FreedomWorks Spring Fly-In

Between May 19th and May 23rd hundreds of grassroots activists from across the country flew to Washington DC to participate in FreedomWorks two-part Spring Fly-In. I was among four of the PBC Tea Party members who had the honor of attending. What I learned was invaluable and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

I attended the second group with a kick off Welcome Reception on Tuesday evening at the new FreedomWorks headquarters. I saw old friends for the Fly-In I attended in 2018 and made new friends as I meandered around the room. I ran into Roman Buhler, Director of the Madison Coalition and recent speaker at our May Tea Party meeting who was encouraging other activists to get involved in the grass roots movement of the Freedom Regulation Amendment.

Following breakfast at 7:30 am the following morning it was straight to work. Bottom line we were educated on the International Pricing Index (IPI) an anything but free market pricing solution proposed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar, in preparation for our big trip to the Hill to lobby our Representatives and Senators. In a nutshell, the IPI would tie drug prices in the U.S. to drug prices in foreign countries. Under such a policy, U.S. policy makers would unilaterally adjust American drug prices to match a composite of drug prices in countries such as Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In a word, we would be operating under the same socialist, single-payer systems those countries outlined above and be subject to the same consequences of health care rationing. The Department of HHS is proposing implementing IPI on a trial basis for 50% of Medicare Part B recipients. As FreedomWorks points out there is no way to ensure this “trial” will not impact the private market not to mention that such a rule making is outside HHS’s statutory authority.

So after becoming armed with the facts and a lesson on how to lobby we headed up to the Hill in solidarity in our FreedomWorks shirt. Upon arrival we broke up into nine groups and with our group leader walked from office to office to meet with the healthcare policy staffers of our state representatives and senators. My group consisted of Florida and Georgia. While we only secured an appointment with Senator Rick Scott’s staffer, we were able to meet with staffers from Senator Marco Rubio’s office, Representative Vern Buchanan’s (R-GA) office and believe it or not, Mike Lee’s office (that was my idea). Representative Mast’s staffer was not available however we left a left a one-page handout for follow up by FreedomWorks.

We were encouraged to learn that all the staffers we met shared our concerns about the proposed IPI and non-free market legislation being put forth by the House and the Senate. Rich Scott’s staff was somewhat of an exception given Senator Rick Scott has co-sponsored S977 which would apply the IPI to the entire healthcare market for a period of five years. I suppose it’s somewhat better than Senator Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings legislation to introduce the same proposal indefinitely; consequences be dammed!

By 5:30 pm my feet were killing me and I was ready to head out. We piled back on the buses for a barbecue dinner at the Hill Country Barbecue. This was followed by a keynote speech from Steven Moore, FreedomWorks Senior Economic Contributor, former economic advisor to the President and nominee to hold a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Moore has also been a guest at the PBC Tea Party and a personal friend of the Tea Party. As always Moore gave an invigorating speech that ended with a standing round of applause.

The next day we were back at it at 7:30 am starting with our good friend Reverend CL Bryant. This was followed by a discussion on criminal justice reform from FreedomWorks VP of Legislative Affairs, Jason Pye and FreedomWorks Federal Affairs Manager, Sarah Anderson. Next, we had a Q&A on immigration with Representative John Hostettler (R-IN), Robert Henneke, General Counsel and Director for the Center for The America Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Joshua Trevino.

Finally, Daniel Ashworth, counsel from the office of Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) taught us everything we need to know about rebate reform and the pharmaceutical companies Pharmacy Rebate Manager (PRM) program. For those of you like me who are unfamiliar with this program allow me to explain. A PRM is a third-party administrator of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and state government employee plans. In short, PBM companies negotiate with drug manufacturers on behalf of government health plans and private and employer-based insurance plans on prices. Ultimately, the deals they strike determine the availability and prices of prescription drugs for more than 266 million Americans. PRMs are exempt from anti-trust legislation in the form of a rebates at every step in bringing drugs to the market and ultimately to the consumer. The intent of the program is to lower prices for the consumer. Notably, PRM operations are hidden from public view and the legislators. No surprise PRMS have been accused of pocketing most of the money from the rebates (or should I say kickbacks) rather than passing the savings on to the consumer. It’s no surprise that the PRM program coupled with the reduced drug prices for foreign countries U.S. consumers pay high prices for their drugs.

If you like you can replicate our lobbying efforts, I encourage you to phone or email our congressmen’s healthcare policy staffers and politely tell them that you oppose Secretary of HHS Alex Azar’s International Price Index proposal as well as any legislation introduced to reduce drug prices that is not based on the principles of a free market.

Health Care Policy Staffer	DC Phone	Email Address
Sarah Miller for Rep Brian Mast	202.225.3026	Sarah.miller@mail.house.gov
Ansley Rhyne for Sen Marco Rubio	202.224.3041	ansley_rhyne@rubio.senate.gov
Jon Foltz for Sen Rick Scott	202.224.5274	jon_foltz@rickscott.senate.gov

Freedomworks at Abacoa in June and Dr. Dawn Silver

For over a quarter century, FreedomWorks has identified, educated, and actuated citizens who are enthused about showing up to support free enterprise and constitutionally limited government.

They are not primarily a “think-tank,” content to study the issues and publish papers and reports. FreedomWorks breaks down the barriers between the beltway insiders and grassroots America.

FreedomWorks members know that government goes to those who show up. That’s why they give them the tools to break through the media noise and provide the same access to Washington as the big-moneyed lobbyists.

Preserving liberty depends on all Americans having access to their elected officials—not just special interests. FreedomWorks holds Washington accountable to the citizens that put them in office.

FreedomWorks was originally founded as Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1984. Founded to fight for liberty, they brought together some of the best and brightest minds of the liberty movement. Since then, they’ve expanded their ambitions from a free-market think tank to a service center for the grassroots freedom movement across the whole country.

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Please RSVP:

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Allen Page is the Southeast Director for FreedomWorks. He has been With FreedomWorks for 16 years. Allen works closely with the conservative and liberty minded groups in the southeast. Before joining FreedomWorks, Allen worked in grassroot campaigns for former Rep. Coble, former Senator John East, former Senator Jesse Helms, former Senator Duncan Faircloth and former senator Steve Symms.

Education: B.A,. Elon College

Kathy Hartkopf is a grassroots coordinator for FreedomWorks. She works directly with FreedomWorks activists, educating and empowering them to stand together for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Kathy joined FreedomWorks (then Citizens for a Sound Economy), as a grassroots activist in 2000, when CSE formed in her county to help citizens fight an egregious bond referendum.

Education: A.A., Peace College; Graduated Fellow of the Institute of Political Leadership, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and East Carolina University.

Freedomworks at Wellington in June

For over a quarter century, FreedomWorks has identified, educated, and actuated citizens who are enthused about showing up to support free enterprise and constitutionally limited government.

They are not primarily a “think-tank,” content to study the issues and publish papers and reports. FreedomWorks breaks down the barriers between the beltway insiders and grassroots America.

FreedomWorks members know that government goes to those who show up. That’s why they give them the tools to break through the media noise and provide the same access to Washington as the big-moneyed lobbyists.

Preserving liberty depends on all Americans having access to their elected officials—not just special interests. FreedomWorks holds Washington accountable to the citizens that put them in office.

FreedomWorks was originally founded as Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1984. Founded to fight for liberty, they brought together some of the best and brightest minds of the liberty movement. Since then, they’ve expanded their ambitions from a free-market think tank to a service center for the grassroots freedom movement across the whole country.

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Wellington Chapter RSVP:

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Allen Page is the Southeast Director for FreedomWorks. He has been With FreedomWorks for 16 years. Allen works closely with the conservative and liberty minded groups in the southeast. Before joining FreedomWorks, Allen worked in grassroot campaigns for former Rep. Coble, former Senator John East, former Senator Jesse Helms, former Senator Duncan Faircloth and former senator Steve Symms.

Education: B.A,. Elon College

Kathy Hartkopf is a grassroots coordinator for FreedomWorks. She works directly with FreedomWorks activists, educating and empowering them to stand together for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Kathy joined FreedomWorks (then Citizens for a Sound Economy), as a grassroots activist in 2000, when CSE formed in her county to help citizens fight an egregious bond referendum.

Education: A.A., Peace College; Graduated Fellow of the Institute of Political Leadership, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and East Carolina University.

Freedomworks at Boca Raton in June

For over a quarter century, FreedomWorks has identified, educated, and actuated citizens who are enthused about showing up to support free enterprise and constitutionally limited government.

