2024 – The Year of the Palm Beach Elephant

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2023 Anne Roberts Scholarship

The Republican Club of the Palm Beaches’ Scholarship was named after a long-standing and active member of our Club, Anne Roberts.

The Anne Roberts Memorial Scholarship is available to any resident of Palm Beach County who is a full or part time undergraduate or graduate student seeking to further their education. Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or above and plan to attend an accredited college. Applicants must be registered (or pre-registered under 18 yrs. of age) Republicans. Current members of our Club may refer applicants for this scholarship. The deadline for this application is May 31. The recipient will be eligible to receive up to $500 to be sent to the school they will attend. Award will be presented at the monthly luncheon June 28, 2022.

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RCPB Scholarship application 2023

Commissioner Sara Baxter and Sid Dinerstein Highlight December Lunch

What is a winning campaign strategy? Candidates who are newcomers to the political process will tell you they can win against the odds because of their particular background. They may have run businesses, or are professionals of one kind or another, or plan to identify with “the working man”. These newbies for the most part lose their elections because they underestimated the difficulty of raising money, reaching voters and crafting a coherent message. Political insiders, particularly incumbents, have overwhelming advantages in doing these things.

So how did Commissioner Sara Baxter overcome the odds? Winning by 5% while running as a Republican in a D+7 district against a well funded Democrat insider should make us all sit up and take notice. Clearly she knows how it is done, and at our December lunch, she told us.

With a war chest of about $100K (considerably less than her opponent), she didn’t waste it on a bunch of consultants to tell her what to do (a typical rookie mistake). As a small business owner, she already had the skills needed to identify her market and get her message out in an efficient way. She drew on a lot of free advice from the best minds, while taking advantage of a decade of experience in social media marketing. She also started early and worked very hard. Using video to tell her story, she was able to achieve the “touch every voter 7 times” principle so effectively that voters were asking her for new videos to watch.

Unlike the typical newcomer who may say they have the business skills to win but ultimately fall short, Sara actually managed her campaign as a business – with a budget and marketing plan to achieve a business objective – winning the race.

With that kind of skill on the dais, the other six commissioners better pay attention. I expect we will see a seismic shift at the county in the next couple of years.

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Our other speaker was Sid Dinerstein who gave us a sobering assessment of the election just past on the national level.

With all the bad things that the Biden administration has done to the country, this was supposed to be our chance to reverse course. An overwhelming win – 50 house seats for example, would have put us on the road to recovery. Instead we barely limped across the finish line. Unless we can achieve a level playing field in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona (which should be red states but are now dominated by Democrat electioneers) we will never again win a national election.

There is a lot of blame to go around – some of the candidates were not suited for their races, and the national Republican leadership (particularly Mitch McConnell) seemed to be working against our candidates in a number of ways. Sid believes McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and Ronna McDaniel are decent people, but they are not “warriors” and not suited to lead in these times.

Sid also opined about the presidential primary – he believes Ron DeSantis will definitely be in the race. The stars are aligned for him now and it will be impossible to pass that up. In a straw poll around the room on “who do you think will be the nominee”, the members picked DeSantis over Trump by a 3 to 1 margin.

We also had some holiday music at the event, with entertainer Bobby Fonseca.

Great Participation for Meet the Candidates

On Tuesday, September 27th, many of the Republican candidates on the November ballot joined us for quick introductions and to mingle with the members. Speaking for 4 minutes each, the enthusiasm and drive to succeed comes across strongly in this group as the Republican Party of Palm Beach County is fielding a diverse, capable group to compete in all the offices on the ballot.

Our candidates included:

Eric Ankner Senate 24	Steve Byers Senate 26	Mike Caruso House 87
Roz Stevens House 88	Daniel Zapata House 89	Dorcas Hernandez House 92
Saulis Banionis House 93	Sara Baxter Commission 6	Jennifer Showalter School Board 6
Vicki Franzese (for Dan) Congress 22

Willie Guardiola on October 25th

With the November Midterms looming, crunch time is coming. We need to be out there helping Republicans get elected. For some perspectives on what is at stake in this election and how we all can help, Willy is ready to rattle some cages.

