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!
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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Yes we did build this business!
Brought to our attention by Jay Goulet of Boca Signworks
We Fight!
Boca Chapter and SF 912 Present: The Pre-Primary Candidate Forum Roundup!
The Boca Raton Chapter of the Palm Beach County Tea Party, in conjunction with the SF912, present the “Pre-Primary Candidate Forum“, for Tuesday, August 7th at 7:00pm. NOTE: Due to the high number of candidates who wish to speak to our audience, we will likely begin EARLIER than 7:00!!! 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). We will have this event in lieu of our normal “Dinner/Speaker” meeting, which we normally have on first Tuesday of the month. Our leadership has concluded that we would like to provide this type of event as a service to both the candidates, as well as the citizens in our county who wish to be better prepared when it comes time to vote- whatever their party of political “stripe”. This is a great opportunity for everyone involved to get to understand more of what the candidates stand for before their big Primary Election vote on August 14th.
The format will be simple: Each candidate will be allowed 5 minutes at the podium and microphone after he/she is introduced. We want each candidate to address the top two or three issues that they want to meet head-on if elected, an how they would be accountable to 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 ask that each candidate be very specific towards that, so that it’s not just some generic “stump speech”. 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.
As of August 6th, the officially confirmed candidate speakers will be: Joe Talley, Cleamond Walker, Susan Bucher, Fran Hancock, Jody Lane, Mike Lameyer, Cindy Tindell, Margherita Downey, Melanie Peterson, Gary Nikolits, Lisa Epstein, Timothy McCarthy, Sharon Bock, James Martz, Tom Thayer, Peter Evans, Peter Feaman, and Robert Weinroth.
This event will be provided in a safe and fair environment which our leadership ensure will be the model of civility. It is not a “Debate”– it is a “Forum”. There will be no mud-slinging, and the candidates are asked to confine their time at the podium to address what their platform is, NOT to attack their opponents.
Due to the number of candidates who wish to address our group, it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that there will be time left for a Q&A with the candidates. Assuming there is, the microphone will be tightly controlled by our leadership to avoid any questions designed with nothing more than malicious intent towards any of the candidates, determined at the sole discretion of SF 912/PBCTP personnel.
Our President says entrepreneurs are overrated
The Washington Times reports that Barack Obama is now saying on the stump that people who create businesses and hire people are nothing special. The entire American experience is a mystery to this man. Some quotes:
“… look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.
If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
For the video and the article, see: Obama – ‘If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen’
Gov. Scott attacks The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) “Obamacare”!
An article appeared in the National Review (online) on July 4, 2012. I will summarize the article:
The media has given little to no attention to the Supreme Court’s second ruling regarding the ACA, so-called “Obamacare” in a 7-2 decision striking down a massive and very costly expansion of Medicaid (which is administered by the states). Barely a day after the decision our governor Rick Scott announced that Florida will not expand Medicaid eligibility to 133% of the federal poverty level (as set forth in the ACA). Earlier, Gov. Scott had declined to establish state insurance exchanges, as allowed for (but not required) in the ACA. The left is going absolutely apoplectic over this one two punch to the ACA in Florida, as I will explain.
The savings on the Medicaid side over about ten years to Florida taxpayers who will not have to foot the bill for the Medicaid expansion after 2017 (when the federal government begins the phase down of the additional funds provided from 2014-2017) will be approximately twenty billion dollars. The ACA provides that most of those who would have been eligible for Medicaid will become eligible for subsidies through the ACA exchanges paid in full by the federal government. But, as Rod Serling stated so uniquely in an episode of The Twilight Zone that you might recall; “Ahhh, there’s the rub!”. If Florida refuses to set up the insurance exchange (which Gov. Scott has done) the ACA gives the federal government the authority to step in and set up the exchange itself. Congress has not appropriated any funds for this purpose and, in this political climate, seems very unlikely to do so any time soon!
Now to “the rub”. Those subsidies under the ACA cannot be offered by the federal government, only by the state run exchanges! In my view, the ACA is not only bad law (with a few good provisions which can be resurrected after the current law is repealed) and terrible public policy for the middle class and small businesses but is so poorly drafted as to contain a huge loophole that may render the law unworkable. We can only hope! Here’s an example of how this loophole could work. The subsidy triggers the penalty (tax?) under the ACA for employers with fifty or more employees who fail to provide workers with insurance but only if at least one employee qualifies for subsidies under the exchange. Therefore, if subsidies can only be provided through state authorized exchanges a state could defeat the employer mandate just by refusing to establish an exchange! Apparently, the towering intellects who drafted this legislation missed this! In any case, the Obama administration and our friends at the IRS claim they have the unilateral right to rewrite the ACA to close this loophole (and others). I don’t claim to be a legal genius like the Obama team but I do have a law degree and practiced law for many years. This claim of a unilateral rewrite is certainly open to legal challenge. Maybe the Supreme Court will get it right this time!
