Boca Raton Chapter Dinner/Speaker Meeting, Tuesday, March 5th!!!
Join us on Tuesday, March 5th for another banner Chapter Meeting, featuring Slade O’Brien, the Florida State Director for Americans For Prosperity. Slade has spoken to our group before, and is always a great hit with our crowd, and his message is destined to become MORE popular, as he is a rising star both as an activist, and as an expert in how to WIN elections. If more people listened to Slade last year, many of the election results could have come out quite differently. One other note: WE ARE BACK at Boca Greens Country Club!
Please join us! Doors open at 5:30pm, with a cash bar. Dinner begins promptly at 6:00pm, and our meeting begins at 7:00pm. We will say the Pledge of Allegiance, and Carlos Manuel Santana will sing our National Anthem. Announcements will follow, and then Slade O’Brien will be introduced. He is always great with our crowd, and will be happy to answer questions after his presentation. You can attend our meeting at 7:00pm at no cost, but we encourage you to come for the dinner. For $20, you will enjoy salad, main course, dessert, coffee, and tea, with tax and tip included! This will be a great evening of like-minded fellowship, and a true sense of deep patriotism permeates the experience– please RSVP on the button below!
February Boca Chapter Meeting Featuring Mark Meckler
Please join us Tuesday, February 5, at Embassy Suites Hotel Boca Raton, for an evening with Tea Party Patriot’s founder Mark Meckler. Mark will discuss the future of grassroots movements given the results of the November elections
Please click the button below to RSVP for the meeting.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 5:30pm buffet ($20), 6:30 Program
Embassy Suites Hotel Boca Raton
661 NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, Florida, 33487
Meckler Bio
Mark Meckler is a genuine grassroots citizen-activist. Like most folks in the self-governance movement, he is relatively new to politics.
Mark hails from the rural foothills of northern California. He has a BA in English from San Diego State University and graduated with honors from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1988. He built a career in real estate and business law for almost a decade. Prior to his accidental entry onto the political scene, he specialized in Internet advertising law.
Mark knows what it is like to be a small business owner in America. He has owned a variety of businesses from manufacturing to food service, and has seen the legal challenges facing a wide variety of businesses across many industries.
For most of his life, Mark was not politically active. He never campaigned for, nor donated to, any candidate. Due to his distrust of both political parties, Mark has been registered as an independent for more than a decade.
Then, on February 19, 2009, Rick Santelli, a financial reporter on CNBC, issued his now famous “rant” against a government run amok, and called for a new tea party in America. Like millions of others, Mark saw that rant on the web, saw on Facebook that people actually were organizing tea parties, and decided to get involved.
On Feb. 27, 2009, Mark held the first tea party in Sacramento, California, at the state capitol. Not knowing what to expect, he arrived with his wife, his two kids, his retired parents and some handmade signs. Much to his surprise, 150 people showed up from across the societal and political spectrum. He considered it an amazing success, and he was inspired by those he met to keep organizing.
Returning home, he began networking with others around the state, and across the nation. Eventually, he was among a small core group who helped to organize the April 15, 2009 Tax Day Tea Parties, which consisted of 850 events, and roughly 1.2 million participants spanning the country. Out of this initial surge of activity, Mark and a core group had the foresight to form Tea Party Patriots to be the go-forward entity for the tea party movement.
In 2009, Mark Meckler was one of many citizen “sparks” that helped to ignite a movement. He was the Co-Founder and a former National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, a group which at its peak boasted 3,200 chapters nationwide and millions of members.
Mark resigned from Tea Party Patriots in February 2009 to focus on broadening the philosophical reach of the idea of “self-governance” outside of the Tea Party movement, by founding Citizens for Self Governance.
Mark now appears regularly on television outlets as diverse as MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business, and the BBC. You may have seen him sparring with Chris Matthews on Hardball, or pushing back against Geraldo Rivera on Fox Business. He is highly sought after for the self-governance perspective from print and online news outlets, including theWall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Examiner,Politico and The Hill. His opinion pieces regularly run in many of the leading political outlets both on and offline.
Mark says, “I try to say what millions of American’s would say if they had the chance I’ve been given. It’s not really about my opinions, as much as it is my honest attempt to reflect what I hear from people involved in the self-governance movement all over the country.” Mark has a unique political voice, which many have said most clearly represents the citizens of this country fighting back against the incumbent machine of both political parties at all levels.
