https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/13/moms-for-liberty-bridget-ziegler-florida-school-board-sex-scandal/71902488007/ SARASOTA, Fla. — As the Sarasota County School Board convened for the final time this year on Tuesday, Bridget Ziegler entered the board chambers facing a rift largely driven by agenda item No. 1: a colleague's resolution calling for her resignation.
Despite Ziegler's four board colleagues voting to call for her to resign and hours of public comment mostly urging her to do so, there was no indication she was considering stepping down.
The rising demands for her resignation came amid emerging details of her involvement in a three-way sexual relationship, which became public as a sexual assault investigation into her husband, Christian Ziegler unfolded.
In her first public appearance since reports surfaced of the sexual assault allegation against her husband, Ziegler appeared defiant. She asked the board's legal counsel, Patrick Duggan, about the nature of the resolution, who described it as "ceremonial in nature" because the board has no authority to remove a member.
“You know, I am disappointed. As people may know, I serve on another public board and this issue did not come up and we were able to forge ahead with the business of the board," said Bridget Ziegler, referring to her governor-appointed position on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Bridget Ziegler did not respond to several requests for comment from Herald-Tribune reporters before the meeting. At a workshop earlier in the day, Bridget Ziegler quickly exited the chambers with a police officer while communications director Craig Maniglia told reporters that the board member was not available for comment.
Bridget Ziegler won her most recent election in August 2022, meaning her term expires in 2026 should she choose to not resign.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could remove her from her seat, and school board members are not subject to recall elections. If Bridget Ziegler were to resign, the governor would appoint someone to serve until the next election cycle in 2024. Before the meeting, board Chairwoman Karen Rose and members Tom Edwards and Tim Enos each publicly called on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Both conservative and liberal School Board activist groups have also called on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Christian Ziegler also faces mounting pressure from DeSantis and other Republicans to resign his position as Florida GOP chairman. In police documents, the alleged victim and Bridget Ziegler both told police they had a three-way sexual encounter more than a year ago that included the two women and Christian Ziegler. Sarasota School Board members say the focus should be on students At the start of Tuesday's meeting, Rose noted that the board had no student representative to honor and no student performances scheduled, citing the divisive circumstances of the meeting. She emphasized that her resolution to ask Bridget Ziegler to resign was intended to help keep the board focused on student achievement. "It's not about the left it's not about the right, it's about students," she said. Enos echoed Rose's sentiment following the vote but said he would leave the decision to Bridget Ziegler rather than taking the issue to the governor. "Whether it's Democrat, Republican, whatever it is, it should be only about the kids," Enos said. "My decision tonight was only about the kids."
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Activist groups have called Bridget Ziegler's involvement in a relationship "hypocritical" as Bridget Ziegler has been a vocal advocate for legislation such as the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by critics. Bridget Ziegler has also posted transphobic content on her social media. Rose, Edwards, and Enos all said that Bridget Ziegler would be a "distraction" from the work of the School Board should she remain. Enos, who told the Herald-Tribune, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Friday that he felt Bridget Ziegler should resign, campaigned with Ziegler under the "ZEM" movement promoted by conservative Republicans to flip the ideological majority of the board in 2022. Edwards pointed out that at the previous board meeting, he asked the members to move forward with a focus on student achievement. Now, only two weeks later, the district board meetings were back to being about politics, he said. "I am not judging Mrs. Ziegler, her husband or anything about the Zieglers, and I could," Edwards said. "What I'm going to do again is be student-centric myself, in every one of my actions. I'm going to ask you all to do the same because it doesn't appear that Mrs. Ziegler is going to resign." Public comment focuses on Ziegler and resignation Bridget Ziegler, at her elevated seat overseeing the board chambers, sat largely expressionless during the three hours of public comment that largely lambasted her and implored her to step down. More than 70 people signed up to speak at the meeting. The first to speak was Martin Hyde, an unsuccessful congressional and city commission candidate in Sarasota who famously threatened a police officer. Hyde lauded Bridget Ziegler's decision to be present at the meeting, calling the resignation resolution a political move for Rose. "This meeting is devoted to a motion that has no more authority than I would if I stood out in the street," Hyde said. "An utter and complete political charade for re-election."
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Timothy Wagner also spoke in support of Ziegler, urging her to "stand strong." Paulina Testerman, a local activist from Support Our Schools, called on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Testerman said she initially pitied Bridget Ziegler but said she felt Bridget Ziegler's hypocrisy made that difficult. "Mrs. Ziegler, every time you want to wallow in self-pity and feign victimhood, just remember that you can't complain that it's raining when you're the one who created the storm," Testerman said. Another local activist, Robin Williams, touted a petition to the board with nearly 2,000 signatures asking for Bridget Ziegler to resign. Joyce Peralta also called on Bridget Ziegler to resign, adding that she felt Bridget Ziegler and her husband sought to profit from their positions instead of working for student achievement. "Sarasota parents delighted this week in having to answer the question from their children: 'What is a three-way?'" Peralta said. Representatives from activist groups also spoke during public comment, such as Nicholas Machuca from Equality Florida. During his comment, he said Bridget Ziegler had caused "indisputable" harm to the LGBTQ+ community and called for her to resign immediately. "She has turned this school board into a circus and her continued occupation of a board seat is a joke and a stain on this district," he said.
