Wellington Chapter Meeting Inspires New Member
The following was written by Janeen Capizola. The pictures at the end are from Ed Wolff.
I am Janeen and I am a Tea Party Patriot. I didn’t need to admit it, I needed to understand it. So no one is happier than I that I attended my first meeting of the Wellington Chapter of the Palm Beach County Tea Party Patriots Tuesday evening to hear TP Patriots Cofounder and National Coordinator, Mark Meckler, and State Coordinator, Dawn Wildman, speak about the Tea Party.
My story goes like this: I stood in a very long line on a cold, dark morning to early vote in the 2008 General Election. Hundreds of people were out voting for Obama and I was seething, thinking, “Dear Lord, they know what they do.” That’s when I began yelling on Facebook. I figured I had two years to simply get one apathetic voter to care and pay attention before they ever went out to vote again. On April 15, 2009 in downtown West Palm Beach, in the pouring rain, I stood passing out American flag stickers I purchased on my own for the Anti-Tax (Tea Party) Rally. When I saw the crowd, I never felt more at home in my life. Like-minded thinkers, fighting the same fight as I. Back to my comfy couch and Facebook where I immediately “Liked” the Tea Party Patriots and continued to yell through the 2010 elections up until today. Recently, I got off my couch and joined the Palm Beach County REC, a bunch of Republican Clubs and thought, “well, of course, I “identify” with the Tea Party, so I’ll join them, too.” After all, for the past two years, I’ve been trying to explain that the Tea Party is a “movement,” not a political party; that the Tea Party is NOT a “wing,” “branch,” or “arm” of the Republican Party; that the Tea Party is a force to be reckoned with and don’t underestimate the power of the people. But that is pretty much all I knew about the Tea Party Patriots. I know now that I don’t “identify” with the Tea Party, I AM a Tea Party Patriot!
Dawn Wildman spoke first and she was a hoot! She immediately started with, “the Tea Party is not about Democrat vs. Republican,” it’s not about liberal vs. conservatives, it’s about “looking at the values” of our elected leaders and candidates who run for office. The Tea Party is about finding people with “common interests and principles” and not about a particular political philosophy. And so you see, it is because the Tea Party can’t be LABELED that SCARES the heck out of those who resort to calling us terrorists and telling us to go straight to hell. She spent some time talking about how the movement is sweeping Europe. She said every region in Italy now has a Tea Party chapter and that hit home for me as an American of Italian decent. She told us, and we laughed out loud, to stop screaming at our TV’s and get involved. And I plan to do just that! Thanks Dawn, message received.
Mark Meckler spoke next and this man was born to lead. He explained the history of the Tea Party, starting with the famous February 19, 2009 Rick Santelli rant on CNBC where he called for another Tea Party on the 4th of July. That rant set the Twitter world abuzz and Mark, Dawn and 20 others, all strangers to each other, said, “why wait?” and they got to work promoting on Facebook. All over the country, Tea Parties were held one week later, February 27, 2009. Mark says he was stunned to see hundreds of citizens “standing against the government” at these rallies. After such a huge turnout and overwhelmingly positive reaction to the first Tea Party rallies, Mark called Dawn and others around the country to plan some Tax Day rallies figuring, “well, everyone’s angry on tax day!” Again, here were regular people simply posting on Facebook promoting these rallies and it wasn’t long before there were 850 planned tea parties posted on their site. Well, Fox News, and only Fox News, picked up the buzz and began covering what was being planned for April 15, 2009 across the land. Once that happened, Mark said the “lid just blew off!” He started receiving approximately 1000 emails an hour, more rallies were planned, and this was happening as Mark again said, “with no official ‘organization,’ no money, no one with any particular skills, and no marketing.” He says it took awhile to get some estimates and numbers, but they know now that 1.2 million people attended rallies across America on April 15, 2009. Wow! After that enormous success, the big question became “what now?” They named the group the Tea Party Patriots. And when asked by the media, (my words) “oh how clever of you to use the word ‘Patriot’ in your name, after all everyone is a Patriot, right?” Mark’s response was, “well, actually we just thought ‘Tea Party Patriots’ sounded cool.” I found it particularly striking that Mark and the others specifically chose to use the term “fiscal responsibility” over the more commonly used, familiar, “fiscal conservative” because they did not want to be seen embracing any political philosophy.
