RNC Chief Courts Grass Roots Leaders

According to the Washington Post, about 50 leaders of grass roots groups are meeting with RNC Chairman Michael Steele and top party “operatives” tomorrow in Washington. Karin Hoffman, the South Florida leader of DC Works for US  is quoted in the story:

Karin Hoffman, founder of DC Works For Us, a South Florida tea party group, said she initiated the meeting by approaching Steele last month and asking him to sit down with a range of tea party organizers.

essay order

She said her goal is to open a civil dialogue with the GOP leadership, but she dismissed any suggestion that tea party groups would merge with the Republican Party. “From the get-go, the grass-roots movement emerged from people desiring to be heard and not feeling like their voices are being heard in Washington,” Hoffman said in an interview. “This is the beginning of a formal discussion with the political establishment.”

Read the full story HERE, and the local update in Post on Politics HERE, and the Politico take on it HERE.

The Blue Model

So much of the news and opinion that is offered today on cable news and blog sites has an agenda. Right or left, it seeks to persuade, to ridicule, to bend the facts and the authors observations to fit the “narrative”. Because of this, it takes a lot of searching to find cogent analysis that is both objective and compelling, from sources of the opposite persuasion than your own. When I find such, it is always with delight.

Walter Russell Mead is unabashedly a liberal thinker. The Henry Kissinger senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and both a graduate and professor at Yale, he has been a lifelong democrat. In recent days, writing in the American Interest Online blog, he has published two pieces on what he calls “The Blue Model” – a name for the social and economic organization of the US since Franklin Roosevelt, characterized by stable employment, government regulation of business, and ever increasing standard of living. In the 70’s of course, the “Blue Model” started its descent into chaos and political polarization. His articles explore the reasons for this and hint at what is to come.

In the first, American Challenges: The Blue Model Breaks Down, he explains the model and the reasons for its decline, and then in Feeding the Blue Beast, he explores the dangers this poses to the democratic party, and what could be in our future.

He concludes:

What we really need in this country is a new generation of post-blue wonks who can think intelligently and creatively about how to dismantle the old structures and replace them with something that works. The political party that can figure this out and build a constituency for the massive and, inevitably, sometimes painful and disruptive restructuring this requires owns the future.

Highly recommended reading.

South Florida 9-12 Endorses Ed Lynch for CD19

After due diligence and meetings with both conservative candidates, the leaders of South Florida 9-12 have endorsed Ed Lynch. Read the background and reasoning  HERE.

Palm Beach Post Endorses Ted Deutch (Oh – and Joe Budd too)

In the typically insulting way that the Palm Beach Post treats conservatives everywhere, the primary endorsement of the editorial board starts:

“After the party’s upset Senate victory in Massachusetts, Republicans got so giddy as to wonder whether — even though party registration is 2-to-1 against them — they could win the congressional seat held since 1996 by Democrat Robert Wexler.

Unfortunately for the GOP, the two best candidates in Tuesday’s primary are Democrats. Among the three Republicans, by process of elimination, The Post recommends Joe Budd.”

Read the the whole sorry article HERE.

Convential Wisdom in the District 19 Race

The Sun-Sentinel is running a story today by political writer Anthony Man which suggests that the coronation of Ted Deutch is practically assured, barring a “politically cataclysmic surprise”.

He points out the lack of experience of the Republican candidates, and the popularity of Ted Deutch whose State Senate district 30 contains more than half of the registered voters in CD19. He argues that just about every Democrat politician and interest group in the area has endorsed Deutch.

Read the full story HERE.

What is missing from the article is any more than a cursory mention of Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts – something he considers a fluke. Since on the national level, the spin machine is cranked up to paint that win as “anger against 8 years of George W. Bush”, we should not expect any better understanding on the local level.

It is a long shot for sure, but there are several things that could favor a Deutch opponent:

1. Ted Deutch can be defeated in this district with only 25% Republicans if he is effectively tied to the Obama Agenda – something as unpopular here as it was in Massachusetts. In particular, the Obama attack on Medicare should be driven home with 53% of the voters being over the age of 56.

2. Turnout in a special election can be expected to be low. Effective grass roots get-out-the-vote efforts can help swing this factor in our favor, but the other side knows this too and the Democrat strongholds like Century Village are easier to mobilize than the suburbs. A large volunteer force that has put aside its primary differences and united behind a nationalized message will be needed to make a difference.

