PBCTP Leadership Changes

Hello friends,

It is only after considerable prayer and with sadness that I am resigning as the County Coordinator for the Palm Beach County Tea Party. I believe strongly that term limits and new leadership are both refreshing and critical to the long-term success of any program.

More importantly, this move will enable me to better contribute to the Palm Beach County Tea Party in the areas that I believe will will be critical in the coming 23 months before the 2014 midterm elections:
* Oversight — keeping our members up to date on key local, state, and federal issues and creating action alerts when needed.
* Hispanic Outreach
* College Outreach

I will continue to serve on the board and as the liaison to both the Tea Party Patriots and the Tea Party Alliance.

Please let me know if you would like to join me in any of these three programs! We will have some fun and definitely create value!

The board is actively recruiting my replacement. I can tell you that this is an exciting and fulfilling job. With the new addition of a Communications Director,Richard Bock, and my new role, the director position will be less time intensive and will be able to focus on strategy and operational efficiencies.

Other Changes in Our Organization

Jupiter/PBG Chapter
Gary Summers has resigned as the Chapter Coordinator for Jupiter/Palm Beach Gardens. Gary had only lived in Florida one month when he found us and almost immediately went to work as our Jupiter/PBG Chapter Leader. He did an awesome job despite his work and family commitments. He is now involved in a business start-up and must focus on that in the coming months. Thank you, Gary, for all that you have done for PBCTP in the past year!

Laura Hanley has accepted this position starting immediately. Laura has been involved in Palm Beach County politics and grassroots efforts for years and, through her efforts, willingness to work and effervescent personality, has a large network of friends and supporters. We look forward to working with her in this capacity. Laura will also serve on the Board of Directors.

Wellington Chapter
Gina Rascati and Joe Madej have also resigned as coordinators for the Wellington Tea Party. Joe did a Herculean job as the GOTV leader in Wellington, personally canvassing hundreds of homes despite hip and knee surgeries only months before. Joe was inspired by our recent visit by Brigitte Gabrielle and will be focusing on programs designed to understand radical Muslim issues in our country.

Marion Frank will be replacing Gina and Joe as the Wellington Chapter Coordinator and will also serve on the Board of Directors. Marion, like Laura, has been very active in the county, is on top of the issues, especially healthcare, and will be an energetic and valuable contributor to our organization.

Boca Raton Chapter
Alex Berry is stepping down as Chapter Coordinator in Boca Raton. In Alex’ words, “The most pressing reason for my departure is that I need to spend more time with my family, my businesses, and my church. I wanted to do all I can up until this past election, and I was as disappointed as could be with the results. I look forward to re-engaging in the future as time and opportunity allow.”

We would like to extend a special thanks to Alex for his hard work and commitment over the years!

Please Consider These Open Leadership Positions

Please contact Mel Grossman, our vice-chair, if you are interested in any of the following positions. His number is (561) 628-1873.

• County Coordinator
• Chapter Coordinator for Boca Raton (includes Delray Beach and Boynton Beach)
• Assistant Coordinator for the Wellington Chapter

Yours in hope & action,

Pam Wohlschlegel
Co-founder & Oversight Coordinator
Palm Beach County Tea Party
Phone: 561.254.1036
pam@palmbeachcountyteaparty.org

Florida State Coordinator
Tea Party Patriots

Let your views be heard on the EPA Lawsuit

We have posted information in the past as to how the EPA is holding our taxpayers hostage requiring unreasonable, possibly unattainable phosphorus  reduction in the Everglades.  Here is an article written in May: EPA holds Florida taxpayers hostage with billion-dollar ransom

Understanding the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012 was signed into lady by President Obama on December 31, 2011.  This Act addresses national security programs, DOD health care costs, military modernization, economic sanctions against Iran, counter-terrorism, the strategic goals of NATO and many other US issues and capabilities.  The language and content of this wide reaching bill are still being discussed by many constitutional experts who are concerned with the impact on the rights of American citizens, the serious ambiguity of the verbiage, and the expanded scope of the President’s authority.

We need to impress on our sitting congressmen and senators the need to revisit this bill and to support an amendment as soon as possible!

