Is the Senate Race Over?
With George LeMieux quitting the Senate race and endorsing Connie Mack IV, is the race over?
Senator LeMieux listed two reasons for his exit: 1) RPOF and the “powers that be”, presumably including FreedomWorks, have thrown their support to Connie Mack, making it hard for LeMieux and others to find sufficient funds to run a state-wide media campaign against the deep pockets of Connie Mack and his supporters and 2) Congressman Mack refuses to come out and debate his Republican rivals, precluding any “free” publicity for the challengers and closing the door on any discussion of issues.
With money and media a major requirement, Mike McCalister, MarieLena Stuart, Ron MacNeil and the others would seem to be at a major disadvantage. Dave Weldon would be also, given his late entry.
The Weldon campaign plans to fight though. From what I heard today from a campaign staffer, many grassroots coordinators from the LeMieux campaign are coming over to Weldon.
In a conference call immediately following his announcement, Congressman Weldon did not particularly impress. His website was content-free, he seemed unprepared, and lacked detailed knowledge of many of the issues important to the grassroots. That has changed. He now has a well developed set of policy positions (see: daveweldonforsenate.com/issues/ ) which are clearly conservative and counter to the Obama/Nelson agenda, he is gathering endorsements (Sam Brownback, Citizens United Political Victory Fund), and stepping up fundraising.
The near term plan is to bulk up the number of small contributors to show grassroots strength and his phonebank is asking for $5-10 donations in the next couple of days to make the case.
Will he be a credible challenge to Mack? I don’t know, but it is a shame to see the primary end today with a whimper. I gave him a small contribution and plan to watch what happens. If you are not comfortable with Connie Mack as the presumptive nominee, you could do the same.
The Need for Action highlighted in the Jupiter/PBG Chapter’s June Meeting
June Clarke did a fantastic job serving as our PBCTP leader for the evening. She ran a ‘tight ship’ keeping the meeting flowing and espousing the tenets of the Tea Party. Thanks to June for stepping in for absent Gary Summers and Pam Wohlschlegel.
Prior to the meeting, member Tyce Fitzmorris ran a copy of one of his two Miracle Nation presentations on the issues facing our country and the upcoming election. Tyce is selling copies of his dvd’s to recover costs and is also willing to present at any group. He can be contacted at 561 248 2295, or via his Facebook or Twitter accounts.
June kicked off the meeting and led us in the Pledge. Lindsey Tremble, a winner of Palm Beach’s Got Talent, and upcoming eleventh grader at Jupiter High, sang the National Anthem beautifully, and June led us in prayer. She also pointed out that the agenda on each table had place for people to commit to their own personal action plans to aid in the various efforts. It isn’t enough to just listen – it’s time to act. June then let elected officials, candidates for office and their surrogates introduce themselves.
Next, we heard a message from Pam and watched 3 videos from the Tea Party Patriots efforts to battle the recall election. Tyce added his impressions as he too had volunteered in Wisconsin along with members Mary Adams and Barbara Grossman.
Mel Grossman, Treasurer and co-founder, talked about fund-raising, donating and the need for volunteers to assist in the effort to sell acknowledment placques.
Ed Wolff gave a legislative update – describing the types of articles he posts and where they can be found on the website.
Fred Scheibl, co-founder, showed members where they could find the Voter’s Guide on the website. He pointed out the levels of information that can be found in both the guide and the website. He also announced three opportunities for action – attending the first PBC Budget hearing on Tuesday June 12th, the County Commission District 1 Forum. He and Iris Scheibl, co-founder, also mentioned an issue/call for action on Ordinance 20, 2012 which would put on the November ballot a referendum replacing the Palm Beach Gardens City Charter. This item is on the agenda at the PBG City Council meeting on Thursday, June 7th.
Terry Gallagher, co-founder, mentioned an upcoming organizational meeting on Religious Freedom.
June then introduced our keynote speaker, Jim Kuretski – Jupiter Town Council member. Jim described his engineering background and his goals and reasons for being on the City Council. He then covered examples of the types of fiscal issues that come before the Town Council and the types of votes and questions that he asks and feels should be asked in approving various budget issues. He strongly urged participation on the local level – because one can really have an impact. During the Qs and As, hot topics arose – such as El Sol and Jupiter’s participation in the lawsuit against Palm Beach County for funding of the Inspector General. Mr. Kuretski answered with his rationale for his positions; the askers were not mollified – but all was civil.
Terry Gallagher concluded the meeting with a drawing for the tickets.
Some pictures from Anna:
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Twitter Will Be Increasingly Important in the Upcoming Elections
Yesterday at Congressman Allen West’s town hall in Pompano Beach I noticed some new antagonists from the left group Think Progress. Their journalist Scott Keyes was recording the entire session and tweeting live from the meeting. I monitored his comments streaming live from the meeting. I usually post to Twitter during town halls, and took the opportunity to counter some of the negative comments coming from two Think Progress people. Most people at the meeting were unaware of this interaction, but many on both sides of the political spectrum were monitoring. Yesterday’s meeting was the first time I saw live tweeting from the left at Congressman West’s town hall.
