Jupiter/PBG Chapter Energized and Ready to Tackle 2012!

This was our first meeting at Abacoa Golf Club and we had a great turnout.  Several folks were new to the Palm Beach County Tea Party – thanks to all for coming!

Mark Wohlschlegel entertained the attendees while we enjoyed the buffet dinner. 

Chapter leader, Gary Summers, kicked off the meeting at 7pm with a welcome, the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner.   Then Pam Wohlschlegel, Chairman and County Coordinator, took the podium.  Since there were new attendees, she stated the groups 3 tenets and talked about our upcoming meeting in Boca on Tuesday (tomorrow)  featuring Congressman Allen West,  and next week’s Presidential Preference Portfolio event on January 10th as well as the associated member survey and voter’s guide.  Pam also talked about the need for volunteers in all aspects of our operations.    She also mentioned the new organization that Barry Carson is kicking off – the new Jupiter/Tequesta Republican Organization.  The group’s goals will be to be an activist group, not a dinner-club – with each of the members expected to be REC members, or poll-watchers and to join campaigns.

Gary then introduced our guest speaker, Guido (George) Lombardi.  An acclaimed author and international expert, Mr. Lombardi is the Executive Director of the North Atlantic League, (www.northatlanticleague.us ) which promotes positive foreign relations between Italy, Israel, and the United States. In addition, he is a leader in the Tea Party Italy, which has brought the values of small government and more personal freedom to Italy.

Mr. Lombardi began by telling us about the new Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti – and how the first things he’s done is raise taxes even on the smallest of items.  The European Union (EU) is stomping on each of the 3 tea party tenets every day.  The speaker said that the Prime Minister of Hungary stated the desire for Hungary to leave the EU, and that there is tremendous resentment through-out the EU for the un-elected leadership of the EU called the European Commission – which is an entirely appointed body.  Lombardi stated that the EU was convinced to print money as a way out of their financial difficulties by our Secretary of the Treasury – Timothy Geithner.

He also stated that much of the Italian economy is ‘underground’ and thriving.  He spoke positively about Sylvio Berlusconi, who is a personal friend.  Mr. Lombardi felt that Berlusconi’s conservative government, and business background, drove a lot of the more conservative government that have won elections throughout the EU.   

China’s impact on Italy was also a fascinating piece of Mr. Lombardi’s talk.  He described how small farms were being purchased by Chinese groups; then produce/farm products from other countries were delivered on Chinese ships to nearby ports and sold throughout the country in lieu of local production.  Struggling farmers were attracted to the large cash buyouts. 

Several questions were asked by audience members.  Mr. Lombardi concluded his talk by saying that he was optimistic that we would all prevail if we stood up for what we believe!

Some pictures from Fred and Ed:
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Wellington Chapter hosts the Senatorial Candidate Forum

Palm Beach County Tea Party’s (PBCTP) Wellington Chapter hosted our Senatorial Candidate Forum on Monday, December 12th.  Most of the attendees partook of the tasty buffet at the Binks Forest Country Club prior to the beginning of the meeting.

Gina Rascati, Wellington Chapter Leader and PBCTP co-founder, kicked off the event with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then Mel Grossman, PBCTP Vice President and co-founder, spoke about December events – encouraging attendees to help work the upcoming Gun Show.  In addition, he said that he’d be starting rallies, once again, in the new year.  Iris Scheibl, one of the PBCTP co-founders, described the upcoming Presidential Preference Primary Portfolio Event on January 10th to be jointly hosted by PBCTP and South Florida 912.  Alex Berry, Boca Chapter Leader took the podium and kicked-off the events – first describing the tenets of the PBCTP, then doing the introductions.  The guest moderator for the event was Jim Sackett, former WPTV NewsChannel 5 news anchor; time-keeper was Gina Rascatti; and the participating candidates, in order of opening statements were:  Mike McCalister,  Deon Long, Ron McNeil and Marielena Stuart.

After opening remarks, each of the candidates rotated going first in responding to the questions with one minute responses.  The excellent questions ran the gamut of conservative issues:  Repeal Obamacare?  Which departments to scale back or get rid of?  How to reduce the National Debt?  Would you have voted for the Defense Authorization Bill?  Would you support removing the US from the UN, NAFTA, and NATO and expel the UN from NYC?  Would you refuse to sign any treaty that says the US contributes to global warming or climate change?  Would you work to reform the tax code and repeal the 16th amendment?  Would you work to repeal current executive orders that put restrictions on States’ rights and if so, which ones?  Would you follow current immigration law while striving for a long term solution?  Is the U.S. Constitution a living document?  Would you abolish or limit the number of Czars?  Would you support making the Bush tax cuts permanent?  If not, why not?  While many of the responses were similar – there were distinctions based on the personal viewpoint of each of the candidates.  McCalister brought his military background and other experiences into the mix, Long spoke of his economic outlook and the fair tax as a framework, McNeil cited his paradigm as a successful engineer and businessman, and Stuart her perspective as a Cuban immigrant who lived under Communism and described Agenda 21/Sustainability as socialism.

We had time for two great audience questions as well.  Would you support and pass term limits for the House and Senate? – leading to probably the funniest line of the night, given by McNeil – “Yes – two terms – one in office and one in prison!”, and What would you do with the Federal Reserve and what would you replace it with?

The candidates then closed with 5 minute closing statements.  Alex closed the meeting with calling the raffle.

It was a very informative event offering us an opportunity to learn more about these principled but lesser known candidates.  There is a long time until the August 2012 primary and any one of these fine folks could emerge as a strong Conservative candidate.  Thanks to all who attended.

The following pictures were taken by Alex Berry.

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Huntsman and Gingrich Debate National Security

On Monday, December 12th, GOP presidential candidates Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich held a long-form debate at Saint Anselm College. I’ve only gotten to watch about 10 minutes of this, but it was clear that this is a very substantive, ‘intellectual’ discussion of difficult issues and is worth watching in its entirety:

Huntsman/Gingrich Lincoln-Douglas Style Debate

Think you can vote in the Presidential Preference Primary? Check your voter registration!

New to Florida?  Don’t vote at every election (municipal, primary, general)?  Why not?!

Many of us are all fired up and ready to vote in the upcoming Presidential Preference Primary on January 31.  But not all folks know that Florida is a ‘closed primary’ state – which means that one can only vote in the primary for the candidate(s) in the party in which one is registered.  If you are NPA (no party affiliation) or registered in a party other than Republican or Democrat (should President Obama have an opponent qualified in the primary) – you will not be able to vote for the Republican or Democrat  Party candidates.

So take a look at your voter registration card and make sure that you’re registered in the party in whose primary you plan to vote.  No?  Then you have until January 3, 2011 to change your registration (or to register to vote if you’re not already).

Information on how to register or modify your registration can be found at the Supervisor of Elections Voter Registration website page.  Upcoming elections and the voter registration cut-off dates for each can be found at Upcoming Elections.  And get familiar with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website, because it has lots of invaluable information on precinct makeup, registrations by party, election results and answers to questions you may have on everything voter related in the county.  Check it out!

PBC Charter Review – Call to Action – Deadline August 26th

Back in June, the County began public meetings about its ongoing Charter Review.  If you recall – the County Charter is its ‘constitution’ and describes Home Rule. There are 20 Home Rule or Charter Counties in Florida. Palm Beach County does not have a formalized Charter Review process, and this is the first comprehensive review to have taken place.

The Charter and the county’s charter review website can be found here. While there are a few changes that the Commissioners would like, citizens can input their own suggestions via the County Website. Suggestions are limited to 300 words per suggestion. Here is a link to the survey page. You can make as many submissions as you like.

Personally, I am not in favor of a few changes favored by several of the Commissioners – a) changing the county commission makeup to include a few at-large commission districts, and b) to have non-partisan elections for County Commissioners.

I have a few changes that I am submitting in order to make for better governance without bogging down the document or specifying so much detail that the slim charter becomes unmanageable. You may have others. If you would like to submit any of the ones listed below, just click on the [copy] to the right of the suggestion you would like to copy, and then cut/paste from the text that comes up and submit that to the survey link above. Each of my submissions are shorter than the 300-word limit per submission.

Friday, August 26, is the last date on which submissions will be accepted on the county website.

Redistricting – Incumbent Protection or Citizen Input? You decide.