When not fighting to put the future of our nation back in the hands of self-governing citizens, Mark is an avid horseman, and lives in rural northern California with his wife Patty and two children.
661 NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, FL 33487
Prayer
“Soldiers! Let us humble ourselves before the Lord, our God, asking through Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, beseeching the aid of the God of our forefathers in the defense of our homes and our liberties, thanking Him for His past blessings, and imploring their continuance upon our cause and our people.”
“Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray – to really pray.”
“Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight – all through the day. Let us pray for our children, our youth, our age, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for the churches.”
“Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word “concern” out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and His redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice.”
General Robert E. Lee, 1863
Get Out the Vote Campaign for 2012
The Palm Beach County Get Out the Vote Campaign was successfully launched on Friday night, October 5th with a huge Door Hanger Packing and Pizza Party in Palm Beach Gardens. That event was followed by a similar activities in Boca Raton and Wellington the next day.
As you may know, our goal is to canvass over 20,000 homes in Palm Beach County spreading information on issues, candidate positions on key issues, ObamaCare, and the ballot amendments. We are off to a great start! We have packed over half of our door hangers and walked several neighborhoods across the county.
Thank you all who have helped us packing door hangers and walking neighborhoods!
This being said, the work has just begun and we have only three weeks to complete it! Our program is designed so that all of our members can contribute to the effort according to their time, talent, and resource availability. We have something for everyone who wants to contribute to this effort!
Please see below our meet-up times and places in your area (Jupiter/PBG, Wellington, or Boca Raton) for Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.
If you cannot meet at these times but want more information on how you can help with this effort, please send an email to info@palmbeachcountyteaparty.org
THE PLAN
There are three major activities associated with this project:
1. Packing the door hanger bags: This activity is filling the bags with our literature. It will be done on Friday evenings at Packing Parties or we can arrange to get you the materials and you can do it at home.
2. Distributing the Walking Books and Door Hangers to walkers: we need help distributing these items to the walkers on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.
3. Walking the neighborhoods near you: Walkers will get their Walking Packets on Friday or Saturday night (or we can make other arrangements, if necessary). You will have all week to walk the neighborhoods at times convenient to you.
LIST OF MEET-UP TIMES
Here is a list of all our scheduled meet-ups:
Every Friday night, October 12th through November 2nd: Packing & Pizza Parties in Jupiter, Wellington, and Boca Raton.
Every Saturday morning, October 13th through November 3rd: Distribution of Walking Books and door hangers at locations in Jupiter, Wellington, and Boca Raton. There will also be groups who will walk together from those locations on Saturday mornings.
LOCATIONS
Jupiter/Palm Beach Gardens
We will meet on Friday evenings from 6 to 8:30pm for packing and on Saturday mornings for Walk Book Distribution from 10 to 11am at the following location:
Location: AFP office in Palm Beach Gardens. 3970 RCA Blvd Suite # 7003, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Click here for directions. Note that the office is on the north side of the building directly across from the Hampton Inn. The office is in the same building as the WPBF25 TV studio (go down the hallway just west of the studio entrance).
Boca Raton
We will meet on Friday evenings from 6 to 8:30pm for packing and on Saturday mornings for Walk Book Distribution from 10 to 11am at the following location:
AFP office in Boca Raton
Address: 2nd floor of the Boca Plaza office building, 3200 N Federal Hwy, Suite 215, Boca Raton, FL.
Click here for directions.
Wellington
We will meet on Friday evenings from 6 to 8:30pm for packing at the home of Joe Madej. Please call Joe at (561) 502-3642 for directions.
On Saturday mornings we will meet at the Old Wellington Mall for Walk Book Distribution from 10 to 11am. Meet at the overhang for mail drop on the northeast side of the mall directly behind the Checkers Restaurant.
Location: 12794 West Forest Hill Blvd. (southeast corner of Forest Hill Blvd. and Wellington Trace)
Click here for directions
WHY CANVASS WITH THE PALM BEACH COUNTY TEA PARTY?
If you want to recruit some of your family and friends to help out, you may want to consider the answer to this question. Many people are already walking for their favorite candidates. Why would they also want to walk with the tea party? The answer is simply because all the polls say that Independents 7will decide the elections . . . and Independents vote on issues not by party. That’s were we, the tea party, are strong. The literature we distribute will focus on issues. A script will be provided.
Your country needs you! Florida is critical for the nation in the coming weeks. Palm Beach County is critical for Florida. That puts a heavy responsibility on all of us — and if each of us does a little, we can accomplish a lot!
