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 of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopte ...

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

Mayor of Pensacola The mayor of the City of Pensacola is the chief executive officer and holder of the city of Pensacola, Florida. The mayor's office is located at the city hall at 222 West Main Street in Downtown, and owns an estate near the Texar Bayou in East Pens ...

from 1991 to 1994.

Politics

Maygarden was a member of the

Pensacola City Council The Pensacola City Council is the governing body of the City of Pensacola, Florida. The seven-member council is elected by single-member districts. Council members serve four year terms. Each November, the council elects a council president, who c ...

from 1985 to 1992, and was

Mayor Pro Tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

of Pensacola from 1989 to 1991. Maygarden was Mayor Pro Tempor at the time of

Vince Whibbs Vincent John Whibbs Sr. KSG (February 8, 1920 – May 30, 2006) was an American automobile dealer, politician and businessman who served as the 54th mayor of Pensacola from 1978 to 1991. Whibbs was also very involved with many projects an ...

' retirement from the office, causing him to become Mayor. Maygarden also served as a member of the

1994 to 2002. He received some notoriety during the

Florida election recount The 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida was a period of vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day in the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Go ...

imbroglio by stating during a rally in

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

: "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 (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

from

Pensacola Junior College Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

in 1972, a BA in

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' is the largest international trade journal of visual communications.Au ...

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 So ...

in 1975 from the

University of West Florida The University of West Florida (West Florida or UWF) is a public university in Pensacola, Florida. Established in 1963 as part of the State University System of Florida, the university sits on the third largest campus in the State University Sy ...

in 1974.

Employment

He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and served with the Navy Riverine Forces in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

References

External links