Fred and I attended the Florida Redistricting Public Meeting conducted at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton today, August 16. We didn’t know quite what to expect – eg. who would be attending, or to whom we would be addressing our comments. As it turned out, the majority of the speakers were from various interest groups, with the League of Women Voters being the best represented, as well as the most aggressive about their issues. The committee consisted of a panel of 40 state representatives and senators, arranged in a double row facing the crowd. The chairman is Senator Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Both George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post, and Anthony Man of the Sun-Sentinel did a good job representing the gist of the meeting. However I’d like to capture a few of my personal observations and concerns.

First – it alarms me greatly whenever, as a political conservative, I find myself agreeing with most of the comments made by the very liberal Boca crowd who took the time to get organized, come out in force, speak and stay until the end of the meeting listening to others’ comments.

– Timeline: I agree with the concerns, best expressed by Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, that the timeline to completion of the redistricting effort is extremely late in the election cycle. Incumbents and those who are considering running for office will not know the boundaries or district makeup until well into 2012, which will not allow those non-incumbents to campaign or solicit donations, or even file for office. Ms. Bucher should have been allowed much more than the 2 minute (doubled for her) allotted time to express the issues as she saw them. At the end of the meeting, her issues were dismissed by Rep. Stephen Precourt, R-Orlando, the vice chairman of the House Redistricting Committee. He said that most county election supervisors said that the information would be there in plenty of time for proper preparation for upcoming elections. He cited Seminole County (population 423,000) as an example. The population of Palm Beach County is 1,320,000 – considerably larger. – Advantage: Incumbent?

– No Florida Legislature proposed maps were presented for public comment: The rationale given was that the panel would solicit public input, and then use that input (along with maps submitted by the public) to devise new legislative boundaries. But three months of public meetings throughout the state dedicated to input prior to seeing any official maps, while only allowing a fraction of that for future public comment on the official maps, only in Tallahassee, sometime in the future, smacks of self-protection by incumbents of either party. (It is too similar to what is happening on the national level where our President or the Democrat party refuses to present a serious budget.) Once a redistricting plan is out there – it is immediately subject to criticism and attack. So why not take the safer route and not present anything until the last minute. Advantage: Incumbent?

– Perceived arrogance by the legislative panel: At least one representative was not in his seat for the bulk of the meeting. Another key leader seemed to get up and leave frequently, cell phone in hand. This is a common occurrence by our elected officials at County Commission meetings. Apparently it also is common practice at higher levels of office. We had to remain seated, if we wanted to ensure our turn to speak. Please do us the courtesy of remaining in place to hear us out. We think the Republican Majority in Tallahassee is doing good work, but we also remember it was arrogance that brought down the 2006 Congressional Majority. Think about it.

I am not one of the 70+ percent of the voters who voted FOR amendments 5 or 6. I believe that there is a clear agenda behind those two amendments and that there will possibly be valid cases against these in the courts. However, as several proponents of the measures said at the meeting, Redistricting is one of the most important roles of this Legislative session in Tallahassee, and I’d feel better served if I felt that my Tallahassee representatives were looking out for my interests as a citizen, rather their own.

One last point – the purpose of redistricting is to balance the districts to reflect the 2010 census. The overwhelming majority of the speakers were more concerned with the ramifications of the Fair Districts Amendments, as if they could be used to redraw the districts on a blank sheet of paper and “right the wrongs” of the past 100 years. It would be a mistake to attempt such a thing, full of unintended consequences. Redistricting works best when adjustments are made on the margins of existing districts. We hope both sides remember that.

A Night in the Gardens

We DO mean night – as it was 11:15pm when we left the Palm Beach Gardens City Council chamber and there were items yet to be discussed on the agenda,with a hard stop at 11:30 pm.

Our call to action  covered two 2012 budget related items and one regarding the Inspector General.  Although separated on the agenda, the council decided to take up Ordinance 13, 2011 and Resolution 33, 2011 in sequence.

Ordinance 13, 2011 was a proposal to raise the Local Communications Services Tax from it’s current 1.5% on all telephone, cellphone, cable and internet services, residential and commercial, to 5.22%.  The rationale was 3-fold:

1) use this ‘new’ source of revenue in lieu of increasing the millage or taking out of reserves
2) improve the city’s bond rating from AA+ to AAA – as they have been advised a more diversified revenue stream would be advisable.
3) All the other cities do it – so Palm Beach Gardens should too!

