Politics

Pro-white candidate wants your vote

He is the first challenger to incumbent Rep. John Legg in District 46.

By THOMAS LAKE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 14, 2007

John Ubele, 29, is a window cleaner by trade. He is the first challenger to Legg for the District 46 seat in the state House of Representatives. And he is operations manager for the Nationalist Coalition, a St. Petersburg-based white nationalist group that wants to create its own media, education system, government and white-only living space.
	[Zach Boyden-Holmes | Times (2006)]

ADVERTISEMENT [Nationalist Coalition Web site] Fliers with the group's name, Nationalist Coalition, circulated along Redfield Drive, near Little Road and Fox Hollow Drive.

PORT RICHEY - John Ubele wants you to put him in the statehouse. He wants to take state Rep. John Legg's job. He promises good things: Lower homeowner's insurance. Order in the classroom. Less money for politicians, more for vocational training. His official platform veers toward mainstream conservatism.

But Ubele has another platform, one he doesn't mention on his candidate Web site, and here is the short of it:

He wants to build a national pro-white political party.

Ubele, 29, is a window cleaner by trade. He is the first challenger to Legg for the District 46 seat in the state House of Representatives. And he is operations manager for the Nationalist Coalition, a St. Petersburg-based white nationalist group that wants to create its own media, education system, government and white-only living space.

"Ultimately," the Coalition's Web site says, "we will do whatever is necessary to achieve this White living space and to keep it White."

Ubele filed his candidate papers July 2. This is not his first run for office. Last November, after saying that black Americans who complain about discrimination should go back to Africa, he came in last among six candidates for Pasco's Mosquito Control Board. He got barely 3 percent of the vote.

Ubele could not be reached for an interview on Thursday, but his Nationalist Coalition has been busy this week. Fliers with the group's name circulated along Redfield Drive, near Little Road and Fox Hollow Drive. They depict Uncle Sam with a Star of David on his hat.

"WE WANT YOU! To die so Israelis don't have to," the flier said. "Now American soldiers are being killed so that Israeli soldiers won't have to fight their enemies for themselves."

Legg, the incumbent Republican from Port Richey, said he found it offensive and frightening.

"I mean, it appalled me," he said. "Because it's a deliberate thing on Rosh Hashanah."

It was unclear whether the rhetoric changed anyone's views. Sharon Quass, 54, said she picked up the flier, read it twice, crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.

Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 21:52:36]