Christine Spain on July 27

Christine will speak about the current operation of the PBC Supervisor of Elections Office and how we can do better.

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Christine Spain is a former Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Broward Republican Party and served as Chair and Alternate Chair of the 23rd Congressional District Caucus of the State Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Florida.

Christine is an Attorney and a Certified Public Accountant in private practice in Boca Raton, concentrating in the areas of corporate law and business transactions. She has more than thirty years of experience in law, accounting and business, including 14 years working with national law and accounting firms in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

Christine has also served on Boards of non-profit organizations serving the needs of children at risk and works with and supports veteran’s organizations. Over the years, she has also been active in numerous political federal, state and local political campaigns and political causes and volunteered as an election pollwatcher. She is passionate about electoral integrity and preventing voter fraud.

Christine has resided in South Florida for more than 40 years and is a graduate of Florida universities, including the University of Miami School of Law, where she served on Law Review, Florida International University and University of Florida. She currently resides in Palm Beach Gardens with her husband Paul Spain, a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional District 21.

Dr. Wes Borucki to present the 2016 Ann Roberts Scholarship Awards

Presenting the awards for the club will be our featured speaker, Dr. Wes Borucki.

Dr. Borucki will discuss the Supreme Court and its assumption of more power over time, how the stakes for the Court’s nominations are so important in the coming election, and why we need to pay attention to these issues.

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Dr. Borucki, who has taught at PBA since 2003, specializes in the antebellum South, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Colonial America, and presidential history. He teaches undergraduate history and humanities and also serves as a faculty member in the Frederick M. Supper Honors Program. Dr. Borucki’s first book, George H.W. Bush: In Defense of Principle, was published in early 2011 by Nova Science Publishers as part of its First Men: America’s Presidents series. His second book, Ronald Reagan: Heroic Dreamer, was published as part of the same series in 2014.

The history of sports is one of his side interests: his article “Moving on Up?: Whether Leaps to Division I-A in American College Football Benefit Universities” was published in June 2015 in The Journal of Sports Management and Commercialization; and in 2003, his article, “You’re Dixie’s Football Pride: American College Football and the Resurgence of Southern Nationalism,” was published in the journal Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power.

Dr. Borucki has written book reviews for The Journal of Southern History, The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, and The Alabama Review. He had the honor of serving as both a junior fellow and senior fellow in The University of Alabama’s Blount Undergraduate Initiative, in which he taught the freshman sequence of this interdisciplinary studies program that is similar to PBA’s humanities core program in its subject matter. At Alabama, he served as editor-in-chief of the journal Southern Historian in 1998-1999. He is a contributor to Oxford University Press’s Encyclopedia of African American History, Macmillan Press’ multi-volume Civil Rights in the United States, and the Gale Group’s Women in World History. His dissertation, “Yankees in King Cotton’s Court: Northerners in Antebellum and Wartime Alabama,” was the basis of presentations at the Families at War Conference at the University of Richmond, the Alabama Studies Symposium in Montgomery, and local historical group meetings for the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s Speakers Bureau. Dr. Borucki is a long-standing member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and is currently the secretary of the vestry of Redeemer Lutheran Church in West Palm Beach. He served as a lay delegate to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s convention in St. Louis in 1998 and to the LCMS’s Florida-Georgia District Conventions in 2006 and 2015.

Dr. Borucki has a B.A from Michigan State, an M.A from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and a Ph.D. from the Univerity of Alabama.

RCPB Hosts Dan Bongino in May

United States Secret Service
Dan proudly joined the ranks of the U.S. Secret Service in 1999 as a Special Agent where he graduated the Secret Service training academy with academic honors. Beginning his career in the New York Field Office, he was assigned to investigate federal crimes including but not limited to protective intelligence, computer crimes, bank fraud, credit card fraud and counterfeiting. His early career was marked by a number of investigative successes. Although the details of his signature investigation are still for official use only, it involved over 300 million dollars in potential financial fraud and a nexus to international terrorism. This joint investigation in cooperation with the FBI, IRS, SSA and a number of local police agencies, was responsible for shutting down a major international fraud ring. The investigation earned Dan the Department of Justice recognition award, along with other agency specific awards, for excellence in investigations.

