5th District race is now one to watch

Tamp Tribune (via TampaBayOnline) ^ | July 25, 2010 | LAURA KINSLER

[cc2k]

BROOKSVILLE - The race for Florida's 5th District was supposed to be a snoozer, with incumbent Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite coasting into a fifth term.

But Brown-Waite's surprise disclosure - after the filing deadline - that she wouldn't seek re-election because of illness made this a race to watch. She had quietly recruited Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent to run in her place.

Nugent, 59, is serving his third term as sheriff. He had been thinking about running for office.

"There was a lot of frustration building up in me about what's going on in (Washington) D.C.," he said. "Folks in D.C. just don't listen to us."

But Nugent said he would not have run against the incumbent. When she recruited him to run in her place, he honored her request to keep her pending retirement private. "That was her decision," he said. "It was not my decision."

But the decision outraged a lot of Republicans in the district.

[cc2k]

No pun intended, but this quote from Nugent is just rich with hypocrysy:

From the article (quoting Rich Nugent?)

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"There was a lot of frustration building up in me about what's going on in (Washington) D.C.," he said. "Folks in D.C. just don't listen to us."

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The first thing he did after Ginny hand-picked him to be her replacement was jump on a plane to go to Washington to meet the power brokers and get his "allowance" for his campaign account. He was given $32,000 by incumbent congress critters.

Does he really think he can convince us he is listening to the district? Or to the masters in DC? His entire campaign is staffed primarily with Washington DC operatives and consultants.

And if you can’t tell, I Stand with Sager in this race.

Please, steal my sig and show your support. The HTML code is on my profile page. Paste it after your posts on FreeRepublic to spread the word to the whole world.

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I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.

[curmudgeonII]

It would be nice to know which party [parties?] these folk belong to.

[Engineer_Soldier]

Wife and I just mailed our absentee ballots back to Hernando County yesterday. We both voted against Nugent. For anybody who wants to know the conservative choices in the primaries and the non partisans on the ballot, just let me know and I can give you the results of my research.

[SoConPubbie]

Maybe you should provide something with real "meat on it's bones" that really distinguishes your candidate from Rich Nugent instead of this murky crap.

Why don't you post a link to Sanger's web-site?

Here is Rich Nugent's website where it declares his positions on the issues.

[cc2k]

curmudgeonII wrote:

It would be nice to know which party [parties?] these folk belong to.

Sorry, I guess it doesn’t say anywhere.

Nugent and Sager are facing off in the Republican primary on August 24th. Nugent=Incumbent supported RINO, Sager=TEA Party, 9-12, constitutionalist republican.

The winner of the primary will face a Demorat with little chance of winning this "safe Republican" district. The one good thing from GBW's attempt to appoint her successor is that the Democrats did not have the opportunity to field a strong candidate for the open seat.

The fl05 keyword here has a lot more information about this race.

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I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.

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[SoConPubbie]

Wife and I just mailed our absentee ballots back to Hernando County yesterday. We both voted against Nugent. For anybody who wants to know the conservative choices in the primaries and the non partisans on the ballot, just let me know and I can give you the results of my research.

Why not just post it on this thread?

[Venturer]

Watch the 5th District race in Maryland. We are about to upset the second highest Democart in the House, Steny Hoyer.

He is hiding big time and hasn’t yet put up his first sign. Arrogance will be his downfall.

[cc2k]

SoConPubbie wrote:

Maybe you should provide something with real "meat on it's bones" that really distinguishes your candidate from Rich Nugent instead of this murky crap.

OK. Point taken.

Sager also has a website, http://www.standwithsager.com/. There's a lot of information on there. And you can see his answers on his videos from candidate forums and debates.

Jason is a big supporter of tax reform. He wants to repeal the 16th amendment and he champions the FairTax. He's also open to any tax reform which meets the fourth point of the Contract FROM America. Jason has actually signed the Contract From America. Nugent has said he will sign that contract, then two days later said he wouldn't. The video is on Sager's site.

Jason has also pledged not to take a retirement package for his Congressional service.

Sager has taken several no earmarks pledges. He's signed the “No Pork” pledge from the Council of Citizens Against Government Waste, as well as the FreedomWorks No-Earmarks pledge.

He's also signed the Tenth Amendment Pledge. He's met with other signers of that pledge to outline strategies for state sovereignty.

He's on board with the Freshmen 50 and has signed the Conservative Freshmen Coalition Pledge.

He believes in limited government as defined in the Constitution of the United States, not as defined by any political party.

I encourage you to watch the videos from the debates. You can see him speak and cover the issues. Pasco County Republican Debate, Full Video has the video from the first debate.

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I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.

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[Clintonfatigued]

I so hope that this ploy backfires and Jason Sager wins the primary. It would be a boost for the TEA Party and a kick in the pants for RINO’s.

[jrcats]

I don’t believe Ginny should have surprised us at the last minute that she wasn’t going to run again for the 5th District & she shouldn’t have given a nod to anyone. I always voted for her but this action just didn’t sit well with me.

[ynotjjr]

I’m really afraid if Sager win we would lose this seat for a long time. You really have to prove yourself in some fashion before becoming a US Congressman. Obama could speak well but never did much. Your response to this letter from a conservative in Hernando County was rather weak. I asked if you would like to refute any of these charges because early voting starts soon and now is the time to ask tough questions. I should have asked can you. To call Sager’s resume weak is charitable. Please post what he has accomplished in the last 18 of his 36 years. Please include education, positions of responsibility, whatever. Pls don’t include: leader of the Tea Party which, by design, has none. Sheriff Nugent service should not be deminished. Thanks. Here is the letter:

Jason Sager, 5th District Congressional Candidate, certainly loves America as much as anyone who is politically driven or aware. However he should have run first for Hernando county commissioner instead of congress, as did incumbent Ginny Brown Waite. For example, Sager would have been a hands down favorite against the unopposed incumbent Republican Dave Russell this year and the very moderate Jeff Stabins or John Druzbick in twenty twelve. Why did not Sager take advantage of these bite sized political opportunities? Well, campaign law does not allow a county candidate to live off of contributions, but as a congressional candidate the unemployed Sager is allowed to do so to put groceries on the table.

Don’t you feel troubled that for a man of 36, articulate and equally as smart, that Sager has never completed a college degree as he has been bouncing around the country before settling into this 5th congressional district only two years ago?

Sager has never held any leadership position in the private sector or in government for that matter. He failed his own company in home theater installations in a growing stay-at-home market. He then used the system to collect unemployment with intention to campaign for much higher paying gig, United States Congress.

To go from unemployed to congressperson suggests that if you support this campaign you must be euphoric in his well rehearsed populist rhetoric while ignoring his gross lack of qualifications and credentials. Sager may also be in a major violation of campaign law in his quest to differentiate himself as a “New Republican Party” member in his political handouts. Of course there is no such party and Sager signed an oath of party allegiance with the Supervisor of Elections when he filed to run as a Republican candidate.

For anyone who has ever observed Sager speaking, many would say he’d make a worthy evangelist while lavishly sprinkling upon speeches a fair share of “amens” and “hallelujahs.” Disconcerting to many, but tingly to the Sager believers. This is how Sager is making his way through this political time by taking advantage of the good hearts and for the most part, religious Tea Party devotees. He uses them by striking well-rehearsed emotional chords while preying upon their good faith and checkbooks. He uses all the great founding father’s quotations. He says the things they would like to say. Outside of his obvious charisma, does Sager have any experience or education to be congressperson material? Hardly.

Sager’s run is political blasphemy and reminiscent of when it became so cold in Minnesota on one November day, hell froze over and the citizens elected a wrestler for governor. Sager is a time bomb and should he win the primary the Dems will come out swinging to claim victory for the 5th district in the general election. Can you imagine the negative campaign the liberals will wage on Sager’s lack of qualifications after the primary? What don’t we know about Sager? Can you imagine what the Dems will do with veterans’ benefits and social security should they stay in control of the house in 2010?