Fast-forward to September 12, 2009 where 1.7 million people marched on D.C. and even cleaned up after themselves! Another bit of information I had never heard and thought was super cool when Dawn mentioned it: the Smithsonian asked for a tee-shirt and sign from that day because they knew history was being made! Mark went on: As the Tea Party Patriots continued to grow, we all saw what was accomplished in November 2010: “the largest turnover in the House of Representatives since 1938.” I loved how Mark told of the Freshman Member Orientation where he and Jenny Beth pretty much “demanded” the freshman members attend. Mark said two things were said to the new members: 1)”We are here for you. We helped get you here from all over the country. We expect you to vote your conscious. And if you do, you have an army of people to back you up.” 2)”And if you don’t, we will send you all back to where you came from.”
What has been remarkable to me, a Patriot watching from the sidelines, is instead of fizzling out or dying as many movements usually do after an election, the Tea Party Patriots has continued to grow. Mark says there are now over 3,600 chapters, with approximately 22-23 million members, across the country and every single one is organized differently depending on what the need in a particular town, city or county is. An interesting statistic Mark gave, and he said they simply go from their Facebook page demographics, about half the members are under the age of 45 and half the members are over 45, with the under 45 crowd being active on Facebook and the over 45 crowd being active in meetings.
Let me end by saying I have thoroughly enjoyed my two recent Tea Party events, the Labor Day BBQ and the Wellington meeting. Every member has been so unbelievably welcoming to me, a newcomer. All of you have an enthusiasm and a passion for the 3 core values fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets, that make us all Patriots. When I attend a Tea Party meeting, it doesn’t matter what political party I belong to, what my thoughts on social issues are, what my religion is, and not only doesn’t it matter, no one cares since we are all Americans who want the same things for America! I am so happy the Tea Party is there for me and it is going to be my pleasure working with all of you as we prepare for November 2012.
[slide]
October 3, Jupiter – The Devil at my Doorstep
October’s meeting of the Jupiter Chapter on 10/3 will feature the author of “The Devil At My Doorstep“, David Bego.
Individuals and small to mid size business owners who believe in employee privacy rights and the American Dream must attend this unique opportunity to speak with the man who stood up to Andy Stern and the SEIU and won.
Please RSVP with all those attending and if for the buffet or just the meeting. The meeting will be held at the Double Tree Hotel, 4431 PGA Blvd, Palm Beach Gardens. Buffet begins at 5:45PM and the meeting promptly at 7:00 PM.
Click the button below to RSVP:
or call 561-444-8086
County Tax Rate Comes Closer to TAB Target
Last evening at about 11:00pm, the County Commission voted to set the county-wide tax rate at $4.79 per $1K valuation, up 0.8% from last year. While still technically an increase, it is much better than the number set in the July meeting and an indication that all the work of the last few months has had an effect.
Thank you to those who attended or wrote letters and emails, but a very special thanks to those who stood up at the meeting and spoke their mind. Of the 80 people speaking at the meeting, 75% were there to protect “their” county funded programs, but 25% were on our side, a rising tide.
From South Florida 912, speakers included Marianne Polulack, Iris and Fred Scheibl, Rita and Jim Boger, Victoria Theil, Albert Key, Alison Rampersad, Nancy Hogan, Mike Lameyer, Shannon and Doug Armstrong, and Jason Shields.
Palm Beach County Tea Party was represented by Anita Carbone.
For a synopsis of the meeting and what the tax decision means, see: A Surrealistic Budget Hearing on the TAB website.
Meckler, Wildman Highlight Boca Chapter Meeting
The Palm Beach County Tea Party group kicked off September in grand style with it’s monthly dinner/speaker event on Monday, September 12th. While many people were still absorbing the impact in the wake of yesterday’s media blitz of the 10-year anniversary of 9-11-2001, many of our attendees were still contemplating the significance on just what it means to be an American in this day and age. There is nothing like being reminded of the sorrow of fallen heroes and their families to readjust your idea of what it means to be patriotic.
