Congressman-Elect Brian Mast visits Abacoa


Congressman-elect Brian Mast highlighted a packed meeting at Abacoa on Monday, thanking the members, many of whom worked hard for his election, and Brian was presented with a musical globe by PBCTP leaders Mel and Barbara Grossman. The globe plays “The Impossible Dream”.


Tea Party leaders present musical globe to our Congressman-Elect. From left: Fred Scheibl, Joe Burge, Bert Shadowen, Barbara Grossman, Iris Scheibl, Mel Grossman, Marion Frank, Terry Gallagher, Congressman-Elect Brian Mast.

In his remarks, Brian related the process of coming up to speed, including the “Freshman Orientation” in Washington. A dinner, held in the “old halls of the capital” was particulary memorable as they dined in the same space where slavery and the other momentous issues in our history were debated. He will leave this job, Brian said, when he no longer feels chills upon entering the building.

Brian’s office will be room 2182 of the Rayburn Office Building, where he plans to also reside – something that 80 or so other Congressman do while they are in the capital.

For committee assignments, in keeping with his desire to work on projects of interest in the district, Brian has selected Transporation and Infrastructure as his first choice, followed by Veterans Affairs, Armed Services, Foriegn Affairs and Homeland Security.

When the 115th Congress convenes in January, he expects the first order of business will be Obamacare Repeal through a reconciliation bill (with “replace” coming later). He does not expect smooth sailing however, and cautions that the Democrats, particularly in the Senate, will be working overtime to derail and obstruct progress on the Trump and Congressional agendas.

We were told that Brian plans to open offices in all three of the counties making up district 18, and will be holding town halls when he periodically returns to the district.

A number of interesting questions were asked, including his plans regarding “dialing for dollars” – the significant focus on fundraising that all Congressmen are expected by their Caucus to do. Brian was honest about it – running for Congress every two years is very expensive, and he feels an obligation to help “replenish the coffers” of the NRCC and other groups that helped him compete against the heavily funded Randy Perkins. But dollars won’t buy his vote – he has been given good advice from the caucus leaders to “vote your district”.

Present at the meeting were two candidates for City Council in Palm Beach Gardens – Mark Marciano and Matthew Lane. With three open seats in that city thanks to term limits, neither currently have an opponent, but that could change prior to the filing deadline of late January. Gardens Mayor Marcie Tinsley was also at the meeting.