They are not primarily a “think-tank,” content to study the issues and publish papers and reports. FreedomWorks breaks down the barriers between the beltway insiders and grassroots America.

FreedomWorks members know that government goes to those who show up. That’s why they give them the tools to break through the media noise and provide the same access to Washington as the big-moneyed lobbyists.

Preserving liberty depends on all Americans having access to their elected officials—not just special interests. FreedomWorks holds Washington accountable to the citizens that put them in office.

FreedomWorks was originally founded as Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1984. Founded to fight for liberty, they brought together some of the best and brightest minds of the liberty movement. Since then, they’ve expanded their ambitions from a free-market think tank to a service center for the grassroots freedom movement across the whole country.

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Please RSVP:

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Allen Page is the Southeast Director for FreedomWorks. He has been With FreedomWorks for 16 years. Allen works closely with the conservative and liberty minded groups in the southeast. Before joining FreedomWorks, Allen worked in grassroot campaigns for former Rep. Coble, former Senator John East, former Senator Jesse Helms, former Senator Duncan Faircloth and former senator Steve Symms.

Education: B.A,. Elon College

Kathy Hartkopf is a grassroots coordinator for FreedomWorks. She works directly with FreedomWorks activists, educating and empowering them to stand together for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Kathy joined FreedomWorks (then Citizens for a Sound Economy), as a grassroots activist in 2000, when CSE formed in her county to help citizens fight an egregious bond referendum.

Education: A.A., Peace College; Graduated Fellow of the Institute of Political Leadership, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and East Carolina University.

Tax Day Rally on PGA and Military

Arranged to coincide with other Tea Party Patriot’s rallies across the country, our local troops gathered on “Trump Corner” on Tax Day (April 15) to show our opposition to Socialism and the Democrats that are trying to introduce such failed policies in our country.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Christian Acosta at Boca Meeting

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Christian Acosta is a Nuclear Engineer who received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Florida. His father is a U.S. Airforce veteran from Puerto Rico and his mother is a small business owner from Argentina. Christian and his family have a strong connection to Palm Beach County, having lived in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach. He is currently a professor at Palm Beach State College teaching electric power technology.

“I believe that leading is really about helping people get where they want to go. People already have dreams, what they need from their leaders are plans to achieve those dreams. I know my practical background will help me create those detailed plans. I will work tirelessly to protect the country, strengthen the economy, and enhance our education system. We can achieve our dreams and we can do it without sacrificing the rule of law or our incredible Constitution.”

Please RSVP:

Roman Buhler at Abacoa in May

Roman Buhler is the National Director of the Madison Coalition, an organization working to restore a balance of state and federal power and to curb the authority of overreaching federal regulators.

The Madison Coalition has worked to develop a strategy to implement the idea proposed by Reagan’s Attorney General, Ed Meese, to give states the same power as Congress to propose a specific Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Just as states helped force Congress to propose the Bill of Rights, states could force Congress to propose constitutional reforms like a balanced budget amendment and curbs on federal regulators.

Under Mr. Buhler’s leadership the Madison Coalition has helped to persuade 29 state legislative chambers and the RNC with the approval of the White House to pass Resolutions urging Congress to propose a “Regulation Freedom Amendment” to require that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress.

Please RSVP below.

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Mr. Buhler came to Washington in 1989 to serve as Newt Gingrich’s first House Committee Counsel. Mr. Buhler served from 1989 to 2003 and again in 2007 as Elections Counsel to the Committee on House Administration, handling election integrity issues for House Republicans.

Among his projects after leaving government service have been legislation to speed the delivery of military ballots home from overseas and a “Military Voting Rights Rule” unanimously adopted by the 2012 Republican National Convention Rules Committee.

Prior to his service in the House Mr Buhler worked as an attorney and political consultant in California.

He was born and raised in Harrison, NY. He attended Harrison High School where he was an Eagle Scout and graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover MA. He graduated from Stanford University, the University of Southern California Law School, and the Harvard University Program for Senior Managers in Government.

He now lives in McLean, VA with his wife Mary.

Tax Day Rally – “Stop Socialism Now”

Tea Party Patriots:

We have been so blessed to live in a country that we have enjoyed Liberty and Freedom, but we see every day a push towards a socialist agenda.

Please join us Monday April 15th from 4 to 6pm at the corner of PGA and Military for a” Stop Socialism Rally”.

