A Community Conversation with Congressman Brian Mast

Brian Mast Speaks to Overflow Crowd at Abacoa

On Tuesday morning, well over 100 Tea Party stalwarts assembled for a breakfast buffet and some interaction with our CD18 Congressman Brian Mast.

With a Q&A format that started with written questions and progressed to passing the microphone around, the Congressman answered questions on a wide variety of topics, in many cases expanding on the questions to provide a nuanced look at the opportunities and challenges of this Congress.

Brian gave us a current status of the pictures on the wall at the VA, as the attention he brought to the issue resulted in a Presidential Order to mount the pictures of Donald Trump and VA Secretary David Shulkin in all VA facilities, then spoke of Congressional term limits as a way to help “drain the swamp”. Term limits would stop the “tenured” nature of committee chair positions, part of that swamp infrastructure.

When asked about interactions with lobbyists, he told us he meets with those pushing all sides of issues every day, but also reaches out to stakeholders for bills, like state Governors and other representatives, and finally sorts through the BS and makes up his own mind. Doing the right thing matters more to Brian than pandering for re-election, something he wished would motivate more of his colleagues. This is part of the reason that he has not joined any “voting caucuses” like the Freedom Caucus or the Tuesday Group – he does not want to commit to voting in lockstep with a Caucus consensus if he doesn’t agree with it.

On the budget, Brian was disappointed that there are not 12 individual appropriations bills in process as had been promised by House leadership, and he wished that the continuing resolution that passed had actually reduced spending. He was able to get $60M in that bill to reimburse the county for protecting the President when he comes to Mar-A-Lago though.

He spoke of co-authoring the “Hamas Sanction Bill” (Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act – H.R.2712), introduced a few days ago, his support for NASA and space exploration in general, and supporting the proposal for a water retention reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee as well as dike repairs.

And regarding the VA, he has asked Secretary Shulkin for space within the WPB Veterans Hospital for one of his staff to meet with Veterans regarding problems with care delivery. If Congressman were on-site to observe what transpires at VA facilities and raise the alarm when warranted, problems with the VA could be quickly improved. Since no space is yet forthcoming, Brian is asking his constituents, particularly the veterans, to contact the local VA Administrator and ask them to provide the space.

Following are some pictures provided by Carol Porter:

FreedomWorks at May Meetings

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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Jupiter Chapter RSVP:

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Boca Chapter RSVP:

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Wellington Chapter RSVP:

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Allen 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 County Library, PBG on May 1

Also,

Please RSVP:

George Via at all Three Chapters in April

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Abacoa RSVP:

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Boca RSVP:

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Wellington RSVP:

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George Via has been a practicing Florida attorney since 1990. For most of that time he has been in Public Service as an Assistant Public Defender, first in Miami-Dade County for close to 4 years, then again in Orlando for 10 years. There was a time interval in Miami where he had his own practice, and then in 1998 after marrying his wife Farideh, they packed up and moved to South Africa for 4 years, and traveled around other countries including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Mozambique. They also traveled to Israel several times, and lived in Turkey for 4 months and traveled across Europe to Switzerland, France and Spain and lastly to England for another 4 months. During their travels George lectured at a number of universities and law schools on Global Ethics, World Unity, and the Role of Science in the New World Order, and while in England he managed to meet Queen Elizabeth on a completely unrelated engagement.

For the last two years he has been looking to get into the speaker circuit and is currently scheduled to speak on the practice of Mindfulness at the Dade County Bar “Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Speakers” event they are hosting in the coming months. While in the Orlando area, he gave talks to the Orlando Police Bomb Squad on why there is so much turmoil in the Middle East. This talk came about after his Baha’i Center received some hate mail that appeared to have anthrax in it, and the bomb squad had to be called in. Fortunately it was a hoax, but it provided a unique opportunity for him to speak with the Police Department. The lead detective then asked him to speak again at the police academy.