JAZ Zydenbos
Conservative Political Activist
Weeki Wachee, FL

http://hernandocountyinsideraddition.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-if-sager-actually-wins-primary-for.html

[ynotjjr]

Then you would be looking at Charlie Crist’s liberal buddy Rep. Fasano as our next Congressman, who would have kicked Sager’s butt by the way. Don’t doubt Ginny (who stood up to and voted against TARP when Pres. Bush’s knees got weak)when she gets over her medical problem she will be back to take that Senate seat from the Dems in the Landslide of 2012!

[jrcats]

I haven’t decided who to vote for yet but it sure won’t be any RINO’s. Crist should just move to the Hampton’s & get out of the Senate race. He is a sore loser since Marco is the better person for the Senate race.

[cc2k]

Are you going to pollute every thread about the Florida 5th district race with that hit piece from Zydenbos?

Extending my remarks from before, Sager has been an activist since 2001. He was very active with Protest Warrior when he was in New York.

He also worked on George W. Bush's 2004 campaign. He walked through the protestors at the New York Republican National Convention wearing his name tag and "official" George W. Bush campaign garb.

More recently, he organized the Hernando 9-12 Project last year. In between, he was active with the Republican Party as well as some other conservative groups and organizations.

He has repeatedly demonstrated an ability establish, grow and lead conservative grass roots organizations. To actually move these groups to take real actions. I think he'll do fine with the TEA party types who win this November. That's what the Freshmen 50 and some of the other candidate alliances he's exploring are about. They are already working on ways to actually move their constitutional agenda forward. Individually, they might be the newbies, but in a group, they can be a bigger force for good.

As for work experience, you seem to dismiss his resume entirely. He has private sector management experience on his resume. Here's his work history, back to his days in the Navy:

• Store Manager, Sound Advice, 2006-2009
• Project Manager, Audio Visions South, 2005-2006
• Chief Operating Officer, Spectra Audio Research, 2002-2005
• Project Manager, Innovative Audio, 2001-2002
• Service Manager, ScharffWeisberg, 2000-2001
• Manufacturing Engineer, Sparton Electronics, 1996-2000
• Radar Technician, United States Navy, 1992-1996.

Source: Project Vote Smart.

Here's my reply from before, for those who are reading this thread and haven't seen this.

I'll make an attempt to answer some of this.

First, consider the source. Jaz Zydenbos hasn't really demonstrated a good understanding of campaign finance laws. He was a candidate for commissioner back in 2008, and lost in the primary to Jeff Stabins. He did some “off the books” campaigning at the 2007 Christmas Party at the First Hernando Republican club.

Second, the premise of his piece seems to be that we need to elect career politicians to Washington. He wants the “ladder system” where people have to serve at the county level first, then at the state level. Only after some “experience in politics” should they dare to run for Congress.

That's what we've always done, and I for one am not happy with the results. Our founders really intended for the Congress to be “citzen legislators” who take time off from their normal lives to serve in Congress for a short term, and then return to their regular lives. Sager embodies this much more than Sheriff Rich Nugent. Sager has pledged not to take a “Congressional retirement package.” He won’t burden us taxpayers with benefits for life after serving a few terms. He also favors term limits for Congress.

As for Jason Sager's work history, it is documented at http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=117228. You can make your own decision on that.

I know that Sager was collecting unemployment prior to running for Congress. I also have heard that when he was no longer “available for work” due to his full time campaigning, he stopped collecting unemployment. He called in on WWJB one morning when there was a bunch of wild speculation that he was still collecting unemployment while drawing a salary from his campaign. I believe he said he stopped collecting unemployment before he started drawing a salary. And he has never been unemployed for two years (even with rounding) as has been widely reported in the media.

