Frank Shannon (politics)

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Frank Shannon
Frank Shannon
Born	Francis Xavier Shannon, Jr. (1961-12-23)December 23, 1961 Bronx, New York
Other names	"Brutally Frank" Shannon
Occupation	politician, political analyst, columnist, powerlifter
Religion	Roman Catholic

Francis Xavier Shannon, Jr. (born December 23, 1961 in the Bronx, New York), better known as Frank Shannon, was a 2004 Republican candidate for the Florida House of Representatives for district 56, comprising parts of Tampa and the suburbs east of Tampa in Hillsborough County, Florida.

Raised in the heavily Irish Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, Shannon moved to Tampa in 1973. Shannon attended Jesuit High School and graduated from Tampa Catholic High School in 1979. Shannon went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a minor in history from the University of South Florida in Tampa. For three years in the early 1980s, Shannon wrote sports for The Tampa Tribune. He eventually worked in banking until 2003. It was during his early professional years that Shannon's political activity started. He spent years as a member of the Hillsborough County Republican executive committee, and was a board member and longtime president of Right to Life of Hillsborough County.

2004 election

Shannon declared his candidacy for the district 56 seat in the Florida House of Representatives early in 2003. Later that year, he left the banking industry to spend the next year working exclusively on his campaign. On August 31, 2004, Shannon narrowly lost a crowded six-candidate primary to Trey Traviesa, who held the district 56 seat until 2008 when he stepped down.

Brutally Frank and Catholic writings

In 2006, Shannon returned to writing for The Tampa Tribune, but this time as a political columnist. His Brutally Frank column, typically a hardhitting articulation of Shannon's ultaconservative views on a variety of political and social issues, appeared weekly for three years in the Tribune's Brandon News & Tribune section. Shannon regularly stoked the ire of liberals with his coining of phrases, referred to as "Shannonisms," like "Obamunism", "Obamunist", "the Obamunist Regime,"the Sacrilegious Left," a reference to anyone in opposition to the Religious Right, and "the Sodomitic Left," a more specific reference to advocates of the gay agenda. Shannon would also regularly champion of the legacies and anti-communist efforts of such historical figures as Senator Joe McCarthy and General Francisco Franco, leader of the right-wing Nationalist military rebellion in the Spanish Civil War and dictator of Spain until his death. On the humorous side, Shannon also came up with the "Joey Buttafuoco Man of the Year" award, given as occasions arose to any male politicians or celebrities caught in adultery.

Prior to his return to the Tribune, Shannon had started writing articles for publication in Catholic newspapers and publications across the United States. In all his articles, Shannon stressed strict adherence to the magisterial teaching of the Church and a traditionalist approach to Roman Catholicism.

Powerlifting

Frank Shannon preparing to lift at a meet in 1991.

In June 2009, Shannon resumed competing in powerlifting after a seventeen-year absence. For the next three years in a row, he won the 242-pound class in both the open and Masters I (40–49 years old) divisions in Florida's Sunshine State Games, sanctioned annually by USA PowerLifting (USAPL), formerly the American Drug Free Powerlifting Association (ADFPA) in which he'd previously competed. The USAPL continues to drug-test its competitors. In December 2012, at the age of fifty, Shannon shifted to the USAPL's Florida Seniors, and continued his success in the 242-pound class.

Continued writing

At last report, Shannon is working on Century of Faith: The Twentieth Century as a Golden Age of Roman Catholicism.

References

External links

http://www.brutallyfrank.com

Persondata
Name	Shannon, Frank
Alternative names	Shannon, Francis Xavier
Short description	American politician, political analyst, columnist, powerlifter
Date of birth	December 23, 1961
Place of birth	Bronx, New York
Date of death
Place of death

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