KrisAnne Hall, a constitutional lawyer and astute legislative analyst, has produced the attached video entitled:  “NDAA — A True Legal Analysis”.  This is an excellent, comprehensive analysis of this law.  She addresses the evolution of the bill up to it’s passing as well as the troublesome wording that essentially waive the rights of Americans.  Please take the few minutes required to watch this video.  You will fully understand the problems with this law and will enable you to better question your congressmen and political candidates on their support of this legislation.   NDAA — A True Legal Analysis

My suggestion is that all who read this send this link to their congressmen and senators and ask them to address the issues.

Where are the Jobs? The Inconvenient Truth!

The Republican Study Committee just came out with an update entitled:  “The Stimulus Chart Obama Doesn’t Want You to See”.  This committee has take a more accurate and relevant picture of the employment situation in the United States, essentially viewing it from the “labor force participation rate” rather than using the faulty “unemployment rate.”  We all know that the unemployment rate is becoming even less indicative of the current situation because of the fact that many long-term unemployed have simply stopped looking for employment and, as such, are no longer counted among the “unemployed.”

Please study this update and create your own 30-second “elevator speech” that will enable you to quickly grab the interest of your friends and family and get them to see that our economy is not improving as is being touted many politicians.  In fact, job wise, we are in worse shape than we have been in for 29 years!

Gun Case Resolved for Tea Party Patriots Leader Mark Meckler

Many of our Palm Beach County Tea Party members met Mark Meckler last September when he and Dawn Wildman visited all three of our chapters.  Just before Christmas, you may have read that Mark was arrested in LaGuardia airport on a firearms charge.  The liberal media portrayed this as a major arrest and that Mark was facing 15 years in prison due to a firearms charge.  This situation has been resolved positively Mark can finally explain what happened.   Since our major media outlets will not cover this positive outcome, I want to share Mark’s statement with you.  It is lengthy but well worth the read!

From Mark Meckler:

On December 15, 2011 at approximately 5:15 a.m., I was at LaGuardia International airport preparing to check in for a flight out of the city.  During a routine check-in, I requested a firearms declaration form from the ticket agent.  It was my intent to declare and check my unloaded firearm.

I purchased this firearm legally, and I have a valid concealed carry permit for it issued in California.  The unloaded gun was locked inside a TSA-approved travel case, and the case was locked inside my checked luggage.  I carry the firearm for my personal safety, having received numerous threats due to my role in the Tea Party Patriots.  I have checked this firearm at airports dozens of times before, all across the country.

As I traveled through LaGuardia that morning, I passed TSA signs telling me I had the right to check this unloaded firearm in my luggage, and that I am required by law to declare the firearm to the ticketing agent.  This is exactly what I did.

The ticketing agent provided me with the declaration form, and I signed it and returned it to her.  She advised me that she would need to call Port Authority police to inspect.  This is not unusual when traveling with a firearm.  Procedures vary from airport to airport, from airline to airline, and even from day to day, and as a law-abiding citizen, I have always been happy to cooperate.

Unfortunately, that day, I didn’t realize that I was about to cross paths with New York City’s anti-Second Amendment stance.  Upon showing my case and the weapon to the officer who arrived on the scene, and after a few brief questions, she advised me that she was placing me under arrest for violating New York City’s firearms laws.

To say that I was stunned would be an understatement.  I am from a law enforcement family.  My mother is a retired correctional officer, and I have spent my life around folks from the law enforcement community.  I have always considered myself a law-abiding citizen.  I have never been arrested before.  I have never been in police custody.  I can never say those things again.  On December 15^th, 2011, I was arrested, handcuffed at the ticket counter, and taken to a waiting squad car for transport to the Port Authority Police station at LaGuardia.

I was subsequently transferred, in handcuffs, to the Queens Central booking facility in New York City.  I was charged with felony possession of a firearm with intent to do harm.  I spent the day in Queens…in jail.

It was a nightmare that I can scarcely describe to you.  Until you have felt the handcuffs on your wrists, and until you have heard that cell door close behind you, it is impossible to understand what it means to actually lose your liberty.  And since that day, my liberty has been at stake, and because of that threat, based upon the advice of counsel, I’ve been unable to publicly speak about this case.  Today the silence ends.