As for federal candidates being paid by their campaigns, it's perfectly legal. Even Sheriff Rich Nugent said this wasn’t a problem. He was quoted in the Hernando Today. Here's an excerpt:

Quote from Hernando Today article, “Candidate pays self to run”

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Nugent, Sager's primary opponent, said he doesn't have an issue with it. "He's been unemployed for two years," Nugent said. "He needs a job to support his family."

The Federal Elections Commission allows the practice to even the playing field, so that candidates can afford to take a leave of absence from their jobs to run for office, said Melanie Sloan, executive director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C. "It's uncommon, but it happens," Sloan said. "You don't want it so that only rich people can run for office."

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I guess the questions for your friend, the “conservative in Hernando County” are:

• Are you really saying that we must send only career politicians to Congress?
• Do you favor a system where only the independently wealthy and those with government jobs that they can “skip out on” to campaign and still collect their salary should be able to run for Congress? Or do you want ordinary citizens to be able to run for Congress?

Freepers, if you want to stand with Sager in district 5, please help me. Steal my signature here. The HTML is on my FreeRepublic profile page.

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I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.

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[cc2k]

Post 14 was for you as well. Sorry I didn't include you on the "to" line.

[ynotjjr]

{I guess the questions for your friend, the “conservative in Hernando County” are: } First, I may have misidentified Mr Zydenbos as a friend of mine. He is not, never met him. This was sent to me by a friend of the Nugent campaign and I thought it had some legitimate concerns that need to be addressed.

{Are you really saying that we must send only career politicians to Congress? } I don't care if they are career politicians, if they share my views. We came up with the whole term limits thing back in 1990 to get rid of the Kennedy's but it didn't work because it wasn't able to be enacted nation wide. You vote my way, no share my principles, you keep your seat. And I don't agree that Sager needs a college degree, his service to his country means more to me then a degree from Harvard.
{Do you favor a system where only the independently wealthy and those with government jobs that they can “skip out on” to campaign and still collect their salary should be able to run for Congress? Or do you want ordinary citizens to be able to run for Congress? } Honestly, I don't have an answer for you on that. I can tell you why privately financed campaigns are bad and why publically financed campaigns are bad. All I can tell you is that I own the community website www.OurtownFLA.com and try to play it down the middle. Check out my pictures and video from last Wed debate and let me know if you agree. I offer the pictures to the candidate at no charge, you ask the Sager people about that. I just want answers, I never saw that resume so your last post helped. I do belive in the ladder system, what successful organization doesn't, the military, business. How else are we to test people, by what they say? Good luck with that. {Our founders really intended for the Congress to be “citizen legislators” who take time off from their normal lives to serve in Congress for a short term, and then return to their regular lives.} By citizens they meant land owners who were the only ones who could vote. There wasn't a farm laborer or a blacksmith apprentice among them. I have to admit I was really pissed off on the attacks on Ginny. I am supposed to be impartial journalist and I cover the democrats too but I saw Ginny work for vets in ways no one ever saw and the ailment that took her out of this campaign was very similar to what took her husband, a great guy, out the year before and to claim she was somehow dishonest hurt me personally. In fact when I first met Jason, when Ginny was still in the campaign it bothered me that a conservative would do anything but support her. She voted against TARP for God sake. I will only write this on FR that has been my home since 1998. My website is hopefully balanced and if Jason comes back to Pasco County for an event, I should be there and if he has any events, I will post them. And when this is over I hope we can be friends. ps, I love that AW Jeez picture, never thought it would be used against me! haha. Tony

[denydenydeny]

Politically speaking, few things tick me off more than the idea that ordinary citizens have no business in public office. It implies a contempt for the Founders, whose belief in citizen legislators was a keystone.

[cc2k]

First, I was composing this before I read your post #16. The tone may seem a bit harsh, and now that I've read your post, I apologize for being a bit harsh. I have a 6:30pm commitment that I'm late for already, so I don't really have time to tone it down. Just read it with a small grain of salt please. I don't mean to attack, mainly to inform. Your posting the same info twice on different threads seemed to be a bit aggressive to me, and I reacted to that a bit harshly.