Join Us For Our Boca Raton Election Night Party!!
ATTENTION!!! UPDATE AS OF NOVEMBER 4TH, 2012: CHANGE OF VENUE!!! THIS EVENT WILL NOW BE HELD AT MILLER’S ALE HOUSE ON 1200 YAMATO ROAD IN BOCA RATON (JUST WEST OF I-95, AND ADMISSION IS FREE!!! EAT AND DRINK AS YOU WISH ON YOUR OWN TAB FROM 7PM- ???
November 6th, 2012 will surely go down as one of the most important dates of the 21st Century in history books of the future. It has been said many times, “This is the most important election of our lifetime”, and that has never rung more true when one considers the principles at stake at this election. Our deep involvement in attempting to steer our voting populace towards all the principles and founding history of this country will ultimately have their collective effect on this great night. All the hard work, the personal and professional sacrifices that we make, the time and energy commitment in an increasingly liberal public, and the risk of voicing your opinion publicly will definitely prevail in the long run. On this night, we will get to witness “real time” results on all the monitors that will be on display, NOW AT MILLER’S ALE HOUSE IN BOCA RATON!! Map is HERE.
This evening promises to be one that you will remember for years to come, and is definitely NOT to be missed! The Palm Beach Tea Party will be joining up with several other individuals and organizations of like mind to make this night one “for the books”!
Admission is FREE, and we will be gathering starting at 7:00pm. Eat and drink as you choose on your own tab! Full coverage of election results will be seen on the many monitors placed throughout Miller’s Ale House.
PLEASE RSVP HERE so we can get an idea of a head count– knowing that the button for “buffet” is irrelevant, based on our venue change to Miller’s Ale House):
Candidate Forum In Boca Raton Encourages Voters
Moving closer to the critical national election next month, our Boca Chapter of the Palm Beach County Tea Party held another great night of discourse on the local level that certainly took into account what is happening to our country nationally by hosting another local candidate forum. A palpable sense of excitement filled the air, as over 100 people filed in to hear how candidates from both sides would address key Tea Party issues. While we had a full quiver of candidates from both the Republican AND Democratic sides slated to address those who would be on the ballot for November in Boca, the end result of those candidates who showed, versus those who elected not to appear was quite revealing…
Slated to appear were State Senate Candidates Melanie Peterson (District 25), her opponent Joe Abruzzo, James Ryan O’Hara (State House District 81), Cesar Henao (Congress District 21), Tom Gustafson (State House District 89), and Sean Kasper (State House District 90). David Lutrin and Pat Rooney, opponents for State House District 83 were also invited, but that district was ultimately deemed not applicable for the geographic area that Boca Raton audiences would be voting for (it should be noted that David Lutrin accepted our initial invitation, but that Pat Rooney did not). In the end, Tom Gustafson and Joe Abruzzo cancelled, leaving us with a still compelling field of O’Hara, Peterson, Kasper, and Henao.
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, which was terrific! After the usual protocol of explaining what the PBCTP is, and what it stands for, Alex made the usual announcements of upcoming events. He introduced Pam Wohlschlegel, who announced the Precinct Walk Initiative to sway independents in our county.
Alex then introduced David DiCresenzo, who moderated the discussion for the evening with carefully prepared questions regarding how each candidate would address issues ranging from insurance to energy- and many other topics—and how those positions would relate to the core Tea Party issues of Limited Government, Free Markets, and Fiscal Responsibility. The questions were excellent, and the answers truly helped our voters decide on who would best represent those principles we hold so dear to our hearts. There was even time for an interactive audience “Question and Answer” time, which was edifying and worthwhile for all those in attendance.
Overall, it was a spectacular 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. Get ready NOW for a HUGE “Election Day” victory celebration on November 6th, which happens to be the first Tuesday of the month for next 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!
For more information and video of the event, please CLICK HERE.
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Boca Chapter and SF912 Present: October Candidate Forum!
Please join us for our OCTOBER CANDIDATE FORUM, on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012. It will be held at the Boca Greens Country Club (Map HERE), and the doors will be open at 5:30pm for a cash bar, and dinner will follow from 6pm to 7pm (as usual, the cost is $15, which includes tax and gratuity). This as an ideal opportunity to learn about our local and state candidates in a safe and fair environment which our leadership ensures will be the model of civility. Since the Tea Party represents a powerful and influential voting base, combined with the fact that we can present candidates in a NON PARTISAN manner, this event is sure to be an influential and substantive endeavor to learn about how the candidates stack up.
