Dina Keever Brings a Refreshing Voice to the Boca Raton Chapter!
Posted by Alex Berry on September 8, 2012 · Leave a Comment
As many of you may have noticed, the PBCTP has elected to utilize it’s significant power to best inform and educate our county from the perspective of not only the national election coming in November, but local elections, too. As a result, we have attempted to shift from having a “Dinner/Speaker” type of event for our monthly chapter meetings, to creating actual “Candidate Forums” or “Debates”, so that our attendees can better know the candidates. As the Boca Chapter Coordinator, I can tell you it is no small effort to pull these events off successfully! Of course, the closer we get to the elections in November, the more busy and active the candidates are as it comes close to “crunch time”. This has made the challenge of setting these events up that much more interesting.
This month, we went through any number of combinations of candidates for a host of different offices, but there was conflict in every case of having the candidate AND their opponents appear on the same stage. Ultimately, time became the biggest factor. We have always wanted to have Dina Keever, who is running for State Attorney appear in Boca, but asked for her patience as we explored the “debate” route. Since that wasn’t happening in time, Dina graciously accepted our offer to have her speak to our group.
The fact that we didn’t begin promoting it until just a few days before the event, coupled with the fact that we had just hosted a HUGE Labor Day picnic in Carlin Park with Allen West the day before our event, and the fact that everyone was just coming off a major holiday, and the fact that the weather turned ugly just before our event, the attendance was lower than our usual banner crowd in Boca. The meeting, however, was excellent, and Dina Keever was really a terrific speaker. Meanwhile, the food at Boca Greens Country Club just seems to get better and better—we thank Roger Anderson and his staff for rolling out the red carpet for us yet again.
Boca Chapter Coordinator Alex Berry began the proceedings at 7:00pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. Carlos Manuel Santana then regaled us with his impassioned version of the National Anthem- truly exhilarating! After the usual protocol of explaining what the PBCTP is, and what it stands for, Alex introduced Pam Wohlschlegel, PBCTP Founder and County Coordinator. Pam announced several items of interest to our group, including her experience at the recent Republican National Convention in Tampa. It was really quite interesting, because she interacted with our crowd in terms of questions, and discussed topics like how the delegates were chosen—and how that changed—at the convention.
Current and former local candidates Joe Talley (County Sheriff) and Cesar Haneo made appearances, and introduced themselves before the main speaker was introduced.
Alex then introduced Dina Keever, who discussed her personal journey to run for State Attorney. I think what struck everyone in attendance was the sheer sincerity, honesty, and genuine-ness of her presentation. If there were ever a candidate for office whose attitude was one of being “driven” to serve the public in a sacrificial way, Dina Keever is just that one. There appeared to be no self-serving element to her at all—quite a refreshing change from the “career politician” types who we have all seen and heard. Her motivation comes from the exact right place, and she shared in such a personal way that it almost defied the notion that she was at a podium, giving a speech. It almost felt like a normal living room conversation (and, given our crowd size that evening, was not far from it, ha-ha!). I believe many others running for office can take a page from her book by personalizing their story in a sincere and straightforward way. The big “platform” issue if she were to take office? CORRUPTION. She left little doubt in anyone’s mind that she would clean up those corridors in our county that feed off corruption. All in all, it was a short speech, but it was no-nonsense and packed a good punch. Dina then took questions from the crowd, and most were simply follow-up questions from her speech.
It was a great night that was full of fun and well received. I encourage everyone to get involved in the political process, by joining us for our events in Boca, which meet the first Tuesday of every month. Stay tuned for announcements on our October 2nd meeting, and get ready NOW for a HUGE “Election Day” victory celebration on November 6th, which happens to be the first Tuesday of the month! It will be a gala affair with monitors to watch election results, food and bar, entertainment, and speeches! You will DEFINITELY want to mark your calendars for this one!!! Time is drawing to a close to make a difference for the next election, so please get involved if you aren’t yet, and STAY involved if you already are!
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