Anonymous
Late in the public comment section, a coalition of LGBTQ+ students spoke against Bridget Ziegler and urged her to resign her seat. August Ray, a senior at Sarasota High School, said policies that Bridget Ziegler advocated for almost made their parents disown them and asked Bridget Ziegler to resign. "I find it deeply ironic that you, as a champion of the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, have been outed in the same way trans kids are outed in Sarasota County Schools," Ray said. Zander Moricz, who was the class president at Pine View School in Osprey and now attends Harvard, said Bridget Ziegler deserved to lose her job, but not because of her private sex life. "That defeats the lesson we've been trying to teach you, which is that a politician's job is to serve their community, not to police personal lives," Moricz said. "So, to be extra clear Bridget, you deserve to be fired from your job because you are terrible at your job." Rally against Ziegler Ahead of the board's 6 p.m. meeting, activist groups such as Support Our Schools rallied outside of the board chambers to call on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Drivers on Tamiami Trail honked in support as they traveled past the district building. More than 50 people gathered to hear activists speak out against Bridget Ziegler, calling out her "hypocrisy" and urging her to resign. "I'm not a big believer in karma, but this is a pretty good advertisement for it," said Tsi Day Smyth, a queer parent of four Sarasota students. One counter-protester arrived halfway through the rally with a bullhorn. He yelled for Edwards to resign instead.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245329 meh, still would though. only a matter of time before some freakiness gets leaked. all those enm folks are into filming themselves
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245326 >Late in the public comment section, a coalition of LGBTQ+ students Go away fags.
Anonymous
>having a threesome means you're a hypocrite for not wanting porn disguised as children's books to be in schools Reminder, the + in LGBTQ+ is for pedophiles
Anonymous
Absolutely silly to demand for her to resign over a consensual relationship. And I say that as a leftist. The Far Left needs to stop falling for or traps
3ways to liven up your marriage
Quoted By:
>>1245350 having a 3 way is ok, as long as one of the 3 aint your kid(and 2 men)
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245322 'Karen' is an antiwhite slur.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245350 >>1245352 Degenerate sex and rape is okay for Republicans
The ironing
Anonymous
>>1245350 100% of chomos are LGBTQ.
Anonymous
>born too late to explore the world >born too early to explore space >born just in time to witness the purge of LGBTQ people based.
Anonymous
>>1245414 >why aren't my violent ideations making my political party popular? :O Anonymous
>>1245415 If it's so unpopular then why are we successfully purging the fags? Coping because you're probably next?
Anonymous
>>1245418 It's not unpopular. I think people are finally realizing what they've let out of the closet and it's not pretty.
Support for sexual perverts is waning rapidly.
Anonymous
>>1245421 yep, and we're not going to stop until all LGBT are out.
Then our kids can get molested by priests and GOP politicians, like God intended.
Anonymous
>>1245423 >Then our kids can get molested by priests Threadly reminder, the priests that raped boys were homosexuals.
Homosexuals raped those boys.
Thanks.
Anonymous
>>1245424 culturally and ideologically they were christian, so no, you're wrong
Anonymous
>>1245425 Homosexuality is it's own religion. They can't be homosexual and Christian as homosexuality is an abomination.
Sorry. You're wrong.
Anonymous
>>1245426 >Homosexuality is it's own religion tradlarpers love to call everything a religion
Anonymous
>>1245427 Homosexuals literally sued to rape boys in the Boy Scouts.
Anonymous
>>1245430 you're not worth talking to
Anonymous
>>1245415 I'm a liberal just not one subscribed to the mental illness my party decided to champion. Yes there are people who hate your kind but love the policies. Push comes to shove I'm going to prop up the side that understand men cant be woman and vice-versa. While educating that side later once you groomers are gone for liberal policies that aren't heralded by faggots.
Anonymous
>>1245432 >I'm the worlds most intolerant liberal No you're not. You apparently don't know what the word 'liberal' means or else you wouldn't be so intolerant.
Anonymous
There are no political affiliation with pedos. Toss all of them in an active volcano.
Anonymous
>>1245436 We've been talking about getting rid of most of the GOP for years.
Now their own voters are talking about chucking them into an active volcano.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245440 Reminder that majority of pedos are alphabet people and vote DemoKKKrat.
But I don’t play favorites, nor will them saying “I’m a <insert political affiliation here>” save them when they get smelted
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245440 GOP doesn't worship woke LGBTQ+ aids loving propaganda. literal disgusting filth
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245431 Sure I am. Are you gonna cry?
