Opinion: The Zieglers will pay the price for sex scandal in Sarasota
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In the MAGA money game, Christian and Bridget Ziegler have been holding a winning ticket.
Christian Ziegler, in particular, has cashed in on conservatism quite handsomely over the last several years, using his private media business to attract clients tied to U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, State Senator Joe Gruters and Donald Trump loyalist Corey Lewandowski, among others.
Christian Ziegler has even profited from Moms for Liberty, a controversial parent advocacy group co-founded by his wife Bridget, whose net worth climbed from $16,795.51 in 2014 - when she first joined the Sarasota County School Board - to $536,747.90 by the end of 2022, according to a state report.
The Zieglers are currently embroiled in a sex scandal that has garnered national attention, and the impact it will have on them financially could be significant. Bridget Ziegler has already been removed from the Leadership Institute, a position that paid her $64,101.34 in 2022.
Christian Ziegler is the current Florida GOP chair, and Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Senator Rick Scott are among many who are calling for him to step down from a job that pays roughly $124,000 a year, according to federal campaign reports.
Christian Ziegler is being investigated by the Sarasota Police Department after a woman alleged he sexually assaulted her on Oct. 2. No charges have been filed and Ziegler has ignored the calls to step down from his GOP post.
Bridget Ziegler is not under investigation but has come under fire for admitting to engaging in three-way sexual activity with the woman and her husband Christian. Ironic, since she has been seen by many as an anti-gay crusader during her school board tenure.
Christian Ziegler, a former Sarasota County Commissioner, listed his net worth at $1,037,245.62 as of Dec. 31, 2021 on state records. He claimed his business, Microtargeted Media, is worth $430,000.
Microtargeted Media specializes in targeted texts, phone calls and digital advertising for conservative causes and candidates. His company is not unlike now-bankrupt Cambridge Analytica, which took Facebook data and used it to target millions of voters with personalized ads. The company, founded by Steve Bannon, played a role in Trump's 2016 election win.
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Bannon's close friend, Andrew Badolato of Venice, developed a company that entered into a $400,000 contract with Cambridge Analytica and Christian Ziegler briefly worked with Badolato in that company. Badolato is currently in prison for his role in a border wall scam with Bannon.
Whether Microtargeted Media is modeled after Cambridge Analytica is not known, but it definitely has been lucrative.
On August 9, 2022, a PAC called Vern Buchanan for Congress paid Ziegler's company $27,082.62, according to federal records. The street address of Ziegler's company is listed as the same as his address in Sarasota. The city, however, is listed as Birmingham, Ala. for some reason, not Sarasota. There is no such street address in Birmingham.
Between 2016 and 2020, Buchanan used Ziegler's company five times and paid $19,438 total for services. Buchanan endorsed Ziegler when he was attempting to win the Florida GOP chair position, and one of Ziegler's first forays into politics was working for Buchanan.
Gruters, whom Ziegler replaced as Florida GOP chair, used Ziegler's company twice during election cycles - once in 2020 and again in 2022 - for a total of $45,029.58.
In 2022, around the same time Buchanan paid over $27,000 for Ziegler’s services, a PAC called Friends of Matt Gaetz shelled out $15,558.87. Gaetz is a U.S. Rep. from Florida’s 1st district who led the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
And speaking of McCarthy’s removal, U.S. Rep. Byron Daniels, who represents southwest Florida in the 19th district, paid Ziegler's company $20,375 for services that helped him become elected in 2020. Daniels, who endorsed Ziegler for chair and claims Joe Biden is not a legitimate president, received enough votes to deny McCarthy from the Speakership in the fourth through 12th rounds of that fiasco.
Indeed, Ziegler's company did business with some interesting clients in 2021. Included were $40,466 in payments from something called UltraMAGA PAC.
That same year, the company was paid $71,139.84 by Make America Great Again Action. Inc. That was a PAC run by Lewandowski.
After Lewandowski was removed from the PAC for sexual misconduct allegations, the PAC rebranded and Lewandowski was replaced by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Lewandowski then formed a new PAC that paid Ziegler $40,467 that year, records show.
In June and July of 2021, Ziegler's company received 16 payments totaling $120,000 from a PAC supporting a man named Chuck Gray. At the time, Gray was trying to defeat former Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming but did not receive enough votes in the primary.
Christian Ziegler's company has also profited from his wife Bridget. Records show a group called Friends of Bridget Ziegler paid Microtargeted Media $21,756.57.
Add Christian Ziegler's years as a Sarasota County Commissioner and he's done well. In four years, between 2018-21, Ziegler earned a total of $339.305.61 and his company, during those same years, earned $614,861.88, according to state records.
Indeed, a new election cycle is fast approaching and normally Christian Ziegler would be looking to profit. But this is not a normal time for him, and whether or not he is charged one thing is certain: Ziegler's MAGA money meal ticket has been torn to smithereens.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Christian, Bridget Ziegler will lose a lot of money over sex scandal
