Senate District 8 Profile: Dan Quiggle

A recent poll in the Senate District 8 race to replace the late Jim King seemed to throw conventional wisdom on its head.  The poll, by McLaughlin & Associates, didn't show John Thrasher or Stan Jordan---the presumed frontrunners---in the lead.  According to the poll, Thrasher and Jordan were actually trailing in the poll to the upstart---anti-tax activist Dan Quiggle.  The poll, which incidentally was commissioned by the Quiggle campaign, showed their candidate with an 8 point lead over his nearest rival.  Sources say that other polls reflect a different scenario with Thrasher and Jordan ahead of Quiggle.  Regardless, one thing is certain, Dan Quiggle is making waves in Senate District 8.

Upstart 2000 Campaign

Dan Quiggle moved to Ponte Vedra with his family nearly 10 years ago.  He didn't exactly make a quiet entrance into local politics, announcing that he would take on Ander Crenshaw, a North Florida political powerhouse, for the US House seat being vacated by the retiring Tillie Fowler.  Crenshaw, the first Republican President of the Florida Senate in over 100 years and a former Gubernatorial candidate, was the odds-on favorite to win the seat.  The GOP establishment viewed the 31-year old Quiggle as an upstart who had not only paid his dues within the party, but had not even resided in North Florida for any length of time.  When the votes were counted that September night, Crenshaw had trounced Quiggle, winning nearly 70% of the vote.

During the campaign, Quiggle faced a round of criticism from observers within and outside his own party.  Local Republicans were upset with his frequent use of Ronald Reagan's name and image.  Quiggle's ads and mailings frequently featured pictures of Quiggle with the Republican icon, seeming to imply that Quiggle worked in the Reagan White House and was endorsing his campaign.  In fact, Quiggle worked as an intern at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after Reagan took office and Reagan, who was suffering from Alzheimer's at the time, made no endorsement in the race.  Days before the primary, Quiggle also drew a lawsuit from Mastercard over his ads that used the phrase "Priceless."

Americans For Prosperity & The GOP

After the 2000 Republican primary, Dan Quiggle was largely quiet in political circles.  He set about building his title business, thriving in a Florida economy experiencing a real estate boom.  Politics; however, was in his blood and it wasn't long before Quiggle embraced a new challenge---leading an insurgent libertarian movement within the Republican Party as the Florida President of Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity, a national non-partisan citizen activist group, has drawn a significant number of followers among Florida Republicans.  Their stances are decidedly to the right of the political spectrum with frequent protests against government spending and calls for tax cuts, even to the point where some government services would be forced to cease.

Locally, Quiggle has used the group to oppose a tax increase that was anticipated at the conclusion of Mayor John Peyton's anti-crime Jacksonville Journey study group.  After local support for a tax increase appeared to be non-existent, Peyton made the decision not to proceed with the proposed tax increase.  Despite the fact that an increase was never proposed, Americans for Prosperity moved to capitalize on the exposure they had received during the anti-crime public forms, claiming that they had successfully "defeated the proposed $250 million tax increase."  Despite Jacksonville's reputation as Florida's murder capital, they went on to lobby against additional crime-fighting initiatives that had been included in the city budget.  The fight was the first round in several battles Quiggle has waged against Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, leading Peyton to charge that Quiggle's Ponte Vedra mansion left him oblivious to the harsh realities many Jacksonville residents are facing during this time of economic hardship.

Campaign Issues

Nearly 10 years after facing the Mastercard lawsuit, Dan Quiggle's latest campaign is running into controversy.  At least one ethics complaint has been filed with the State Ethics Commission over Quiggle's failure to insert the word "for" between his name and the name of the office he is running for.  Failure to use the word "for", the allegation charges, implies incumbency, something that could be subject to reprimand and a fine if the Ethics Commission were to rule against him.

He's also faced criticism by Flagler County officials after automated calls blanketed voters in Flagler County, charging that County officials were about to raise their taxes.  The calls encouraged voters to contact their elected officials and gave a number for them to call.  The number, it turns out, belonged to Flagler County's Emergency Operations Center---and the calls overwhelmed their system.  Of course, Flagler officials had not proposed increasing taxes.  County Administrator Craig Coffey called the calls "an irresponsible elections stunt." The Quiggle campaign distanced themselves from the calls, saying they were from Americans for Prosperity and merely featured Quiggle's name as President of the group.

While Americans for Prosperity has told JaxPoliticsOnline.com that they do "not coordinate with, support, or endorse candidates for elected office on any level of government," the fact that robo-calls from the group are going out mentioning Quiggle's name while creating the false impression that county officials were looking to raise taxes, would seem to indicate that Americans for Prosperity is using Quiggle's standing within the group to promote his name during a campaign.

Ronald Reagan For State Senate

Ten years after images of Ronald Reagan hit First Coast mailboxes and TV screens in Quiggle's first House race, Reagan is back.  After receiving a mailing that featured a large photograph of Ronald Reagan on the front page, one District 8 voter asked, tongue-in-cheek, if in fact, Ronald Reagan was running for the State Senate.  And, more than 21 years after the former President left office (and 20 years after Quiggle worked at the Reagan Presidential Library), it appears as if Quiggle appearswill to go to any lengths highlight his time with Reagan, despite the fact that he had no hand in shaping Reagan's agenda during his years in office.  As one member of the Young Conservatives blogged, he'll even break out the Reagan pictures to wow young volunteers and regale them with stories of having attended Reagan's funeral before letting them play with his dog, Reagan.

A King-like Presence?

Despite Dan Quiggle's pictures of Ronald Reagan, his critics decry the fact that he has no public experience to draw on.  Local officials are concerned with his promises to further cut state spending, realizing that any further cuts in education and healthcare funding will likely be born by local governments already overwhelmed by declining state contributions.

In an interview with the Ponte Vedra Recorder, Quiggle stated just that, promising to "go line by line through the budget and make tough decisions.  The best government," Quiggle went on to say,  "is as local as possible."  Despite that statement, Quiggle has travelled around the state fighting local government's efforts to make their own decisions in regards to spending.

Given his track record within the local Republican party, it's hard to imagine Dan Quiggle following in the footsteps of Jim King to emerge as an influential force within the Florida Senate.  And, that's the argument that Quiggle is finding used against him most frequently as he campaigns for the seat---in an age where political influence determines education and transportation funding, some North Floridians are wary of sending someone with a "rabble rousing" reputation to Tallahassee.  With no track record in public office, it's hard to know how Dan Quiggle would operate as a State Senator.  That's a risk the voters of District 8 will have to decide if they are willing to make on Sept. 15.

Tags: Ander Crenshaw, Art Graham, Dan Quiggle, Jim King, John Peyton, John Thrasher, Ronald Reagan, Stan Jordan

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 6:30 AM and is filed under Local Politics, State Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.