Bring your signs and your Americans Flags, lets have have fun, and show our community that we are standing strong!

RSVP to help us contact you with updates after the rally and for follow-up events.

SOE Wendy Link Highlights Abacoa Meeting

Appointed by Governor DeSantis to replace former SOE Susan Bucher who he removed from office after the embarrassing spectacle that was the 2018 election in PBC, Wendy Sartory Link is a breath of fresh air.

Having never held elective office, nor planning to run for the job permanently, Wendy comes from a successful career in business and civic leadership, and is interested in solving problems. And problems are what she faces at the SOE.

In her 6 year tenure, Susan Bucher so politicized the office, that Democrat poll workers in south county have quit en masse, telling Wendy that they are “loyal to Susan Bucher, not you.” Unfortunately, many of the remaining management in the organization may also be loyal to her predecessor, a real impediment to change. The morale in the organization was poor when Wendy took over, and staff did not trust each other and in some cases felt that advantage could only come at others expense. After the 2018 recount circus, the reputation of the organization is on a par with the days of the butterfly ballot, and Wendy has inherited outdated and failing equipment, a voter registration system incompatible with the rest of the state and dependent on a single questionable vendor, and a mandate to roll out new technology in time for the Presidential Primary in March 2020.

In her short time in office, Wendy has successfully lobbied the county for more money for the equipment rollout, started the move to a new registration system, and completed a successful March Municipal election with a suspect staff and essentially no experience of her own in running elections. A very good start indeed.

Unfortunately, the demographics of the county being what they are, the 2020 election will likely bring us back a Susan Bucher clone (if not Susan herself). We can only hope that Wendy can transform the office sufficiently in 2 years to not only run a fair and open 2020 election, but implement the processes, procedures and staffing to keep it professional and impartial for many years to come in spite of what her successor brings to the job.

Part of insuring open and fair elections is the makeup of the pollworker workforce. About 1000 new workers are needed for next year, so if you ever thought about working the polls, now is the time to step up. You can apply for the job at the SOE website

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The second speaker of the evening was pundit Loren Spivack. Using his quirky humor to good effect, he attacked Progressives on the fault lines of their inconsistencies.

Why do they oppose a border wall, he asks. With their unshakeable faith in the death and destruction being caused by carbon emissions, why would you want to import people from third world countries where their carbon footprint is tiny, to an industrial country where they would spew carbon prodigously? Why it could even shorten the 12 year outlook to the end of days!

He deftly explained how socialism is about control, not ideology, and pointed out the the only war in which we have engaged that had no anti-war movement was World War II. The reason? We were on the same side as Stalin, one of their “good guys”.

He also touched on how Sweden has moved from a bulwark of feminism to a society where rapes are many and increasing. When surveys suggest that it is the recent immigrant population from cultures where respect for women is lacking, their response was to stop doing the surveys. (Note – that may be changing. See: “Sweden to Release First Report on Migration and Crime since 2005”.)

Other examples include Progressives support for trans-genders competing in women’s sports (throwing women under the bus) and their recent support for anti-semitism (eg Ilhan Omar), doing the same to Jews.

Perhaps his best line of the night sums up socialism nicely: “Many mice die in mouse traps because they don’t understand why the cheese is free.”

Loren is the author of several humorous books on the subject, including “The Wizard of Iz“, “The New Democrat“, and “The Gorax“.

Rally Reveals anti-Rubio Backlash

On Monday, March 18, a good-sized crowd of Trump supporters rallied in front of Marco Rubio’s office on PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens. There was a general consensus among those present that “Little Marco” chose to spit in President Trump’s face rather than support his actions on the obvious emergency on the southern border.

Judging by the active support of motorists passing by (thumbs up, honking), many people share our concern that we have a Florida Senator that is a fake Republican. Our other Senator, Rick Scott, stood with the President along with 40 others.

It is curious that “Little Marco” would take this vote given certainty of a sustained veto. He needlessly antagonized the President’s supporters, and will probably feel the consequences in lack of support for his re-election fundraising. A lot of people have “unsubscribed” from his fund-raising emails – you may decide to do the same.

Send him an email and let him know what you think of his actions at his website. You can also call his Washington office at (202) 224-3041.

Here is a sampling of the patriots that supported the rally:

Click on the picture for a larger image.

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