pubbie?)

[Astro Boy]

VIVA ALZONA!!!

[Hail Caesar]

ALZONA thanks you all for your support!

His web page is at: www.alzona.com

[Hail Caesar]

"ALZONA FOR PRESIDENT!!!!"

Alzona is very flattered by the compliment, however, considering the fact that he is not a natural born citizen, he would probably never "qualify" for that position.
;-)

[Bigg Red]

I voted for Alzona. Maybe next time. Pretty dang good showing, at any rate.

[Astro Boy]

Gus Alzona is a good patriot!!

I think that what a lot of us did in Maryland was to try to upset the present political machine!...Alzona was and still deserves support from ALL Maryland Freepers!!

just like that one nut with the sign in Silver Spring, this past spring when the gun-grabbers were going nuts over a flyer in Annapolis!!!lol!

VIVA ALZONA

[lavaroise]

What about Vice President? Or speaker of the house, that'll get him up there!!!

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

WAY TO GO!!!

[mafree]

Nice try alzona! You'll win next time!

[RedWing9]

Mr. Alzona, an elected member of the Maryland Republican Party Central Committee

Look TRG, you could make the same attempt here in IL!!! :)

[FourtySeven]

This is disappointing, but great news that he did so great!

This might be an appropriate thread to relate my experience trying to switch from Democratic registration to Republican (I was Democrat to try and "sabotage" the primaries, but I really couldn't stand being Democrat, even if only in name, so I tried to switch)

BOY was THAT a mistake....I switched on a voter registration card, but when I got my new card back, it STILL said Democrat! I couldn't vote for Alzona, much less any other Republican primary candidate, which was disappointing, but it really BUGS me that I wasn't switched in the first place! I'm going to try again after the general elections are over (so that there will be NO screw ups for THAT election), so I'll keep you posted on that if you want.

Wierd though, huH?

[Hail Caesar]

Thanks to you, and to the, now, almost 75,000 (incl. absentee voters) Maryland Republicans!

[Hail Caesar]

"Whoever Alzona is, congratulations. Campaigns are tough, even tougher without funding and party support. May he be an inspiration to us all."

Thank you. I had decided not to sacrifice our family savings this time, even on a primary race which, had I won, I would have faced a Democrat incumbent with over $600,000 in the bank.