Jacob Ogles
A Super PAC ad suggests House Republican Leader Dane Eagle’s experience looks more like a record of disappointment.
“Dane Eagle’s running on the slogan ‘Experience Matters,’” a narrator notes. “If you are looking for someone with experience giving illegal immigrants handouts, taking away your Second Amendment rights and sucking up to RINO Republicans for a leadership spot, then yeah, vote for Dane Eagle.”
The ad then shows a series of photos with Eagle, the current House Republican leader, alongside a series of Democratic and Republican figures unpopular with GOP primary voters this year, including former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, along with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican Senator to vote for impeaching President Donald Trump.
The spot also references legislation supported by Eagle in the Florida House, suggesting he supported lax immigration laws to help Big Sugar continue hiring undocumented workers.
And in large type, it calls out the “Parkland Bill,” legislation passed and signed into law in 2018 after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that claimed 17 lives, mostly students. Eagle served as a whip in the House at the time.
The ad plays Eagle’s position in Republican leadership as a negative, a sign he puts ambition atop principle. As the narrator discusses RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, it flashes an image of Eagle with House Speaker-Designate Chris Sprowls and Criminal Justice Subcommittee Chair James Grant.
Then it cuts to somewhat notorious dashcam footage of Eagle during a traffic stop which resulted in a DUI arrest in Tallahassee.
“The career politician has tons of experience selling you out, saying one thing and doing another,” the ad closes.
Eagle is one of nine Republicans running for an open seat in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. He’s the third candidate in the race targeted by Honesty America, which also put out slam ads on state Rep. Byron Donalds and Naples physician William Figlesthaler.
The Super PAC was formed April 1, with David Satterfield of Alexandria, Virginia, as the treasurer and Matt Pusateri listed as a registered agent. Pusateri previously worked for U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, who announced last year he’s not seeking re-election.
Other former Rooney staffers are now working for another campaign in the district, that of Casey Askar.
Eagle’s campaign credited the attack directly to Askar’s team.
“Askar’s attack clearly shows they are seeing the same things in their polling as we see in ours,” said Eagle campaign manager Terry Miller. “He recognizes Dane is the candidate leading the field and went on the attack.
“Unfortunately, he spends his time attacking his opponents rather than answering the plethora of legitimate questions plaguing his failing campaign.”
Askar’s campaign consultant Kristin Davison said she has “no idea who Honesty America is.”
A St. Pete Polls survey this month commissioned by Florida Politics found Askar leading the Republican field, followed by Donalds, Figlesthaler and Eagle.
Dane Eagle's slogan: "Experience Matters." He has tons of experience voting to give ILLEGALS college tuition, giving ILLEGALS driver's licenses, voting to weaken e-verify (so BIG SUGAR didn't have to hire anyone legally!), and voting to restrict your #2ndAmendment rights! pic.twitter.com/DtPW03cG63
— Honesty America PAC (@Honesty_America) July 25, 2020
2 comments
Sonja Fitch
July 25, 2020 at 11:27 am
Kinda enjoying the blood sucking goptrumpers! TRUMP VIRUS goes beyond covid. It permeates the goptrumpers!
DisplacedCTYankee
July 25, 2020 at 11:41 am
This story is mind-numbingly confusing to me, and I spent decades writing and editing news. There is a lot of information in the story. I used to spend an hour, maybe hours, working on reporting like this, for one story, No, I am not looking for a job. I’m 71. Been there.
What happened to Who-What-Where-When-Why?
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