With that caveat, here's my reply:

ynotjjr wrote:

Don’t you feel troubled that for a man of 36, articulate and equally as smart, that Sager has never completed a college degree as he has been bouncing around the country before settling into this 5th congressional district only two years ago?

Are you just making this stuff up? Or is someone feeding you this "information?"

Bouncing around the country? And you're implying Sager doesn't have roots in this district?

Sager is a native Floridian. His family moved to Hernando County in 1982 (he was what, 6 years old at the time?) He graduated from Hernando High School in 1992. Then he went in the Navy for 4 years before returning to Hernando County. He didn't move to New York until 2000. That was because his high school sweetheart, Stephanie was in New York persuing a masters degree in vocal performance at the Manhattan School of Music. They were married while they lived in New York.

While Sager and his wife lived in New York, he rose to be COO at one of the largest audio/video contractors in New York.

He and his wife moved back to Florida in 2005. They were expecting a child and wanted to return to their roots in Florida. His wife is from one of the oldest families in Hernando county. I'm fairly certain her family history in Hernando county goes back at least into the 1840's, perhaps earlier.

I know when they first moved back, they lived in Hillsborough county, but I think they moved back to Hernando in 2007, which by my calendar is three years ago, not two as you have posted.

But given the histories of the families, I would say that Sager has deep roots in this county. By today's standards, his own family roots go back quite a way. And he definitely married into a family with very deep roots in Hernando county.

ynotjjr wrote:

In fact when I first met Jason, when Ginny was still in the campaign it bothered me that a conservative would do anything but support her. She voted against TARP for God sake.

She also voted for the Omnibus Spending bill (the one with over 9,000 earmarks, including funding for Planned Parenthood and Embryonic Stem Cell Research) and twice voted for cash for clunkers.

Also, have you seen this video? Ginny Brown-Waite on “The Living Constitution”?

And you were suggesting she'd make a good Senator? Are you aware that Ginny and Senator Susan Collins spent a weekend last October campaigning for Dede Scozzafava in upstate New York?

Sorry, I have to go. I'll check back tomorrow afternoon or evening. If you have questions, I can provide links for the statements in the last two paragraphs. Google is your friend, though. You might find that information yourself if you look. I'm not making it up.

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I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.

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[ynotjjr]

Thanks for the disclaimer but you were on point and provided a lot of detailed information and I have a hard time arguing with someone who I seem to agree with 100%. My main issue is I am anti abortion, it is why I left the democratic party in 1980. I maybe the only one who voted for and worked for in June then turned around and voted for Ronald Reagan. Jimma Carter had done everything I wanted him too and things were a mess so I thought he wasn't left enough and worked for Ted. You never met a more despicable group of liars and cheats in your life. I could tell stories but one especially caused my tipping point. I had Carolyn Kennedy, Bobby's oldest in my office and these older ladies wanted to know about his stand on abortion and she lied through her teeth. That day some young boys from the Catholic school came by and asked me how I could support someone who favors abortion and that started me on a path to the Republican party. The rest fell into place. I think I may have taken your picture at the debate, (were you on the computer?) let me know. We will have to agree to disagree about Ginny but if she does run I'll ask you for a list of questions. I do believe that the constitution is a living document that progressives wish to snuff out. That is why winning is so important. People like to slam Bush but they won 3 out of 4 giving us 4 and a half great conservatives. If we didn't split in 1992 with Perot we would have the majority plus on the supreme court. Win or lose in august we have to be together in Nov. We can't let the dems set the agenda.

[no dems]

Watch the 5th District race in Maryland. We are about to upset the second highest Democart in the House, Steny Hoyer.

He is hiding big time and hasn’t yet put up his first sign. Arrogance will be his downfall.

FOR REAL? Not even a sign? Cool. Who is the GOP candidate in that race? Any polling data on the race?

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I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.