I am pleased to announce that the criminal case against me has been dropped.  Although I was originally charged with a violent felony, the case against me was resolved with a plea to “disorderly conduct. ” Disorderly Conduct is not a felony or a misdemeanor, or even a crime.    The facts underlying my plea are that I declared a legally purchased, properly licensed and unloaded firearm at an airport counter.  Apparently, much to my surprise, in New York City, it is considered “disorderly conduct” to exercise your constitutionally guaranteed, Second Amendment rights.

Strangely, now that the case against me is over,  the authorities refuse to return my firearm.  There is no law that allows them to confiscate a weapon in this manner.  They simply say “no” when you ask for your weapon back.  This is apparently their “policy.”  This is apparently done regularly in New York.  This is government robbery.  Not only is New York City anti-Second Amendment rights, but they are depriving citizens of their legally owned property.  My lawyer has advised me that I can attempt to pursue the return of my firearm, but that to do so would cost me more than the firearm is worth.  I am not alone in facing this tyranny.  It has happened to hundreds of people in the New York metro area.  My lawyer, Brian Stapleton, has handled over 400 of these cases himself, so he is an expert on the subject.

While the end of this case is the end of a horrible nightmare for my family and I, it is not the end of this fight.  It is just the beginning.  Since the original incident, I have received more emails, phone calls, texts and tweets of support than you can possibly imagine.  To those people, I want to say heart-felt thanks on behalf of my entire family.  We have come to know that we are not alone in this particular fight.  Apparently, this happens to hundreds of people per year in New York City.  And New York City is not alone in its attack on our rights.  This sort of Constitutional abuse, Second Amendment and otherwise, is taking place all over the nation.  And we as citizens must stand against it.  We must protect our rights, or we will lose them.

Many of you know me as someone who is willing to stand and fight for self-governance in this country.   I’m no politician, and I’m not from a powerful or connected family.   I’m an average American citizen.  And I stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of other Americans who, despite enormous obstacles, and despite the politicians and ruling elite who oppose us, intend to return this country to the bounds of the United States Constitution.

The politicians and ruling elite will try, but we must not let them label us Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal.  We cannot let them make us fight against each other.  Too much is at stake.  We the People are losing our sovereignty to the government.   We the People, must stand and fight for our inalienable rights.

I’m not alone in this fight.  There are so many laws, that no one can possibly know or understand them.  We are all affected.  From the inner city to the farm, from the heartland of America to the coasts, people are under pressure from a government that no longer serves them.   From my home in California, to the farmland of Kansas… from the small towns of South Carolina to the metropolis of New York, every year the legislatures pass thousands of laws and regulations that do not serve the people.

The legislators don’t read the bills they pass, and even if they did, they couldn’t understand them.  Our criminal justice system is terribly broken, and no longer serves the people and the communities it was intended to serve.  Our regulatory system is broken; small businesses and the communities that rely on them crushed under the weight of unnecessary regulation.

We are, step by step, destroying the heart of America.  And we are doing so because we are not governing ourselves according to the Constitution.  It’s up to us…the People.

It’s time to stand for self-governance.  It is time to stand for the plain meaning of the Constitution.  Every word of the Constitution is important, and we must fight for them all.  We must fight for every inch of this country, from the inner city to the smallest rural town.  We are, all of us, first and foremost, American citizens.  We’ve always governed ourselves…and we always intend to.  And we’ve always been willing to stand when freedom is at stake.   It is time to stand…time for all of us, every race, every religion, every gender, every American to stand up and fight for liberty and take responsibility for governing ourselves.

No one should ever have to go through what my family has been through, simply for exercising a fundamental right, specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution.  I am committed to making sure no one does.  And I’m willing to work with anyone…anyone, who agrees that it’s time for the people to govern themselves once again.

Will we as citizens fight for our inalienable right to govern ourselves, or will we quietly allow ourselves to be “governed” into submission by a ruling elite, disconnected from our citizens and our communities?  Only history will tell, but I intend to fight.

Mark Meckler