Dan left the New York Field Office in 2002 to become an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, Maryland. He was the project manager for the re-design of the investigative tactics training program which he subsequently taught to incoming trainees. Dan was awarded a number of commendations for his work in researching and re-designing the investigative curriculum to reflect current trends crime trends.

Presidential Protection Division
In 2006, Dan entered into duty on the elite Presidential Protection Division in the administration of President George W. Bush, graduating at the top of his class in the difficult detail training program. Dan distinguished himself early by becoming one of the earliest tenured Special Agents to be given responsibility for an operational section of the protective detail. Dan remained on protective duty during the change in administration to President Barack Obama and again distinguished himself by quickly becoming the highest ranking member of his operational shift of agents. With this distinction came greater responsibility and Dan quickly rose to the challenge. He was designated as the lead agent responsible for the coordination of the President’s trip to Prague for the signing of the START treaty, his trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, amongst a myriad of terror threats, and finally as the lead agent responsible for the President’s visit to an active war zone in Afghanistan. With the successful coordination of these historic events, Dan was awarded a series of commendations and left the protective detail as one of the most distinguished agents in their history.

Learn More:

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Florida Legislative Update at April Lunch

Join us in April as Representative Pat Rooney (FH85) brings us up to date on the legislative session that has just concluded.

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CD18 Candidates Make their Case

The March lunch consisted of a 6 way candidate forum for Congressional District 18. Please refer to the table below to watch a video of the candidates remarks.

Originally conceived for nine, the group was reduced by the departure of Carla Spalding to NPA status, and Paul Spain to run in CD21 to our south. Another candidate, Noelle Nikpour could not be reached to invite.

After an introduction to the district by moderator Fred Scheibl, each candidate was introduced and given 6 minutes to address in general terms a slate of topic areas provided to them beforehand. The areas are:

• Your vision for the country
• The role of Congress in a post-Obama government
• The experience you bring to the job
• Any specific policy proposals you will pursue in the Congress
• The committees you would like to be selected for if elected
• The caucuses in the House with whom you would align (eg. Freedom Caucus, Republican Study Committee, etc.)
• Why you are the best choice to represent District 18

Mar 23 – Candidate Forum for Congressional District 18

At our March lunch, for a first in a series leading up to the August 30 primary and county-wide election, we have invited the seven Republican candidates competing for the CD18 seat being vacated by Patrick Murphy. Murphy, now a Democrat candidate for Senate, has held the seat for two terms after defeating Allen West in 2012. The district, which includes all of Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties, is narrowly Republican (R+3), but the Democrats are fielding some heavily funded candidates with out of state backing.

Currently the Republican field has narrowed to seven with Paul Spain moving to CD21 and Carla Spalding becoming NPA. Of these, Carl Domino, Mark Freeman, Rick Kozell, Brian Mast, Rebecca Negron and Rick Roth have already accepted our invitation, and we are waiting to hear from Noelle Nikpour.

The candidates will be asked their thoughts on the most important challenges facing the country, what sets them apart from the other candidates, and how they plan to defeat the Democrat in the fall. Join us for what should be a highly informative session.

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Apply Now for the 2016 Ann 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 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 Palm Beach County residents and registered (or pre-registered under 18 yrs. of age) Republicans. Current members 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 22, 2016.

RCPB Scholarship application 2016

Previous Years Winners

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In 2014, our previous undergraduate recipients kept up their grades to receive additional scholarship: Dylan Brandenburg, John Clark, Jason Ferrara, and Daniel Kozell. Because of the generosity of our club members, we were able to add a fifth recipient, Hanna Matry, a junior at UF majoring in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering and a member of the University’s Rocket Team in the NASA Hybrid rocket competition.

2013 was an expansive year for our scholarship program, with 6 recipients. They went to Elizabeth Cayson, a county employee who is attending Walden University in Illinois remotely, and Danielle Madsen, who recently graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic and is working at a TV station. Three Florida State students received grants including John Clark (3rd year), Dylan Brandenburg (1st year) and Daniel Kozell (2nd year), and Jason Ferrara who is attending the University of Alabama received his third year scholarship.

