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The Jax Files is an interactive, quick-hitting blog devoted to any and all things Pasco, whether whole-heartedly, tangentially or merely psychologically.

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Tom Jackson is in a 12-step program for recovering sports writers; as part of his rehabilitation, he writes a column centered on the people, politics, passions and peculiarities of Pasco County. Email

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Pasco County News | Breaking News

Democrats: Nugent won’t spend other people’s money (waa!)

Posted Sep 1, 2011 by Tom Jackson

Updated Sep 1, 2011 at 06:34 PM

Just so you don’t get the impression Nature Coast Democrats are satisfied with the status quo on Capitol Hill, the Jax Files is in receipt of a letter excoriating rookie U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent for a variety of perceived failures, slights and outright dereliction of duty.

The upshot is, Nugent – the Brooksville Republican – voted every chance he got against spending additional gobs of someone else’s money, which, in the eyes of Democrats, means he is a compassionless reptile “slavishly serv(ing)” “special interests” bent on a “radical agenda.”

This marvelous screech, delivered over the signature of Hernando County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Steven J. Zeledon, must be read in full to be properly appreciated. Here goes:

Congressman Richard Nugent, our area’s contribution to our dysfunctional congress, has demonstrated in eight short months, his willingness to go along lock step with a radical agenda by voting to replace Medicare with a voucher program, voting to slash support for Medicaid and Social Security, voting to eliminate funding for National Public Radio, voting to eliminate the funding for School-Based Health Centers, and voting to terminate programs that are vital for the poor and working class, specifically the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the Emergency Mortgage Relief Program and the Federal Housing Administration Refinance Program.

In sharp contrast, he voted to cripple the effectiveness of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and voted to abolish The Federal Financing of Presidential Election Campaigns, both items that would work to reduce the stranglehold that the banks, corporations and Koch brothers funded groups have on our government. And of course, his work as part of the team that inflicted the cuts artificially tied to the increase in the debt level will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of them right here in Hernando County.

In just eight months, Congressman Nugent has clearly demonstrated why it is critical that the citizens of this district identify and elect a qualified, progressive leader who will represent his or her constituents and not the special interests that Mr. Nugent slavishly serves.

(signed) Steven J. Zeledon Chairman,
Hernando County Democratic Executive Committee

Demagoguery, hyperbole, rejection of the free market and individual responsibility, plus a Fantasyland interpretation of the national debt and a shot at the Koch Brothers, all squeezed into a single three-paragraph letter. Nicely done.