A Florida Pro-Life leader and Catholic activist, Willy works tirelessly on advancing the Right to Life position as well as supporting our Republican Candidates. As an organizer of the “Trump Corner” rallies in Palm Beach Gardens and now the “DeSantis Depot” events, he’s actively involved in bringing our enthusiasm for our great Governor to the fore. Willy was recently honored at “Lobster Feast” by the Republican Party of Palm Beach County for his pro-life leadership.

Come to our October meeting and receive your dose of enthusiasm and Conservative vigor.

NOTE – With the construction completed, we will be back in the usual meeting place, The Paddock Restaurant.

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Obituary – Club Leadership Member Carol Hurst

Carol Hurst
April 26, 1935 – August 23, 2022

Born Carol Jane Cross on April 26, 1935 in Bronx, NY and moved to Boonton Township, NJ. Graduated from Boonton High School and attended St Joe’s Nursing School. Became a nurse and worked at Barnett Memorial Hospital as a surgical scrub nurse, also worked for Dr. Ferrero Paterson, Police Doctor. Then headed the medical department at Ingersoll Rand Corporate office in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. Worked as a visiting nurse for the American Cancer Society.

She moved to Florida in 1978 and resided there until passing, on Singer Island and in North Palm Beach. She was active in the Women’s Republican Party in Palm Beach County.

She is survived by Son, Marc Tiscia, two sisters (Jackie and Janet), has two granddaughters, six nieces and three nephews.

She met Jim Vizzi in 1995 whom she lived 27 joyful years together, until passing. She enjoyed the extended family from Jim’s five children and 14 grandchildren. Carol will be missed by all.

Service is on September 25, 2022 3pm – 5pm, All County Funeral Home, 131 South Lakeside Drive, Lake Worth, FL 33460.

Posted online on September 19, 2022
Published in The Palm Beach Post

Service Information
All County Funeral Home
131 South Lakeside Drive, Lake Worth, FL 33460
September 25, 2022 at 3:00 PM

Pat Rooney at the May 24th Lunch

The May 24th meeting of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches featured Pat Rooney, Jr. as our guest speaker. Pat is the President of the Palm Beach Kennel Club (PBKC) and has served our community in many ways including a six year stint as a State Representative in the Florida House from 2010 to 2016.

Pat’s topic was “Business and Government: Not Always on the Same Page.” Mr. Rooney began his presentation with an overview of the history of PBKC. The Club opened in 1932 and Pat’s grandfather Art Rooney bought the track in 1970. Dog Racing was one of the most popular sports in Florida from 1970 until the late 1980’s. Dog racing ceased in 2020.

Mr. Rooney discussed the factors contributing to the demise of dog racing including the states introduction of the lottery in 1986 and Indian Reservation gaming being legalized in 1987. Most recently the state convened its once in every 20 years Constitutional Revision Commission, a unique to Florida entity comprised of 37 selected individuals who propose amendments to the Florida Constitution. One amendment (Amendment 13) was placed on the ballot specifically eliminating dog racing at the end of 2020. It passed with over 70% of the statewide vote. Mr. Rooney questioned the legality of putting a specific taxed and regulated business on the ballot.

The Florida Legislature, at the direction of Governor DeSantis, recently negotiated a new compact with the Seminole Indians. This compact primarily would allow sports betting to take place throughout the state. However a district court judge found the compact in violation of another amendment which passed in 2018 (Amendment 3) which stated that only the states citizens through a referendum could expand gambling in the state. Mr. Rooney argued that since the bets would be taken on a Hard Rock App (property of the Seminoles) and since the servers for the app were on tribal lands, no citizen vote would be needed to ratify sports betting. However the district court disagreed and now the compact is on appeal and sports betting is in legal limbo.