Anonymous
>>1245434 Being liberal has nothing to do with supporting people who have proven they are dangerous and need to be restricted.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245454 >republican sexual predators, abusers and enablers pts 1-48 i can't wait to hear the projection caused by this post
Anonymous
>>1245454 DailyKOS is brain cancer. Die please.
And no it hasn't been debunked no matter how many LGBTQs you out.
100% of chomos are LGBTQ.
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1245459 Oh it's this guy. The guy who thinks a grown man molesting a little girl is LGBTQ for some reason.
Anonymous
>>1245461 Every time we have this convo someone ends up posting the evidence that 100% of chomos are LGBTQ in an attempt to disprove the FACT that 100% of chomos are LGBTQ.
Want to continue?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245451 That's why your crazy ideas about what is dangerous are laughed at by most people.
Anonymous
>>1245469 you should be discontinued
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1245474 Never reply to me again, groomer.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245322 Why do they always look like Nancy Pelosi?
Anonymous
Fun reminder that the GOP has and always had a sexual predator/peophile problem and their accusations are always projections.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245469 i think you need mental help
Anonymous
>>1245352 The third person in the relationship is claiming she was raped
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1245475 No problem, pedo. Stay away from any children.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245529 >Stay away from any children So you can groom them? No thanks.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245518 And we never come out to support the LGBTQ chomos.
Anonymous
>>1245529 They won't. They sued the Boy Scouts to ensure they could rape boys.
They want to be on school boards to rape boys.
They will not stop.
Anonymous
>>1245546 They are coming for your sweet bussy right now, Cletus
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1245580 >Overall, [Moms for Liberty] said 44% of the candidates it has backed this year won their races. >the 1776 Project, said 58% of the candidates it endorsed – many of them in conservative areas – won. Hmm. Seems like they're winning to me.
In fact, Stark county had a pretty ridiculous school board election in which over 60 candidates ran for 40 seats. 17 seats were contested. Moms for Liberty endorsed 9 of the 62 candidates.
Of course, this was a STUNNING REBUKE!!! Nice spin, USA today.
>1 incumbent endorsed by the group won >No mention of how many contested seats were won by a non-incumbent That's the hard hitting fact avoiding journalism everyone enjoys.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245522 From the article: In police documents, the alleged victim and Bridget Ziegler both told police they had a three-way sexual encounter more than a year ago that included the two women and Christian Ziegler.
Anonymous
>Sarasota School Board members say the focus should be on students Then all the Board needs to do is focus on the students, simple as.
Anonymous
>activist group mom's for Yeah I'm not reading this shit
Anonymous
>>1245965 What's the problem?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245972 It's a Karen council
Anonymous
>>1245963 Maybe the LGBTQ members of the board are a little too focused on children.
Anonymous
>>1246008 Them and the religious pedophiles as well
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245594 Nice damage control
Anonymous
>>1246008 Right, so what is known about the other board members?
What sort of "distractions" from focusing on the children should they find themselves involved in?
Anonymous
>>1246013 >the religious pedophiles You mean also the LGBTQs that seek positions of trust and power to rape boys?
Yes, they are.
Anonymous
>>1246024 Well, the LGBTQ members should be more focused on killing themselves.
Anonymous
>>1246027 That's what I said. Religious pedophiles.
Anonymous
>>1246024 >>1246027 >>1246030 >>1246032 Wow it's like this board is being raided by Westboro Baptist Church
Anonymous
>>1246035 You know, I used to think they were ridiculous too.
However, the more you learn about LGBTQ, the more it's clear God really does hate fags and it's an objective fact.
Hell, I'm an atheist and even I recognize God hates fags and transsexuals are possessed by demons.
Anonymous
>>1246049 >I'm an atheist Seems like you're actually a chirisitan pedophile (with ASD)
Anonymous
>>1246049 >the more you learn about LGBTQ, I'd love to know the source that "taught" you about LGBTQ, something tells me whatever it was makes Westboro look like a girl scout troop.
Anonymous
>>1246051 Nope I'm an atheist.
And it's a shame that Catholics gave faggots a chance and let them participate then they raped all those boys.
They should've stuck to the teachings of their religion which are wiser than once thought.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1246053 LGBTQ taught me.
One of the biggest case studies was the homosexual infiltration of the Catholic church, which atheists tout as a huge victory against Catholics, but it exposes LGBTQ for what it is:
A gang of child rapists.
Additionally they have now qualms about making public statements about coming for kids.
That, HIV, HPV, STI stats. The Monkeypox scare that was called off because the children and pets of LGBTQs were the only ones getting it.
What else? I'm sure there's more. Oh, and that time they sued the Boy Scouts to be allowed to rape boys. That was something.
Anonymous
>>1246054 >Nope I'm an atheist. I disagree
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1246065 No further input needed, thanks.
Anonymous
>>1246067 Alright, thanks for nothing, faggot.
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1246072 OK. Thanks for the series of worthless posts.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Fag activists BTFO. LMAO.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1245322 >____ is bad >unless I do it every trumper EVER