After announcing that he was going to run for Florida's 5th Congressional District seat, I called upon Hernando County Sheriff, Richard Nugent, to resign. After all, the residents and tax payers in Hernando County deserve a Sheriff who will work full-time for his pay. Not spend his time, and the tax payer dollars, campaigning for an office he claimed to never want.
Below is the letter I sent.
www.jimpiccillo.com
https://secure.actblue.com/...
May 4, 2010
Sheriff Richard B. Nugent
Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
18900 Cortez Boulevard
Brooksville, FL 34601
Sheriff Nugent,
I am writing to you today to ask you to seriously rethink your decision to enter the race for Florida’s 5th District Congressional seat. The reasons I feel this request, and letter, are necessary are as follows; the citizens of Florida’s 5th District deserve to have a fair voice in their democracy, Florida tax payers should not have to pay their Sheriff a full time salary for part time work and, most importantly, you simply have unfinished business as Sheriff.
The citizens of Florida’s 5th District were cheated out of their right to fairly elect their own nominee. This was done by backroom dealings between yourself and Virginia Brown-Waite. While I do hope her health improves, her illness was no excuse for the 11th-hour tactics that you and she engaged in, in order to have a handpicked successor to the Republican nomination. This seat is not "Virginia’s seat", as you stated, "It was her seat. Out of respect to her, we did it her way." Sheriff Nugent, I repeat, this is not Virginia’s seat. The seat belongs to the people of Florida’s 5th District; it should be their decision who is on the ballot in August and beyond. Virginia Brown-Waite’s and your actions do a disservice to the people of the 5th District as well as dishonor the congressional seat.
Second, as Sheriff, the people of Hernando County pay your salary. Your $136,440 annual salary and benefits are not paid to you in the "hopes" that you can work on behalf of Hernando County residents in a part-time capacity. The people of Hernando County deserve a full-time public servant who is dedicated to the job. When we met in person a few months ago, you made it clear that you had no intention of seeking a higher office and denied further political ambitions. Recently, when I called your office to speak about several pressing issues facing Hernando County, I was told that you were "out for several days." Were your duties already being shirked in the name of personal ambition?
Sheriff Nugent, you have unfinished business and promises to fulfill. In your budget request letter from October ’09, you yourself outlined law enforcement problems facing Hernando County. Last year, while crime actually increased by 12%, you reduced, or eliminated, 26 paid positions on the force. You completely did away with the D.A.R.E. program, which could prove to have dire consequences within the community. Reports from the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey show 50% of Hernando County high school students used drugs or alcohol in the last 30 days, 32% of kids will start drinking alcohol before they turn 13 years old and, in Hernando County schools, 16% of students were under the influence of alcohol in the classroom in a 30 day period.
In March of this year, you said that you personally would take charge of the rehabilitation of the Hernando County jail, which is in desperate need of repair and better management. Two weeks after you made the decision to be personally accountable for the jail’s rehabilitation, you spoke with Virginia Brown-Waite. You then had a closer look at the problems facing the Hernando County jail and decided to back out on your promise to the taxpayers of Hernando County. Upon seeing the rusted doors, broken windows, plumbing problems and a roof that had sprung multiple leaks, you said, "No way on God's green earth would I take that facility over." To which I say, "You are the Sheriff. If not you; who?"
Just a few short weeks after this decision, April 28th, just two days prior to you filing to run for a federal office, CCA, the company currently being paid to run the jail, opted out of their contract. You changed your mind, once again, and said that you would take on this task as a last resort. Sir, last resort or not, you still have that promise to fulfill to the people of Hernando County.
With this being said, I am calling for your resignation as Sheriff of Hernando County, or for you to withdraw your candidacy for United States Congress of Florida’s 5th District. The people deserve better. Your position, and the trust the residents of Hernando County have placed in you, requires more. I trust you will search your conscience and do what is best for the people of the Hernando County and the 5th District as a whole.
Respectfully,
James ‘Jim’ Piccillo
Candidate for U.S. Congress
Florida’s 5th District