Pat Rooney Anchors May Lunch

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A good crowd of committed Republicans and many candidates for office turned out for the May club meeting featuring State Representative Pat Rooney and a special appearance by Senate candidate Marielena Stuart.

Introduced by Carol Hurst who along with many of us had heard Ms. Stuart’s excellent speech at the Jupiter meeting of the PBC Tea Party, she did not disappoint. Drawing understanding from her background growing up in Castro’s Cuba, Marielena knows Communism and its early stages of socialism like we are seeing today in the US. Casting our politics as a struggle between good and evil, she “takes no prisoners” in her battle against the UN, the dangers of “sustainable development”, and the feckless foreign policy of the Obama administration.

Following Ms. Stuart, Pat Rooney gave us a legislative update of the recently concluded session. He touched on redistricting, which has now passed its court test and been cleared by the Justice Department, and pointed out that the House map was so well done that it was not seriously challenged, although it has made life difficult for many legislators of both parties. In spite of the $1.8B budget shortfall this year, he was still able to get reasonable funding for some of his priorities including beach replenishment, libraries and Everglades restoration. He also assured us that the current House will “stand its ground” to protect the law of that name that has come under fire in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting.

As a special surprise, long time club member Bette Anne Starkey was honored with a birthday cake, and we were treated to a patriotic song by Monique McCall.

Participating in the candidate introductions were: Fran Hancock (state Committeewoman), Tami Donnally (House district 86), Gary Nikolits (Property Appraiser), Melanie Peterson (Senate district 25), Dina Keever (State Attorney), Calvin Turnquest (House district 82), Geoff Summers (Senate district 25), and Brad Gary (Port Commissioner). A surrogate also spoke for Cindy Tindell (state Committeewoman).

Some pictures of the event: