John Ostalkiewicz
American politician
Clarence John Ostalkiewicz Jr. (Septembreer 19, 1952 – May 25, 2010) was a Republican politician from Florida who served as a member of the Florida Senate from the 12th district from 1994 to 1998.
Early life
Ostalkiewicz was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1952, and attended Babson College, graduating in 1974 with his bachelor's degree in accounting. He moved to Windermere, Florida, in 1988, and started a diamond-import business. Ostalkiewicz became a parents' rights activist after an employee's child was taken from them following allegations of child abuse.
Florida Senate
In 1994, Ostalkiewicz challenged incumbent State Senator Gary Siegel for re-election in the 12th district, which included suburbs of Orlando in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia counties. He attacked Siegel, the sponsor of several reforms to juvenile crime statutes, for "parent bashing," and campaigned on his support of parents' rights. The Orlando Sentinel endorsed Siegel, criticizing Ostalkiewicz for "[n]arrow thinking."
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After an expensive campaign, Ostalkiewicz ultimately defeated Siegel, winning 56 percent of the vote to Siegel's 44 percent. No other candidates filed in the race, and Ostalkiewicz won the general election by default.
1998 Orange County chairman campaign
In 1998, rather than seek re-election, Ostalkiewicz decided to run for Chairman of Orange County to succeed Linda Chapin, who was term-limited.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Ostalkiewicz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.