Posted on 05/05/2010 9:24:48 AM PDT by cc2k
Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite tarnished her legacy and cheated her constituents and political party last week with an underhanded move that deprives Republican voters of the right to choose her successor from a strong field of candidates.
The Brooksville-area Republican, who was elected to Congress in 2002, announced her retirement, citing health reasons, Friday, but only after she had secured the candidacy of her handpicked choice and he had qualified for the August primary.
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Such stealth maneuvering is one reason why so many people no longer trust politicians. This one is all the more insulting because it robbed voters in a district that covers all or part of eight counties, including Pasco and Hernando, of having much role in the GOP primary.
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Thanks to Brown-Waite's machinations, Nugent's quest to become a congressman begins under a cloud.
Brown-Waite has worked hard for seniors and has been a strong advocate for military veterans. We wish her well.
But it is distressing that she leaves office with a stunning demonstration of political arrogance that will shortchange Republican voters in Central Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.hernandotoday.com ...
Richard Nugent is the Washington insider, hand picked by Ginny as her "designated replacement." He represents the arrogance of Washington Republicans, thinking that they can select their successors and control the process from Washington.
Jason Sager is the other choice. He qualified by petition, with over 6,200 verified signatures according to the Florida division of elections. That's more than any other congressional challenger, and more than the state verified for Ginny Brown-Waite.
Jason Sager is a true conservative. He believes in limited government as it is defined in the Constitution of the United States. He is not a career politician. He is running because after hearing Ginny's belief that the Constitution is a "living document" and that Congress is not limited to only those things specified in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, he felt he could more faithfully keep the oath of office and defend our Constitution.
I hope he wins.
I can’t stand RINOs. They have no values and screw people every chance they get, simply for fame, power, or money.
THESE F@#%$^ING BA$T@RDS ARE MAKING ME WANT TO PULL MY HAIR OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GODAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMIT
Jeeze, Mr. K, let’s hold on a bit here. There are two candidates who qualified for the primary ballot and only one of them is said to have known in advance that the incumbent would not seek re-election. Others could have run but chose not to. Yes, it appears the incumbent behaved unethically, but she’s not running. And perhaps her chosen successor is unethical as well, but he faces opposition. We have seen examples yesterday where more RINO-ish candidates got the nomination because multiple Tea Party-types split the conservative vote. It might not be so bad that this will not happen here.
I can understand your frustration, but the way to cure the GOP is to get involved with your local and state GOP. Get in and go for a party delegate or office position and then you can push for a conservative agenda. Otherwise, the present leadership runs the party.
Hey, I like the sound of this Jason Sager!
This isn't the worst possible outcome. Actually, in the grand scheme, Ginny did the Republican candidates in this race a favor by doing this at the last minute. The Dems have been known to make a play for this seat with money and a strong candidate. If they knew it was an open seat, they would have run someone stronger than Piccillo.
For Jason Sager, he's not running against an incumbent in the primary. And this underhanded dealing to put Nugent in hasn't exactly pleased the local party committees and the powers that be down here in Florida. They may be more open to a real primary now then they were when he was challenging the incumbent.
The down side is that Nugent will be well funded by Washington, and Jason Sager will be running against the Washington Republican machine.
The primary here has moved a little closer to a fair fight. Of course, an old firearms instructor once told me, "If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics really suck."
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