Politicos call on sheriff to resign

The calls for Sheriff Richard Nugent to resign his position and devote full-time to running for the 5th District Congressional seat got stronger Tuesday.

Nugent, calling from Washington, D.C., where he has been since Monday, said he has no plans of resigning. He dismissed critics who say he won't be a full-time sheriff and would shortchange taxpayers.

Much of his campaigning will be done on weekends and evenings and the day-to-day activities associated with the race will be handled by his campaign staff, he said.

That's not to mean he won't be forced to travel out of Hernando County, Nugent stressed. But in those instances, he said he is only a cell phone call away and will keep tabs on local operations.

And if the sheriff is busy campaigning, taxpayers are not getting the full benefit of paying Nugent's salary, Piccillo said. Nugent makes $136,440 annually in salary and benefits, according to the sheriff's office.

While in Washington, D.C., Nugent said he has been getting the lay of the land, talking with Congressional leaders and will meet with Republican Party officials to discuss the campaign and money.

Folks, I've been involved in this race with the campaign for Jason Sager.

What Ginny Brown-Waite and her Washington congressional insiders are trying to do here is pick her successor and pass things along to their designated "heir to the throne."

Jason Sager qualified for this race by petition. He chose to challenge Brown-Waite last year because of her free spending ways. He gathered over 6,200 signatures on petitions to get his name on the ballot in the August 24th primary, more than any other congressional challenger, and more verified signatures than Ginny Brown-Waite turned in.

In contrast, Nugent was asked to run by one person, Ginny Brown-Waite. He would not have been the choice of the local party machinery. He is on the ballot because of one signature on a $10,440 check. And that money is probably coming from Ginny Brown-Waite and the Washington machine.

This situation with Brown-Waite and Nugent has actually driven a wedge between the Washington wing of the Republican party and the local Florida party machinery. The locals are furious that she hand selected her "replacement" without consulting them, and didn't announce that she was stepping down until only 20 minutes before the filing deadline for qualifying.

It looks like Nugent is going to get some of Ginny's campaign war chest, and a lot of Washington funding. Jason Sager needs our help to challenge this hand selected, big spending candidate, Richard Nugent.

rstark56 wrote:

I think it should be Ted Nugent running for office hehe

The funny thing is, the first version of this story when it appeared in the St. Petersburg Times said it was "Hernando County Sheriff Ted Nugent" running for the seat. It took them a few hours to correct it to Richard.

From the desk of
cc2k:

Candidates I support in 2010: Jason Sager for Congress, FL 5th, Doug Hoffman for Congress, NY 23rd (PayPal), David Harmer for Congress, CA 10th (website for info), Marco Rubio for Senate, FL

Full disclosure: I am involved in the Sager for Congress campaign, and my company is designing and hosting his web site.

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