Mr. Rooney further discussed the current viable parts of PBKC’s business: simulcast betting (authorized in 1991) where bets could be placed at PBKC on tracks across the country and poker (authorized in 1996). PBKC has the largest poker room in Florida at 64 tables. These two revenue streams have kept PBKC operational since the end of Dog Racing in 2020.

Business continually struggle with local, state, and federal regulations. Many regulations need to be reviewed to be business-friendly. For example, The Palm Beach Kennel Club can only have 3 outside events a year, and there doesn’t appear to be any Rhyme or Reason for this limitation.

For more than three decades, Pat Rooney, Jr. has been a successful businessman and respected community leader in Palm Beach County. Pat Rooney’s presentation was very informative and we appreciate his continued support. Pat has been a gracious host of the Paddock Restaurant for the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches.

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Note: We won’t be having a June lunch in favor of the President’s Council BBQ at the South County Civic Center on June 25th.

2022 Election Environment Discussed at April Lunch

The 2022 election was the topic discussed at our April lunch.

Fred Scheibl, RPPBC Political Director, went through the actions the GOP took in 2020 to recruit and train candidates for almost all of the state and local offices on the ballot, and build a permanent database for contacting most of the Republicans in the county. Over 1.3 million voter contacts were made on behalf of candidates, our slate, and overall GOTV efforts.

This year has some unique challenges and opportunities given the redistricting, proliferation of Vote by Mail (VBM) ballots, and election integrity risks. Fred walked through the new districts for Congress, Florida House and Senate, and the County Commission and School Board, pointing out areas where the changes give us opportunities for Republican pickups. The VBM ballots, which made up 2/3 of the votes cast in the March elections, are here to stay. In Florida, these ballots have better chance of being more safe and secure than other states given the provisions of the election law changes passed last year (SB90) and this year (HB524). These laws are only tools though, and we as a party need to be vigilant to make sure the provisions of the law are being followed. To this end, we are planning an election integrity action team (EIAT) to scrutinize election operations and make sure that it is “easy to vote but hard to cheat”.

Pam Wohlschlegel, Director of REC region 1 in the north county, explained the actions they took to win 3 out of 3 Jupiter municipal elections this year, in spite of massive spending on behalf of Democrat candidates. Jupiter is now one of the very few county municipalities with a 100% Republican Council. Pam also spoke about the organizing activities of the REC regions and how the party will be reaching voters and promoting our candidates.

Members are urged to get involved with these activities – support a candidate with time and money, join the REC, become a poll worker for the SOE to observe the system from the inside, or a poll watcher for the party, monitoring activities at the polling locations and counting center in Riviera Beach. For help getting into these activities, you can contact us at info@gopclubpb.org

Click HERE to view the maps and charts used in this meeting.

Candidates at the event were Jennifer Showalter for school board district 6, and Jane Justice spoke for Conner Frontera for district 3.

Representative Rick Roth on the Accomplishments of the 2022 Session

We codified many conservative aspects of the culture war in the recently ended session, but the bad news is why we had to do it. That was how Representative Rick Roth started his session review at our March meeting. “We are no longer at the edge of the abyss, we are in it!” There are those of us who are making things happen (door #1), watching what is happening (door #2), or wondering “what just happened??” (door $3). We all need to move to door #1 as quickly as we can.

With that he listed for us his “top 10” accomplishments of the session, most passed along party lines:

1. HB7 – Individual Freedom. This bill bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory, along with any other classroom discussion that could make students feel guilt or anguish because of their race. For critics who say it limits the teaching about race in American history, Rick says “bring it on”. Let’s talk about the Democrat instituted Jim Crow laws, and Woodrow Wilson’s showing of Klan movies at the White House.
2. HB1557 – Parental Rights in Education. This bill is about “age appropriateness” when discussing sex and gender topics. The critics who call it “Don’t Say Gay” are in fact agitating for the sexualization of children in grades K-3.
3. HB7051 – Post Secondary Education. This bill aims to make colleges and universities transparent, accountable and affordable. It also requires “post tenure review” for faculty every five years.
4. HB1467 – School Board Accountability. This bill makes it easier for parents and others to have input on teaching materials. It also institutes a 12 year term limit on School Board members.
5. HB5 – Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality. This is the post 15 week abortion ban that also provides money for adoptions.
6. HB539 – Nursing Home Financial Reporting. This requires nursing homes to report similar data as hospitals.
7. HB7065 – Child Welfare. The bill encourages responsible fatherhood and increases services to children that age out of foster care.
8. HB3 – Law Enforcement Officer, Benefits, Recruitment and Training. Provides compensation for LE officers as well as relocation assistance for out-of-state applicants.
9. HB524 – Election Administration. The bill takes proactive measures to strengthen election security, and ensure vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot integrity. It also creates the Office of Election Crimes and Security and requires annual voter roll cleansing.
10. HB1355 – Immigration Enforcement. This bill provides for enhanced cooperation between FL law enforcement and ICE, and prohibits a state or local governmental entity from entering into a contract with a common carrier who is transporting a person in Florida knowing that the person is an ‘unauthorized alien’.

Rick also spoke about the $112B budget that includes $33B from the federal government and provides $9M in reserves. Some of his highlights were: a $1B “inflation fund”, $2B for Medicaid programs, $2B for water resources, $125M for nursing education, $664M for state employee raises and to support a $15/hr minimum wage, money for rural broadband, a gas tax holiday in October and other goodies.

On redistricting, he pointed out that the Senate and House maps are done and approved, but the Governor is expected to veto the Congressional Map passed by the Legislature over gerrymandered districts in the north. In his guess, the veto will likely be overridden and the Congressional Districts will remain as proposed. (The club will be doing a session on redistricting and what it means in Palm Beach County in May).

For and in depth look at these bills and others, plus a budget analysis, see Rick’s written report at: Roth_Legislative_Report

Candidates at the meeting included Rob Astorino who is running for Governor of New York, and Bill Wheelen, candidate for CD21.

Candidate Forum – The importance of Local Government Elections

If you live in one of the 39 municipalities in Palm Beach County, about 25% of your county property taxes is levied by your city, town or village government. Your police and fire / rescue services may be provided by city employees, or by the county (PBSO and county fire/rescue) but you are paying for them through these taxes. Many municipalities have their own park systems, sports leagues, water systems – even in one case an electrical utility. Building codes, planning and zoning, sign ordinances, code enforcement, traffic management and strategic development plans – all are managed by your local officials.

• So do you know who your Mayor and City Commission or Council members are?
• Is your city being run the way you would like?
• Do you know what happens at your City Council or Commission meetings?

A typical resident may not know the answers to these questions and choose not to participate in the municipal elections as turnout is typically around 10%.

There is a municipal election coming up on March 8. At our next lunch meeting on February 22, we will be introducing you to some of the candidates for these offices who share your values.

Since these elections are non-partisan, you may not know to which party an official belongs, and most decisions they make are not particularly ideological. As Republicans though we believe in smaller government, lower taxes, fewer regulations on business, and free speech. If a municipal candidate is also a Republican, they are likely to share our values. Consequently, the Republican Party of Palm Beach County seeks out these incumbent officials and candidates, and provides them with assistance in the form of voter data, email support and monetary assistance. Currently about 37% of incumbent municipal officials are Republicans, as are about a third of the candidates on the ballot in March.

We are inviting candidates from the north and central municipalities to introduce themselves to you, say a little about what is important in their town or city, and what they will do if elected. They hail from Jupiter, North Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, and Boynton Beach.

We hope you will get to know these candidates, and support them in their campaigns, even if you do not live in their town. What happens in the local communities affects us all and actions by these local leaders tends to spread. You may also see some of these folks running for higher office in the future.

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