Public comment was predominately against raising this tax;  about 7 folks – all ‘regulars’ (including Mel Grossman, Fred Scheibl and Iris Scheibl) made it clear that we weren’t impressed by the ‘all the other cities do it’ argument!  Only one spoke on behalf of the tax and he was on the Budget Advisory Committee that came up with the solution in the first place.

Vice Mayor Bert Premuroso spoke first and surprised the council by saying that he changed his mind, based on resident comment, and was now against raising the tax at all and wanted to hold millage flat and take the balance from reserves.  Council members had expected him to be for the tax and the implication was that he had originally been an advocate for it.  The other 4 were strongly for the tax increase.  After lengthy debate, the ‘compromise’ was to raise the tax to 3.5%  (a 133% increase instead of 248%), hold millage flat and take the remainder from reserves.  That was going to mean an extra $800,000 on top of the $1.2 million targetted for capital expenditures or $2 million out of $20 million+ in reserves.  The council vote was unanimous in favor of the new proposal.  NOTE: while millage rates go up and down – what they voted for was a permanent increase in your communications bills. You still have a chance to overturn this on 2nd reading!  We will have another call to action prior to the 2nd reading on August 11th.

Resolution 33, 2011: Discussion was brief since the debate had occurred on the prior item.  The resolution was passed 5:0 and the first budget hearing was scheduled for September 8th, 2011.

Ordinance 14, 2011 was to insert definitions of Waste, Fraud, Abuse, Mismanagement and Misconduct into city ordinances.  As was described in the call to action – to those involved in the development of the county Inspector General Ordinance – this was the subject of very complex and detailed and arduous debate for the 5 month life of the IG Ordinance Drafting Committee.  By now it was after 11pm and very few people remained in the room. 

Speaking strongly against the insertion of the definitions were Iris Scheibl, Fred Scheibl, Kevin Easton and Joe Doucette of the Office of the Inspector General.  Sheryl Steckler, IG, was in the audience and the Council knew it. Both Iris and Fred referenced the Palm Beach Post editorial in that morning’s paper entitled  Cities Committing a Fraud.  Andrew Marra, Editor, got the issue exactly in his editorial.  Ms. Steckler had also sent a letter to the City Council earlier in the day.  While superficially – one can say ‘what is the matter with definitions?’ – those definitions can indeed limit either the Inspector General’s ability to investigate or can hinder the need for any action by those receiving her reports.  The reaction to the comment by the Council and staff was enlightening.  The Council chose to take the ‘innocent’ stance – definitions can only improve things.  City Attorney Lohman was incensed at the public comment and the Inspector General’s letter and called her a liar.  City Manager Ferris was spitting mad at the editorial and bashed the Palm Beach Post (which others have been wont to do on occasion ;-)).  He said that he’d been managing for over 30 years and that these definitions would help him in implementing improvements and educating the employees.  Which begs the question – what did he use for the last 30 years?  The council vote 5:0 for passage on first reading.

So – did the public win or lose Tuesday evening.  I’d say – we lost.  We get the government we deserve.  Think about it and next time – ACT!

Palm Beach Gardens City Council Mtg 7/19 – a Call to Action

Palm Beach Gardens residents should be aware of several items on the Agenda (and one that no longer is):

Ordinance 11, 2011 – not on Agenda:

Second reading of Ordinance 11, 2011 was removed from the agenda.  This was the ordinance that made the change, among other things, to the election run-off process – essentially eliminating run-off except in the case of a tie.  Purportedly this would save between $10000 and $40000 or so per run-off.  Changes to the charter require a referendum – and so too would this change.  According to Max Lohman, City Attorney – this change will be considered for the upcoming charter review, changes to which will require citizen votes.  Had it been on the agenda – it would have passed and parts of it would have not have been valid without referendum.  What would that have cost the city?

Ordinance 13, 2011, Increasing the Local Communications Service Tax Rate – First Reading:

This 2012 budget related item would increase the Local Communications Service Tax from its current rate of 1.5% to the maximum allowed by state statutes to 5.22%  effective January 1, 2012, “on all sales of communications services within the City. These services include telephone (including cellular), cable TV, and internet fees, both residential and commercial.”  This is technically a 248% increase!  But it will probably be described as ‘pennies a day’!