Real Progress is reporting today that Congressman West would consider raising taxes as a deficit reduction tool. Not true. West clearly stated that he would NOT support any tax increase while the government continues to waste taxpayer money. There’s an opportunity for Conservatives to spread the word at events in real time to counter misquotes by the left. Anyone with a smart phone and a twitter application can help counter the lies of Progressives in real time. Unlike Facebook, you can circulate short news items and pictures to the world. Contrary to what people believe, Twitter is easy to learn and set up.
If you live in the new Congressional District 18, I know Congressman West would encourage you to become a Twitter user. Join the army! @HankS_FtLaud
Palm Beach County to Hire Climate Change Czar
With a $15M budget shortfall this year, hiring a climate change czar is just what the county needs. Let your commissioners know what you think about this. They have set aside $200K to help coordinate “sustainable development” (aka “Agenda 21”) along with other “green” agenda items in Palm Beach County.
See: Palm Beach County creating job to tackle climate change in the Sun-Sentinel.
Memorial Day Meet-ups at Three Malls
This is a difficult time politically for all of us. Many of us are discouraged. . . but we do have two very patriotic days coming up, Memorial Day and Independence Day. On Memorial Day, meet up with like-minded people between 9am and 10:30 for java and fellowship at the mall nearest you. We will be meeting in the food courts at these three malls:
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Wear red, white, and blue, your tea party shirt, and/or carry a small flag so that we can recognize each other. Who knows, we might even break into song (flash mob style) like we did last year. This is truly a fun experience. Don’t miss it if you are in town for the holiday!
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Honor Flight
PB County Proposes $100M Tax Increase
PBC Voters’ Coalition hosts Sheriff, State Atty and other Constitutionals on May 3rd
The Voters’ Coalition of Palm Beach County interviews each candidate for office and closer to elections, will be publishing their list of endorsements. However – they have forums/panels at their monthly meetings during election years.
The next meeting will be on Thursday, May 3rd at 1pm at the South County Civic Center – which is located at 16700 Jog Road in Delray Beach. Many of you have been at this venue before – but if you haven’t click on the above link for directions, information and a map.
May 3rd meeting will feature all four candidates for PBC Sheriff, the three candidates for State Attorney, and candidates for other PBC Constitutional offices. The meeting is open to the public and if you can make it – it should be a great opportunity to meet/hear the candidates.
For more information about the candidates – go to our voters’ guide pages for Constitutional Officers.
Adam Hasner Opening with Tim Pawlenty
Tea Party Grassroots Training on Saturday, April 21st
Hello Friends and Fellow Patriots,
One of our Alliance Partners in our efforts to be successful in November 2012 is an organization called American Majority. This organization is a 501C3 whose objective is training and educating grassroots organizations across the United States.
Hot on the heels of President Obama’s campaign trip to Palm Beach and Broward Counties, American Majority Florida has announced that they will be training Conservatives to be advocates. We hope that as many Palm Beach County Tea Party members and friends can attend as possible. Here are the details of the two training opportunities:
Boca Raton
April 21, from 10am-2pm
Stonegate Bank Building
301 Yamato Road, Suite 1240
Boca Raton, FL 33431
AND
Fort Lauderdale
April 26, from 6:30-9:30pm
American Legion
1620 W. State Rd 84 #2
Fort Lauderdale
The Grassroots Activist Training Seminar includes:
• Interactive presentations from American Majority staff
• The opportunity to network with other liberty-minded people
• A complimentary resource guidebook full of material designed to further assist trainees
Topics to be covered:
• Community Organizers for Freedom: Finding New Leaders, Increasing Transparency, & Finding the Votes
• Patriots 2.0 – understanding New Media – Facebook, Twitter
• Hardwiring Your Precinct – how to strategically target door knocking in your community
• Instant Activism: Everything You Need to Know to Get Involved at the Local Level
Upon completion of the seminar, attendees will receive continuing education materials, access to podcasts and other presentations, communications curriculum, and suggestions to help them utilize think-tank resources.
Cost: $15 per trainee
To register Now for the Boca Raton training on April 21st, click here
To register Now for the Fort Lauderdale on April 26th, click here
Directions to training in Boca Raton
The Boca Conference & Executive Center is located inside the Stonegate Bank Building at 301 Yamato Road, Suite 1240, Boca Raton, FL 33431 and the center cannot be reached using GPS, Google of Mapquest. You may want to relay to anyone attending that the center is easily accessible off of I95 at the Yamato Road exit and is just two blocks “East” of I95 on the Northeast corner of Dixie Highway and Yamato Road.
Directions to training in Fort Lauderdale:
From I95, take exit 25 for FL-84. Go East for ½ mile. Take the first right on to SW 15th Ave and right again on to SW 27th Ct. The American Legion parking lot is on the right.
Questions can be directed to Dena Espenscheid at Dena@AmericanMajority.org or 561-465-2945.
