Joe Negron for Congress

State Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, quickly emerged as a Republican contender for the seat in Congress abruptly vacated Friday by Mark Foley.

Negron had spent 18 months campaigning for attorney general, but he stepped aside in July after concluding he had no chance of winning the nomination against former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, who had two statewide races under his belt. Negron's classy exit engendered a lot of goodwill in GOP circles. Negron now claims to have nearly $1-million left over in his campaign account for A.G., and most of that can be moved to a congressional campaign (corporate checks are banned in federal races).

"I'll be making calls all night," Negron told The Buzz. He said he has secured endorsements from Palm Beach County Republican chairman Sid Dinerstein and from state Sens. Ken Pruitt, Jeff Atwater and Lisa Carlton, all of whom represent parts of the 16th Congressional District, as well as Rep. Denise Grimsley of Highlands County.

Negron had figured his political career was over for now. He saw a couple of online stories Friday morning about Foley's e-mails, but he was practicing law when he suddenly realized he had 26 messages on his cell phone and his BlackBerry was "going crazy."

Whether Negron is the choice of local Republican leaders is up to 24 people -- the chairmen, state committeemen and state committeewomen representing the eight counties that comprise the sprawling district, which runs from West Palm Beach to Punta Gorda.

The decision will come quickly. Negron says he's not worried that he has to run in a race in which Foley will remain on the ballot, that voters are smart enough to discern what's going on and choose the representative they want.

Comments

Its a long shot... Im Joe Negron, conservative republican............ I approved this message... On November 7th, please cast your vote for Mark Foley so I can be your congressman..

Hmmm. I hope it works, but I am not counting on it.

you want to be done forever in politics - go ahead and take the job and then crawl back under a rock come 11/7.

repubs - stay the hell away from this race for now. the stench will kill anything and everything - including the crist race. stay away for God's sake.

This guy actually has a chance, Foley won in 2004 about 67-33. Its hard to turn that many votes.

http://www.ocalapride.com/charlie_crist_at_tonys.htm

09:19 PM
you are spinning more than a maytag
"grasping at straws"

Negron is a no-go. They need to grab Atwater, Alexander, or Harrell. No more liberal republicans!

[mercedes oro]

Joe will be the next Congressman from South Fla. He is a great guy and will win big.

Joe will win.

So, after this mess filled with sexual overtones involving underage boys, the GOP is going to go out and tell people to vote for Foley?

Yes. That's exactly the ticket to appeal to the the Christian Coalition, law and order conservative values voters.

Negron is such an opportunist. It is a real turn off.

Republicans: They can't protect our youth. They can't protect our country.

negron is a trial lawyer liberal. mahoney is more conservative.

[Campaign Manager]

I question whether or not Negron has the name recognition - his failed campaign for the Republican nomination for AG notwithstanding. He will also have to raise a lot of money fast and has not chance of making up the financial advantages Mahoney has as a result of his ability to self-finance.

The RNCC might benefit by receiving the $2.3 million that Foley has in his account and put a significant chunk of that into CD 16. However, it is also possible, and perhaps likely, that public pressure will force Foley to give all or part of that money to a non-profit organization serving abused and missing children.

It is still possible for the Republicans to win this seat, but because of Mahoney's financial advantage, because Foley's name will remain on the ballot, and because any replacement will have a lot catching up to do in a seat which does not lean GOP by a very strong margin... well, you do the math.

The GOP will have to fight hard for this seat.

come on spt (socialist party times) it has been 24 hours since people here started asking why you held the foley storey from november 05 until now, 5 weeks before the election. if you were asking questions of a politican and he didnt answer you for over 24 hours you would blast them in your paper!! what do you have to hide? Are your communist party censors that you commonly call "editors" afraid to tell us the truth? Or are they all laughing this morning because they once again their political agenda is served at all cost?

Don't misunderstand me, what foley did was terrible. He deserves what he gets. But the actions of the spt (socialist party times) are ethically bankrupt. Stop with the yellow journalism and begin to uphold your responsibility to the public trust!!!!! Stop trying to be the arbitrator that deciedes whom to attack for political gain along with when and how!!! This behavior on the part of the spt (socialist party times) must stop!!!! You have a responsibility to report the news not to hold stories until they can cause maximum damage!!