On a night when we had a major televised debate for the Republican candidates, as well as a torrential downpour that lasted about an hour before we opened for the evening, we still had about 70 patriots who braved the weather and showed up, so that our voices can be heard in force. As the rain began to subside, many familiar faces trickled in for a night of true education and encouragement. As usual, we had about one-third of our crowd who had never been to a Tea Party event before!
[slide]
After all enjoyed a delicious dinner at Boca Greens Country Club, Alex Berry, the Boca Chapter Coordinator of the Palm Beach County Tea Party, took the podium as the evening’s MC. A brief welcome was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, and a review of the three tenets of the Tea Party was presented. Our founder and County Coordinator, Pam Wolschlegel was then introduced to update the attendees on the latest PBCTP news and events. Pam also started a tradition of providing the “Quotes of the Month”—typically statements made by liberal politicians (but others as well) who wish to vilify the Tea Party movement, and to characterize us all as cartoonish malcontents. There was lots of laughter and guffaws at these statements, but was illustrative of how the Left is desperate to discredit our movement.
Alex then introduced Bruce Besser, a loyal member of the Boca Chapter, who encouraged attendees to get involved LOCALLY, and specifically in our Boca Chapter, which needs more patriots to get involved with us. Terry Brady, a co-founder, followed to inform the attendees about the various fundraising activities that he is conducting, encouraging those who are passionate about our cause to give in a sacrificial way, or at least give of your time to help raise the money needed to continue to educate about our great cause.
Alex then introduced the speakers for the evening: Dawn Wildman, a state coordinator of Tea Party Patriots from San Diego, CA, and Mark Meckler, the Co-founder and National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. Dawn took the podium first, and recounted her journey in the movement. As only Dawn can do, she used her wit and intelligence and wry humor to address what life is like in a liberal bastion like California. Her presentation brought both nods of understanding and laughter. Who says great patriots can’t be funny and encouraging?!?!
Mark Meckler then took the podium, after Dawn’s introduction. Mark told us the story of what the Tea Party movement is like nationwide. His incredible message resonated strongly with our boisterous and lively audience, because it was so entertaining and encouraging—he said that this movement has it’s hallmark in meetings like ours—mobilizing local people to get involved! Mark then regaled the crowd with stories of his experiences with the national media- like the Chris Matthews story—as well as dealing directly on Capitol Hill with elected politicians who benefited from the Tea Party vote. One thing is clear: not much has changed in the Big Political Machine in Washington. This means that the Tea Party still has a lot of work to do. A natural speaker, Mark truly captured the essence of what true patriotism really means on a local level—whether it means making a financial contribution, getting involved in events with your local group, or just having a bumper sticker to help our cause. The point he made is: “There is a Role For You”.
The “Q&A” portion was equally entertaining, and Mark Meckler handled all the questions with grace, aplomb, and a direct honesty that was appreciated and respected by all. After about 6 questions were asked and answered, the raffle prize was drawn and won by none other than the Boca Chapter’s own Howard Dekkers– who promptly returned the $100 prize back to the Tea Party. Thanks, Howard!
One of the best parts of meetings like ours is the fellowship that occurs afterwards. Not only do like-minded patriots get to meet each other and exchange ideas, but the speakers always make themselves accessible to answer any additional questions, as well. Several people stayed to chat and enjoy the evening, and many stayed till well after 9:00pm. Media present at our event included Michele Kirk, Associate Editor of BizPac Review, and Heather Gustafson, a student at nearby Lynn University, whose senior project in Journalism School is her report on local Tea Party activities.
We look forward to another great meeting in October for our Boca Chapter—please stay tuned into this site for more information, and INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!!! See you next month!
Florida Tea Party Convention: Victory in 2012 Begins with You!
You know the problems, now lets talk about solutions! If not us, who?
Mark your calendars for the Florida Tea Party Convention at Daytona Beach on November 4-6, 2011. Join many of us from the Palm Beach County Tea Party as we travel to Daytona for an exciting three days of speakers and events that will motivate us to work hard for success in 2012.
Here are the highlights:
- More than two dozen featured speakers including Gov. Rick Scott, Senator Marco Rubio, and Congressman Allen West
- Several presidential and senatorial debaters
- Entertainers including Lloyd Marcus
- Breakfast and dinner events with speakers
- Opportunities to share best practices among tea party groups
- Social events
- AssembliesVideos
And the price is right! Convention attendees can stay at Daytona’s finest oceanfront resort, the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort – Ocean Walk Village, for the low price of $99 per night. Make your reservations early so that you can take advantage of the special block of rooms!
For more information and to register, check out their website at http://www.ttpnc.com/ – 3
Here is a video from the lead sponsor the Tri County Villages Tea Party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec1CgC5nGhc
If you are interested in going, please let us know so that we can arrange for you to meet with other Palm Beach County Tea Party Members. Just email us at info@palmbeachcountyteaparty.org.
Solyndra – a perfect example of “Crony Capitalism”
The events surrounding the bankruptcy of Solyndra, Barack Obama’s favorite solar energy company, should remind us again why the federal government should not play venture capitalist with our money. You’ll recall that Soylyndra was given a loan guarantee of $535 Billion dollars by the administration. It appears to me that this waste of our money was prompted by 2 goals – 1) payback for generous campaign donations, and 2) an obsession with destroying the existing energy industry.
This ‘investment’ would not have been made by anyone with a basic understanding of economics. As recently as early 2010, an audit by Price Waterhouse concluded that Solyndra, which lost over $500M in its first 5 years of operation, “has suffered recurring losses from operations, negative cash flows since inception and has a net stockholders’ deficit that, among other factors, raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” Despite this, Solyndra’s loan guarantees were fast-tracked, while an established solar company, Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts, was struggling, and in that same year moved to China (along with 800 jobs). Interestingly, Solyndra spent a half million dollars in 2010 lobbying Washington. And, curiously, as part of the deal the taxpayers interests were subordinated to those of George Kaiser, a wealthy billionaire and large contributer to Obama’s campaign. Guess he had his vision of “Hope and Change” fulfilled.
An FBI investigation has begun, but I don’t expect it to go anywhere with the current Justice Department. This is a prime example of the “crony capitalism” that Sarah Palin is always railing about.
PBCTP’s Read & Share Program Launched
Hello all,
I want to thank Esther Ansell for suggesting and implementing the Read & Share Program, an ongoing used book sale for the Palm Beach County Tea Party. This program gives our members a means to share books inexpensively while providing some needed proceeds to our new organization.
Launching the Read & Share Program at the Labor Day BBQ in Palm Beach Gardens, Esther set up a table with a display of several gently-used books donated by our members. She sold the hardback books and large paperback books for $5 and the average size paperbacks for $2. Esther encouraged our “buyers” to return the books after they have read them for “resale” at a future meeting.
I want to extend a warm thank you to our initial book donors: Mr. & Mrs. Jim Hunter, Ms. Beth Russell, Mr. & Mrs. John Brooks, and Ms. Esther Ansell.
The Read & Share Program brokers any gently-used book in one of these categories: History, Economics, Government, Political Theory, Biography, and Historical Novels. The books must also be focused on one or more of our three tea party tenets of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.
The success of the sale table at the BBQ has encouraged Esther to propose that each chapter consider using this program as a method for fundraising. If you are interested in facilitating the Read & Share Program in the Boca Raton or Wellington Chapters, please call the Hotline.
If you come to the Jupiter/PBG meetings and have books to donate, please call the Palm Beach County Tea Party Hotline at (561) 444-8086 and the operator will route you to Esther.
Going Postal Profitable (for the employees – for a while)
The Postal Service is running out of money. The anticipated shortfall for 2011 is
$6.4 billion.
The conventional wisdom that the Postal Service is the victim of the rise of email is only part of the story.
Another large part of the problem is the workers’ extricating themselves from Civil Service constraints to increase their pay and benefits. This is another example of public employees bargaining collectively with government entities to increase pay and benefits. This has made the Postal Service more constrained and less able to adapt to the changing environment and the challenge of email.
The postal operation is very labor intensive, so any increase in labor costs has a large impact on profitability.
Postal workers were able to significantly increase their pay because Postal pay exceeds Civil Service pay.
A college graduate with a B.S. degree and little experience starts in the Civil Service as a GS-5 at $29,656 per year. The median Civil Service salary is about $52,000 per year.
By contrast, starting Postal Service pay is $39,520 per year, for part time flexible mail carriers. The average pay of a postal worker in 2007 was 63,771 per year .
Postal workers were able to significantly increase their health benefit because they pay less for health insurance.
The Postal worker and the Civil Service worker both have the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program for their health insurance. The worker pays part of the insurance premium and the government pays the balance. Since the Postal worker pays a lot less for health insurance, the Postal insurance costs the government more.
For a typical health plan (Blue Cross self and family coverage), a Civil Service employee pays $431.60 per month. The balance of the insurance premium is paid by the U.S. Government as an employee benefit.
By contrast, a postal worker pays $322.18 per month. The Postal Service therefore pays over $109 per month extra as an employee benefit.
The Postal Service employs over 574,000 people. If Postal Service pay is $12,000 per year per person higher, that represents an added annual payroll cost of nearly $7 billion. The extra health insurance cost adds a burden to the Postal Service of over $750 million.
If it was not for these higher costs, not only would there not be a deficit this year but there would have been an accumulation of surpluses in previous years and the Postal Service would be on better financial footing today.
HISTORY.
An important part of the present financial problem began in 1970 when the U. S. Post Office left the Civil Service system and morphed into the Postal Service.
After years of mismanagement and attendant labor unrest, President Nixon signed into law the Postal Reorganization Act on August 12, 1970. The Post Office Department was transformed into the United States Postal Service, an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States. The act provided significant wage increases for postal workers.
The new Postal Service officially began operations on July 1, 1971. At that time, the Postmaster General left the Cabinet, and the Postal Service received:
1. Operational authority vested in a Board of Governors and Postal Service executive management, rather than in Congress.
2. Authority to issue public bonds to finance postal buildings and mechanization.
3. Direct collective bargaining between representatives of management and the unions.
4. A new rate-setting procedure, built around an independent Postal Rate Commission.
The Postal Reorganization Act established a postal career service, a framework that permits terms and conditions of employment to be set through collective bargaining. The Civil Service retirement program was retained.
What is happening to the postal service has often occurred in industry. The unions negotiate increasingly generous pay and benefits until the enterprise becomes too constrained to adapt to a changing environment, costs become uncompetitive and unsustainable, the enterprise collapses and the jobs vanish.
The Postal Service says they want to solve their problem by eliminating Saturday delivery. They do not seem to understand that by eliminating the service their customers cherish they are hastening the day when they become irrelevant.
Pending Florida Legislation
Members of the Florida legislature are beginning to offer bills for consideration during the next legislative session.
You can view these bills and their details on the internet.
The bills are listed separately for the House and Senate.
Call to Action – County Budget Meeting, 9/13
This is a call to action for next week’s county budget hearing, Tuesday evening, 9/13/11 at 6:00pm. The meeting is in the county government center, 301 North Olive in West Palm Beach. Come early as the meeting is expected to be crowded.
As you prepare for the meeting, here are some resources that may be useful:
- September Talking Points
- Sample email and 3 minute remarks
- The 2012 TAB Proposal – September Update
- September Budget Hearings – Some Background
Also check the “News Articles” tab on the TAB website for the latest budget stories from the Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel, and others.
Those on the “receiving” side of the budget will be out in force. Those of us on the “paying” side must also have their voices heard. If you can’t attend, send an email. Addresses for the commissioners and administrator can be found on right side of the TAB website, or you can email all at once at: BCC-AllCommissioners@pbcgov.org.
For some specific details about this meeting, see the 9/9 TAB email.