The effects of the proposed change on two sample residents with annual communication charges of $2,400 and $3,600 are illustrated in the table below:  

Average Annual Bill	Increase in Rate	Annual Increase	Monthly Increase
$2400	3.72%	$90	$7.50
$3600	3.72%	$135	$11.25

The adoption of the 5.22% Local Communications Services Tax is an integral component of the fiscal year 2012 budget plan, and, if approved, will allow the City to maintain the same operating ad valorem tax rate of 5.7404 mills.

This TAX is expected to bring in $1.8 million in the next budget cycle and $2.4 million thereafter.  Note that if your phone, cellular, internet and cable charges go up – so too will the city’s revenue be enhanced.

While I have not reviewed the proposed 2012 budget in detail, “The total budget for all funds of $108,580,228 is $3,140,160, or 3% more than the current year’s total of $105,440,068.”

Ordinance 14, 2011 -Amending Chapter 1, General Provisions, Section 1-2, Definitions of the City Code of Ordinances to Add Five (5) Definitions to be Compatible with the New Inspector General (IG) Ordinance. – First Reading

“The drafting committee failed to include certain crucial definitions within the IG ordinance. The City Attorney has advised that without defining the following terms it will be impossible to properly evaluate any potential findings of an Inspector General investigation. Accordingly, the City Attorney has drafted Ordinance 14,201 1 in order to adopt definitions for “abuse”, “fraud”, “misconduct”, “mismanagement”, and “waste” into the City’s Code of Ordinances. Clear and unambiguous definitions are an absolute necessity in order to preserve an objective standard for evaluating any potential wrongdoing. These definitions are being recommended to each of the other 38 municipalities in the county.”

Having attended each of the drafting committee meetings – these so called ‘crucial’ definitions were intentionally left out and the subject of several months of intense debate.  I consulted with the Inspector General, Sheryl Steckler about the attempt by municipalities to insert these definitions into their city codes.  She replied that it has no impact or relevance on her activities as Inspector General.

Why are we adding irrelevant definitions to our ordinance and what is it costing the taxpayer in staff time and effort if it is for nothing?

Resolution 33, 2011 Adopting a Proposed Maximum Millage Rate for Fiscal Year 2011/2012 and Setting the Date, Time, and Place for the First Budget Hearing.

I read this resolution first and was going to praise the City Council on holding the millage rate flat at 5.7404, 2.719% below the roll-back rate of 5.9008 mills.  NOT.  They should be holding the millage flat, cut spending and NOT implement the increase in the Communications TAX.

I have not studied the 2012 budget in detail yet – however:

“Please note the following significant items related to the use of reserves:
• The planned use of $1.1 million is less than total General Fund capital expenditures of $1.2 million, and adheres to the City’s policy of using reserves for one-time expenditures.
• The planned use of $1.1 million is predicated on the increase in the Local Communications Services Tax from 1.5% to 5.22%. This will generate approximately $1.9 million next fiscal year. Without this alternative revenue, or an equivalent tax increase, the reduction in reserves would be approximately $3 million.”

We are in bad economic times – this is the time for using reserves and NOT increasing a tax (the Communications tax) that will never go down.  Hold the millage flat, do NOT approve Ordinance 13,2011 and cut spending further to minimize the hits to reserves!

 Additional materials can be found:

7/19 Agenda Overview/Handout

Complete 7/19 Agenda with backup documents

Cover Letter to 2012 Proposed Budget

David Barton of Wallbuilders speaks at Christ Fellowship – watch

Many of you who went to the 3rd of July Patriotic Service at Christ Fellowship had hoped to also see David Barton.  The sermon has been posted online and can be viewed here.

Jam packed with historical references – if you haven’t heard Barton speak before – you’re in for a real treat and a great history lesson!

Call to Action – PBC 2012 maximum tax rate to be set on July 11th.

The newly formed Palm Beach County Tea Party has become a coalition partner with Palm Beach County Taxpayer Action Board. Now it’s time to act. Read the details about the budget and background here, and then go to the Tips and Talking Points for details on emails and speaking up at Commission meeting.

Time: 9:30 on July 11th with public comment to begin around 10am.

Place: 301 N. Olive, West Palm Beach Fl – County Commission Chambers

It’s time to act!

(note: the entire budget details can be found on the county site here.)

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