The people of florida deserve an explination!! We are waiting

Negron has to be the only person liberal and opportunistic to WANT to get elected bad enough to ask voters to vote for the name FOLEY.

I don't want Pruitt, Alexander, or Atwater either. If that teams breaks up it will be chaos in Tallahassee.

750

there already is chaos in tallahassee and it is alexander, atwater and pruitts (along with jeb and tom lee) fault! i have know ken and jd for about 12 years now and like both men very much but come on when the emperor has no clothes someon must say it!

The coatless emperor was Villalobos and folks finally realized it. Just cause the idiot only wins by a few hundred votes is by no means so sort of validation.

Pruitt now, Atwater next, and Bennett or Alexander later.

Negron for Congress!

You guys crack me up. Atwater's days as Senate President are over - done, it will never happen. Likely the same for JD - loose cannon, hot potato. Pruitt may hang on, but only because the Dem caucus has such weak leadership now (Pruitt is thanking God that Rod & Skip are gone).

Pruitt would be smart to do it - he's having to compromise his power already and it could get worse if Justice & Jennings win. Plus he's staring at term limits. That would clear the way for a true peace, with Alex taking President now, the Bolanos Boys being neutered, and moderation in the Crist model reigning.

BTW, why is Jeb being consulted on this. He is now irrelevant, as proven by the Villalobos race. The Diaz Balart brothers & Mayor Alavarez have more political capiltal than Jeb in his own back yard!

Pruitt Now.
Atwater Next.
Alexander or Bennett Later.

Negron will win this seat. He's already got all the support he needs, including the 4 folks listed above.

Tim Mahoney is the next congressman from florida, not joe negron. Sorry guys, I know there are a lot of republicans on this blog, but guys read the writing on the wall.

I'm sure there will be a lot of focus on personal life of Negron or whoever the chosen R nominee is. Can they withstand the light regarding their personal lives. Let's hope so.

Foley is sick, sick, sick, sick. They need to lock this guy up and throw away the key. I dont think however this is a good thing for Mahoney, people are disgusted by this and any name in the mix to directly "benefit" will also turn people off. Negron will win the seat as his name recognition is even higher than Mahoney in this district.

3:03--

You don't get it. Mahoney doesn't need to do anything else. His opponent is gone, disgraced, and possibly headed towards indictment. All out of his own doing. As it stands now, Tim Mahoney is the only major party candidate who's name is on the ballot and is actively running.

Negron can replace Foley as a candidate, but he can't replace Foley's name. There's going to be a huge psychological disadvantage against Negron because people simply don't want to vote for Foley's name, even if it is actually voting for Negron. You simply cannot discount this dillema.

Add in the fact that Negron would have roughly a month to throw together a campaign. That's tough for anyone to do. See Mondale, Walter--the guy was a Vice President for crissakes but he simply did not have the time to put together an organized campaign when Paul Wellstone died.

Bottom line--it's going to be Congressman Tim Mahoney in 2006.

Now, that does not by any means discount Negron or any other Republican going after Mahoney in 2008--I predict that to be an extremely tight race.

[deep_throat_74]

As long as Mark Foley is out of the picture, Joe Negron will be a natural shoe in just as long as Ralph Hughes continues to write him checks.

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/campfin/contrib.asp

Ralph Hughes contributor
Negron, Joe (REP)(ATG) 03/02/2005 500.00 CHE HUGHES RALPH W. 10909 THERESA ARBOR DR. TAMPA, FL 33617 INDUSTRIALIST

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/13/news_pf/State/Activist_s_company_bo.shtml

[Florida Republicans]

Carol Jean Jordan should immediately step down as the Chairman of the RPOF this case is the icing on the cake. Carol Jean and other Florida Republicans leaders have know about Foley's continued issues with underage boys but have refused to show leadership by forcing him out of office. This could have been accomplished in 2004 but Carol Jean refused to listen. Carol Jean wants to travel around the United States and tell everyone how great the Republican Party is in Florida and tell the RNC how they need to be more like Florida Republicans. Now the world is seeing exactly what is going on in Florida and our parties founding Father is turning over in his grave. Maybe the RNC will show a little leadership and request Carol Jean step down as the Chair of Chairs effective immediately.

Some of you are nuts. There's no way Atwater or Alexander are going to give up the Presidency for DC. Get real.

Both Alexander & Atwater are behind Negron- they're all on the same team.