In 2012, there were 5 scholarships awarded: James Schackelford in his 3rd year at Florida Atlantic University and Daniel Kozell entering Florida State University. We continued to follow John Clark, Jason Ferrara and Shirley Schaff.

In 2011, there were four scholarships awarded. John Clark attending Florida State University, Jason Ferrara attending University of Alabama, Shirley Schaff attending Northwood University and Kimberly Twoey attending Palm Beach Atlantic University.

In 2010, one scholarship was awarded to Cindy Morris, mother of 5, in her final year with 3.7 GPA at Palm Beach Atlantic College School of Education with endorsements in special education and English and a second language.

The second 2010 scholarship was awarded to James Shackelford, majoring in accounting at Florida Atlantic University. With his passion for politics, he is active in student government and volunteered for Allen West and Marco Rubio campaigns. After receiving his masters in Finance, James plans to attend law school.

The 2009 recipient, Nicole Vega, from Berean Christian High School, aspired to be a civil engineer. After much mentoring by several Club members, Nicole has changed her studies to major in Communications with a minor in Political Science at Palm Beach State College.

RCPB Scholarship application 2016

RCPB Hosts Presidential Primary Expo, February 25th

Surrogates from the local campaigns for all the Presidential Candidates have been invited to make their case, talk about their local campaign organizations and give you the opportunity to ask questions and get involved. We will also give you a snapshot on the “state of the race” with 18 days to go before the Florida primary on March 15. By the time of the meeting, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada will have voted, but only 133 delegates (5.3% of the total) will have been decided.

We have commitments so far from the campaigns of 4 of the 5 remaining candidates: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump.

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RCPB Co-hosts Palm Beach Gardens Candidate Forum on 2/25

Michael Barnett and Ryan Hnatiuk at January Lunch

2016 will be an active political year, with Presidential Primary and Municipal elections in March, county-wide non-partisan and primary elections in August, and the general election in November – “the most important election of your lifetime” as they say.

To help us make sense of it all, the club will host PBCGOP Chair Michael Barnett and Executive Director Ryan Hnatiuk in January.

Please join us and be prepared to get active and involved for your favorite candidate(s) as the races heat up.

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Michael Barnett currently serves as Chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County. He was born in Queens, New York but has lived in Boca Raton since 1987. He graduated from Boca Raton High School in 1995, the University of South Florida in 2004 with a BA in Political Science, and the University of Miami School of Law in 2007 with a JD degree. Michael has been practicing law since 2007.

Michael has been a life long conservative Republican. A grassroots activist since 1994, he was involved early on with the College Republicans, Young Republicans, and became an REC committeeman in August, 2010. He was elected Secretary of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County in December, 2010, Vice Chairman in December, 2012, and Chairman in December, 2014.

As Secretary and Vice Chairman, Michael helped start the Party’s black and minority outreach program, with a heavy focus on the large local Haitian community. The Party’s activities and successes in Palm Beach County have made news across the state.

Michael has been grassroots-oriented but has also been able to unite the local Party, earning unanimous support of Republicans across the entire spectrum. “Our job is to get Republicans elected but we must never ever sacrifice principles or values. I am a pro-life, pro-traditional marriage social and fiscal conservative. I believe the Party must stick to its principles while welcoming other groups who share our conservative values.”

Michael is an active parishioner at Ascension Catholic Church in Boca Raton. He’s a member of the Knights of Columbus, has been on political and missions trips to Haiti, and volunteers at The Soup Kitchen in Boynton Beach, Florida.

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Ryan C. Hnatiuk has been appointed to the role of Political Director. He was born and raised outside of Flint, Michigan. He, and his wife of 13 years, have one son who is a very active toddler and is a full time job in his own right. Since coming to South Florida, Ryan has had the opportunity to work with various candidates, consultants and fundraisers primarily within Palm Beach County but has also consulted in the counties of Martin, Broward, and St. Lucie. He has worked in various sized campaigns from town council to congressional and county commission seats.

Ryan recently attained his master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in Conflict Resolution and is also a certified mediator. Prior to getting his master’s degree he received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a minor in International Relations with primary focus being on Latin American governments and their emerging markets. He is looking to use the skills he has attained to strengthen friendships, build lasting coalitions and open dialogue to attract new people to the Republican Party.

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