Jerry Louis Maygarden (born December 22, 1948) is a former American politician who served as a member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

from 1994 to 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 55th Mayor of Pensacola from 1991 to 1994.

Politics

Maygarden was a member of the Pensacola City Council from 1985 to 1992, and was Mayor Pro Tempore of Pensacola from 1989 to 1991. Maygarden was Mayor Pro Tempor at the time of Vince Whibbs' retirement from the office, causing him to become Mayor. Maygarden also served as a member of the

1994 to 2002. He got a lot of some notoriety during the Florida election recount imbroglio by stating during a rally in

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

: "We've come together to express our collective concerns over the manner in which our votes are being systematically devalued in favor of dangling chads, pregnant chads and dimpled chads. Well, they can kiss my chad." After his tenure in elected office, Maygarden re-entered the private sphere, working as a health care industry executive and spokesperson. He advocated publicly against comprehensive healthcare reform at the federal level.

Biography

Education

Maygarden received an AA in

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

from Pensacola Junior College in 1972, a BA in

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' (acronym: CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustra ...

in 1974 and an MA in the same

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in 1975 from the University of West Florida in 1974.

Employment

He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and served with the Navy Riverine Forces in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

References

External links