The format will be simple: After the National Anthem, sung by Carlos Manuel Santana, Alex Berry will make announcements, and then introduce our moderator, David DiCrescenzo. He will ask the field candidates (to date: Tom Gustafson, James Ryan O’Hara, David Lutrin, Cesar Henao, Melanie Peterson, and Joe Abruzzo— check back here for regular updates) a question, and each candidate will receive 3 minutes to answer. In the event that an opponent is mentioned in a response, that opponent will receive :30 to rebut or address the answer which mentioned his/her name. The questions will not be a surprise to anyone, as they will center around many of the top issues facing your district. Further, the question will address one or more of the Tea Party’s 3 tenets: Fiscal Responsibility, Free Markets, or Limited Government, and how they will be manifested in your approach towards the office. We will have a volunteer timer, who will hold up cards letting each candidate know when they have 1:00 and :30 seconds remaining. A bell will ring to stop anyone who goes over time allotted.
This should be a VERY positive, enlightening and exciting evening for all of us!!! All we ask is that you RSVP immediately by clicking the RSVP button below!
Phone Bank Prizes: From Gift Cards to a Free Trip to Tallahassee!
Hours and Locations
Boca Raton: 3200 N Federal Highway, Suite 215, Boca Raton, FL
Monday, Tuesday, Saturday: 10am – 7pm
Friday: 10am – 3pm
(Located across the street from a Denny’s)
Palm Beach Gardens: 3970 RCA Blvd Suite 7003, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Wednesday & Thursday: 2pm – 8pm
(We are across the street from the Hampton Inn. Our office is tucked behind in the corner behind the American Flag.)
We have two competitions for phone banking and canvassing.
1. Weekly Competition
- See me for a personal PIN to compete
- Scores reset to zero each Monday at 9am
- Top 3 phone bankers will receive: 1st place: $25; 2nd place: $10; 3rd place: $5 to the restaurant or gas station of their choice.
- Past winners include: Mel and Barbara Grossman, Ed and Anna Lee Wolff, & Tom Miller. YOU could be next!
2. Win a FREE trip to Tallahassee
- Win a free trip to attend AFP’s Tallahassee Days: March 19 – 20, 2013
- Prize includes bus transportation to and from Tallahassee, lunch on the bus, hotel accommodations at a Marriott hotel, entry into the “Patriot Dinner” at University Club Center located in FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium
- 2 ways to win: Phone Banking and Door Knocking
Contest #1: Freedom Phones – In order to be eligible to win in this category, you must make a minimum of five hours of phone calls for AFP. The prize will be awarded to the individual who makes the most total calls after calling for at least five hours. The Field Coordinator will award one phone banking champion per week. An individual is only eligible to win two times in the eight remaining weeks. This enables you to win a trip for yourself and a spouse or friend (double occupancy).
Contest #2: Door Knocking – In order to be eligible to win in this category, you must spend a minimum of two hours knocking on doors for AFP. For every two hours spent walking and knocking, your name will be entered into a fishbowl. The more hours spent, the higher the chances your name will be drawn. On November 6th, your Field Coordinator will draw four names from the fishbowl to determine the contest winners (limit two per person).
*Please note, the limit is two wins per person per category. Therefore, an individual could potentially win a total of FOUR trips. Additional trips won can be transferred to your spouse and/or friend(s). Once an individual has won a trip, he/she may also purchase an additional trip for a spouse or friend at the discounted rate of $150.00.
Please contact Kathy Salerno with questions at 954-815-4307 or KSalerno@afphq.org.
Dina Keever Brings a Refreshing Voice to the Boca Raton Chapter!
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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An Evening with Dina Keever
Join us, Tuesday, September 4th at Boca Greens Country Club in Boca Raton, for an exciting evening with State Attorney Candidate Dina Keever, brought to you by the Boca Raton Chapter of the Palm Beach County Tea Party.
About Dina: Dina Keever has spent most of her legal career prosecuting crime. She entered law school at Florida State University College of Law in 1991, not because she wanted to be a lawyer, but because she wanted to be a prosecutor. Dina believes victims must be vindicated and individuals must be held accountable for their actions. Dina is a tireless advocate for criminal justice and ethics in government.
Doors open at 5:30pm, Dinner is from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. Dinner price is now $20, includes full meal, coffee, tea, tax, and gratuity. Speaker introduced after brief announcements, around 7:15pm.
Please RSVP on the button below!