George Via at Abacoa 4/3

Please RSVP:

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George Via has been a practicing Florida attorney since 1990. For most of that time he has been in Public Service as an Assistant Public Defender, first in Miami-Dade County for close to 4 years, then again in Orlando for 10 years. There was a time interval in Miami where he had his own practice, and then in 1998 after marrying his wife Farideh, they packed up and moved to South Africa for 4 years, and traveled around other countries including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Mozambique. They also traveled to Israel several times, and lived in Turkey for 4 months and traveled across Europe to Switzerland, France and Spain and lastly to England for another 4 months. During their travels George lectured at a number of universities and law schools on Global Ethics, World Unity, and the Role of Science in the New World Order, and while in England he managed to meet Queen Elizabeth on a completely unrelated engagement.

For the last two years he has been looking to get into the speaker circuit and is currently scheduled to speak on the practice of Mindfulness at the Dade County Bar “Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Speakers” event they are hosting in the coming months. While in the Orlando area, he gave talks to the Orlando Police Bomb Squad on why there is so much turmoil in the Middle East. This talk came about after his Baha’i Center received some hate mail that appeared to have anthrax in it, and the bomb squad had to be called in. Fortunately it was a hoax, but it provided a unique opportunity for him to speak with the Police Department. The lead detective then asked him to speak again at the police academy.

GOP State Committeeman Joe Budd in March

Help us kick off the new year with a thoughtful discussion of the political environment under a Trump administration, and its effect on our Congressional delegation and the state party.

Can we trust Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to follow through on the Trump agenda other than perhaps repealing Obamacare and some tax reform? If we want to really Make America Great Again, it is going to take constant pressure by the grassroots on our members of Congress to keep them on the path.

Newly elected State Committeeman Joe Budd, who campaigned against the status quo in the recent contest, is uniquely positioned to help us stay focused as the grassroots.

Besides a quick overview of what to expect from RPOF in 2017, we will hear Joe’s views on why he supported Donald Trump from the beginning (and served as county co-chair), what he expects in the first 100 days, and what we need to do as Republican activists to help our new President achieve real change in our government.

Abacoa RSVP:

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Boca RSVP:

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Joe Budd is our newly elected State Committeeman and a member of the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee Board of Directors. He is the immediate past President of the Boca Raton Regional Republican Club and has been locally active in politics since his run for Congress in 2009. Joe served as a vice chair of the Palm Beach County Trump campaign helping President-Elect Trump win a decisive primary victory with 52% of the vote in our county.

Joe has been married to his wife Sherry for 31 years and has three children and one grandchild. Joe operates a successful Financial Planning firm in Boca Raton as well as an Insurance Brokerage firm.

City Council Candidate Night

On February 6, the Palm Beach County Tea Party will be hosting a

at the Abacoa Golf Club, starting at 6:30PM.

March Council candidates from Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter will be invited to speak for up to 5 minutes to introduce themselves and their plans for their respective cities when elected.

Candidates and staffers will be free to distribute literature and solicit volunteers and contributors.

We will also have some discussion about the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump from those who attended the festivities in Washington, DC.

PBG Group 1	Mark Marciano	Michael Paolercio
PBG Group 3	Ron Berman	Kathryn Gettinger	Matthew Lane
PBG Group 5	Kevin Easton	Rachelle Litt	Joe Russo	George Wicker

Jupiter District 1	Teri Grooms	Wayne Posner (I)	Carol Watson
Jupiter District 2	Ron Delaney (I)	Heidi Epstein	Ben Klug

Please join us for this informative event and remember – our city councils and county commission have as much effect on our lives as the state and national governments. Get informed and vote on March 14.

Please RSVP below. There is no charge for the meeting.

Congressman-Elect Brian Mast visits Abacoa

Congressman-elect Brian Mast highlighted a packed meeting at Abacoa on Monday, thanking the members, many of whom worked hard for his election, and Brian was presented with a musical globe by PBCTP leaders Mel and Barbara Grossman. The globe plays “The Impossible Dream”.

In his remarks, Brian related the process of coming up to speed, including the “Freshman Orientation” in Washington. A dinner, held in the “old halls of the capital” was particulary memorable as they dined in the same space where slavery and the other momentous issues in our history were debated. He will leave this job, Brian said, when he no longer feels chills upon entering the building.

Brian’s office will be room 2182 of the Rayburn Office Building, where he plans to also reside – something that 80 or so other Congressman do while they are in the capital.

For committee assignments, in keeping with his desire to work on projects of interest in the district, Brian has selected Transporation and Infrastructure as his first choice, followed by Veterans Affairs, Armed Services, Foriegn Affairs and Homeland Security.

When the 115th Congress convenes in January, he expects the first order of business will be Obamacare Repeal through a reconciliation bill (with “replace” coming later). He does not expect smooth sailing however, and cautions that the Democrats, particularly in the Senate, will be working overtime to derail and obstruct progress on the Trump and Congressional agendas.

We were told that Brian plans to open offices in all three of the counties making up district 18, and will be holding town halls when he periodically returns to the district.

A number of interesting questions were asked, including his plans regarding “dialing for dollars” – the significant focus on fundraising that all Congressmen are expected by their Caucus to do. Brian was honest about it – running for Congress every two years is very expensive, and he feels an obligation to help “replenish the coffers” of the NRCC and other groups that helped him compete against the heavily funded Randy Perkins. But dollars won’t buy his vote – he has been given good advice from the caucus leaders to “vote your district”.

Present at the meeting were two candidates for City Council in Palm Beach Gardens – Mark Marciano and Matthew Lane. With three open seats in that city thanks to term limits, neither currently have an opponent, but that could change prior to the filing deadline of late January. Gardens Mayor Marcie Tinsley was also at the meeting.

Loren Spivack in January

Join us in January as all three chapters host “Free Market Warrior” Loren Spivack, the popular author, economist, political activist, and highly sought after speaker on economics and small government.

To RSVP, click on the links below:

Jupiter	Monday January 2, 6:30pm, buffet at 5:30pm	Abacoa Golf Club
Boca	Tuesday January 3, 6:30pm	Boca Community Center
Wellington	Wednesday January 4, 6:30pm	Wellington Community Center

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Loren Spivack “The Free Market Warrior” was born and raised in Massachusetts and spent most of his adult life in New York City. Before becoming active in politics, Spivack worked for several non-profits and as a management consultant for both profit and non-profit companies.

Spivack founded “Free Market Warrior” in 2009 in an effort to make a positive difference in American politics and economics.

His “Free Market Warrior” store was expelled from Concord Mills Mall in North Carolina in July of 2009 for selling material critical of the Obama Administration. (Mall owners, Simon Property Group, are major Democratic donors.) Since then Loren has devoted his time to teaching conservative groups about free market economics. He conducts “Economic Literacy” seminars across the United States. So far, Spivack has delivered his famous seminar on “Economic Literacy” to over 300 groups in 25 states.

Spivack is also the author of “The New Democrat” a parody history of the Obama administration, based on a famous children’s book. With pitch-perfect rhyme and clever illustrations, “The New Democrat” transforms the political personalities of our times into cartoon characters in a conservative morality play.

Spivack’s second book “The Gorax” is an anti-environmentalism/pro-capitalism parody starring Al Gore and presenting his movement as a threat to American freedom and standard of living. Once again, Spivack is both funny and poignant as he makes the case that capitalism (represented by the “Onepercentler”) is the real victim of environmental extremists who destroy prosperity without achieving even their own goals. Along the way, Spivack takes well aimed shots at everything from “The Fed” to the teachers unions. “The Gorax” came out on July 1, 2013.

Spivack’s latest book, The Wizard of Iz, is a masterpiece of conservative humor and inspiration. When a tornado blows Dorothy from her constitutionally governed America (circa 1900) into the 2016 election she must rescue the “Free-Lunchkins” from the slavery of welfare dependence, save the brainless scarecrow from the mindless indoctrinations of graduate school and help the cowardly RINO find some courage. Our heroes must ford “The Main Stream”, under the medias threatening glare, stop “The Wicked Witch of Chappaqua” and, ultimately learn the secret to restoring America, from a most unlikely source!

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