The bottom line is that while the media and the political class pontificate and spin the Court’s decision about whether or not the individual mandate is a tax, etc. the real action (as has been the trend for a very long time) is taking place with governors and state legislators in the fight for fiscal sanity against the ACA, better known as “Obamacare”.
July 4th Mall “Meet-ups”, in Boca, Wellington, and Palm Beach Gardens!
This past Memorial Day, Monday, May 28th, nearly 30 patriots from the Boca Chapter met up at Town Center Mall in Boca Raton. Dressed in full Patriotic regalia, our group met to honor those who served this great country in our armed services. We met quite early, before there were a lot of people there at the mall, but we definitely left an impression on those who were there.
The purpose of meeting up was to take a stand for our country in a very public way, to simply express our love for our country. Clearly, we had gathered intentionally—dressed patriotically, holding flags, and enjoying fellowship with one another. We gathered in a very open and conspicuous area, which was in the foyer area from the main entrance to the mall on the north side. Loosely organized, there was no official “format” or “program” that we followed. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the National Anthem, and Al Raden read a list of names- the names of every soldier from Florida who was killed in action since the previous Memorial Day. Ron Gaynor read an excellent short speech from Abraham Lincoln. We closed by singing God Bless America.
As we disbanded, a number of people inquired about our group, and we were equipped with Palm Beach County Tea Party business cards, as well as flyers for our upcoming meeting with Slade O’Brien that we just had in June. In all, we were at the mall for just about an hour.
We greatly encourage everyone who can, to JOIN US to do the very same thing on July 4th! Our respective chapter groups will gather at 10:30 am at Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, The Mall at Wellington Green in Wellington, and Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens. Pick the one closest to you, and let your voice be heard! Let us demonstrate solidarity for the future of this country—that there are people who still care—and that the Tea Party is alive and well, and present and accounted for in our communities!!!
This is Your Wake Up Call!
Today is a very sad day. I am sitting here in Washington, DC with about 50 fellow patriots. All of us were checked out of our hotel room by 6 am this morning and standing on the steps of the Supreme Court by 6:30am. We said the pledge of allegiance, sang patriotic songs, chanted things like “See that flag a flying hi makes me proud as I pass by “, and silently prayed that the announcement that the Supreme Court would declare the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional. As you know, that did not happen and the worst case scenario unfolded. The Supreme Court upheld ACA or “ObamaCare” as it is affectionately called by both sides.
Somber moments for tea partiers!
Should we, the tea party, consider this a win for the opposition and a loss for us. Yes, it was a win for them but we should also consider this a wakeup call for America and especially for the tea party! We have an opportunity now to energize the masses. The Supreme Court declared ObamaCare a tax — a tax for all people, poor, middle income, and rich alike! The administration orchestrated a President Franklin D. Roosevelt-like bait and switch. President Roosevelt first sold social security to the masses as benefit, not a tax; then when challenged by the Supreme Court, he declared it a tax . . . and won! This is exactly what happened today!
Everyone is asking what does this mean? The news reporters asked where is the tea party going from here? Does this signal an end to the tea party? Very quickly the leftists surrounded us and declared that the tea party “does not care about people needing health care.” This could not be further than the truth!
Tea partiers from across the US
after the Health Care decision
Tea party groups across the country are focused on quality health care for any person, irrespective of their income situation and if they want it. Tea partiers believe that we must repeal the ACA in full and replace it with effective free-market based solutions.
Simply stated, the tea party stances are reflective of the majority of the American people. Per a June poll by NYT/CBS, 68% of the American voters want all or part of ObamaCare repealed. Per a YG Network June poll, 92% say they are already satisfied with their healthcare (pre ObamaCare) and 90% say that their health care costs have gone up or stayed the same since ObamaCare passed. Per a June 13th Rasmussen poll, those who strongly favor repeal is almost double those that strongly oppose repeal.
So what does this mean for the tea party? It means that we energize America against this very pervasive tax that will effect everyone. We fight to repeal ACA with a newly minted handle: “Repeal the ObamaCare Tax!”
We need to focus on the costs, on its impact on our economy, the inevitable reduction in the quality of health care in this country, the rationing power of Medicare imbedded in the law, the Medicare payment cuts imbedded int he law, and the overall higher health care costs for every person and every company that must now provide healthcare benefits for their employees. We cannot give up! America’s future depends on our effort!
We are on the steep, slippery slope to socialized medicine! We need to make today a turning point — the first day of our renewed effort to repeal the ObamaCare tax!
