Rep. Matt Gaetz is an interesting politician. While a member of the Florida House he represented my district (Fort Walton Beach). You have two ways to get on the ballot for the Florida House of Representatives for District 4, you need to either pay a filing fee ($10,500) or petitions from 1% of the registered voters in the district (~5800). Matt Gaetz would send out the petitions early enough to the register voters in Okaloosa County so we could return them on time. His philosophy was if the voters wanted him, they’d return the petitions. If the voters didn’t want him, they wouldn’t return the petitions and no amount of money (filing fee or campaign funds) were going to change their mind. He never paid a filing fee while a member of the Florida House.
Great story ....