3. The Democrat has a large advantage in fund raising and name recognition. When the primary is over though, the Republican candidate may be able to tap a nation-wide pool of resources, much like Brown and Hoffman. This is definitely a race where the national grass roots networks can make a difference.

If any of the Republican candidates appear at our lunch meeting on 1/27, we should ask them for their own assessment of this article and what their strategy will be to overcome the disadvantages in party identification and campaign cash. If not, there is an opportunity to see them in a Town Hall format at the 9-12 Project event in Wellington that evening.

Allen West Response to Harry Reid’s Racial Comments

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is quoted in the new book “Game Change” calling Obama a “light-skinned” black man “with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.” Many found this offensive, but the democrat establishment has rallied round their Senate leader.

Allen West on the other hand had this to say:

---

December Club Meeting Special Tribute to Helen Wilkes

The December meeting of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches was held at Bear Lakes Country Club on 12/9 and featured (as it has for several years now) the music of the King’s Academy Choir, directed by Mark Aliapoulios and Sonia Santiago.

Vice President Sid Lanier opened the meeting on the absence of President Joy Stone whose flight was delayed  from New York.   Florida House candidate (and club member) Tami Donnally then gave the invocation and led the pledge of allegiance, followed by the tribute to Helen Wilkes by Fran Hancock, State Committewoman for Palm Beach County.  Helen was Mayor of West Palm Beach and a major player in local Republican politics for many years.

Lunch was accompanied by the Choir, who performed a beautiful collection of traditional and contemporary Christmas songs.  The choir is made up of about 30 students from King’s Academy, all leaders in school sports, community and church activities, and academic achievements.  Dressed in tuxedos for the boys and matching holiday dresses with corsages for the girls and arrayed around a huge Christmas tree in the meeting room, the scene was reminiscent of  Norman Rockwell style Americana.

The new officers for 2010 were then installed and took the pledge administered by Fran Hancock.  These included President Melissa Andrews, 1st Vice President John Jamason, 2nd VP Anita Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer Bette Anne Starkey, and Assistant SecTreas. Dorothy Harper.  The meeting ended with remarks from some of the candidates present including Francisco Rodrigez (running for FL 83), Tami Donnally (FL 85) and Edward Lynch (US House FL 19).

Pictures compliments of Shirley Schaff.

Glenn Beck at The Villages

Photo sequence by Boris Balaban

Great Progress on Ethics Reform

This morning, the Palm Beach County Commission gave preliminary approval to the ordinances that will create the Commission on Ethics and the Inspector General. The final vote is scheduled for 12/15.

Over the last month, the ordinances had been revised somewhat, taking the County Commission out of the loop on hiring and re-appointing the Inspector General, but they were still able to fire the IG with a 5 of 7 vote.

After a concerted effort by members of the South Florida 9-12 Project,  South Florida Tea Party, and other groups, a specific proposal was created to  change key parts of the documents, and requiring the Commission on Ethics to concur with the BCC in order to remove the Inspector General.  The proposal also involves some changes to the basic funding approach that extends the 0.25% fee on contracts to all agencies in the IG’s future jurisdiction.

Commissioners Marcus, Vanna, Taylor, and Santamaria were apprised of the proposal prior to the meeting, and a very clear motion to include these items was made by Commissioner Marcus that was adopted by a 7-0 vote.

Much of the credit is given to Dennis Lipp, Vice Mayor of Loxahatchee Grove and a member of South Florida 9-12, who spent many hours working with the County Attorney and staff and visiting the commissioners.

A factor in the outcome must surely be the almost 3000 petition signatures that were collected from all sources, enough people to fill the commission hearing room 20 times over.  Thank you to all who signed their name for restoring trust in government, including those who got out the word to our club members.

Many from our ad-hoc coalition spoke at the meeting, including Dennis Lipp, Fred and Iris Scheibl, Meg Shannon, Shannon Armstrong, Victoria Thiel, Terry Philpot, Ed Fulop,  Jason Shields, Teresa Harrington, Dean Taffel, and David Wood.

Some Details from the local press:

PB Post

Sun Sentinel

« Previous Page