August Lunch Features Array of Primary Candidates

Six days before the election, our candidate roundup had a pretty good lineup, including 4 who are running in state-wide races.

For the position of Agriculture Commissioner, Fort Myers resident Matt Caldwell made his pitch. Currently the State Representative for district 79 (Lee County), Matt spoke of his priorities of “Jobs, water and the second amendment”, and his NRA endorsement. The club has hosted competing candidates Denise Grimsley and Baxter Troutman over the last couple of months.

For Attorney General, panhandle resident Frank White spoke of his promise to “defend the constitution”. Protecting the second amendment, prosecuting fraud, and using the 10th amendment to fight back against federal programs like Obamacare are his priorities. Frank’s campaign against Judge Ashley Moody (who many of us met at the Jamboree) has turned nasty, with an increasingly strident level of negative ads.

Representing the Adam Putnam campaign for Governor, we heard from Florida Agricultural Hall of Famer Gene Badger, who made the case for Adam as a businessman for Governor. This was surprising since Adam Putnam has spent most of his adult life as an elected official (8 years as Ag Commissioner, 10 years in Congress, 4 years in the Florida House). Adam was the youngest House member in 1996 at the age of 22, and the youngest member of Congress at 26.

Other Governor candidates were in attendance, including Miami resident John Mercadante and Melbourne resident Bob White.

Mr. Mercadante, who describes himself as “quite a piece of work”, believes the second amendment is “chiseled in stone”. Regarding the Parkland shooting, he believes the answer lies in bomb sniffing dogs, and banning children’s backpacks.

Mr. White, who calls himself the “outsider candidate” is the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida (RLCFL). His issues are 2nd amendment related (open carry, campus carry), and he opposed the MSDHS Public Safety Act.

The only federal office candidate we had was Dave Cummings for Congressional district 18. With the theme “All is Vanity”, Dave spoke philosophy rather than policy. Challenging incumbent Brian Mast, he believes he has better answers than Brian on the algae issues and the second amendment.

For the Florida Senate district 25, Belinda Keiser spoke of “faith, family, and the love of country.” She is interested in implementing e-verify in Florida, and outlawing sanctuary cities. Belinda is facing Gayle Harrell to fill the seat vacated by Joe Negron.

Farther south in House District 89 to replace term limited Bill Hager, we heard from Matt Spritz and Mike Caruso.
Mr. Spritz spoke of his extensive public policy experience as legislative aid to representative Bob Rommel (Naples). He described a long list of endorsements by public officials.

Mr. Caruso, a CPA, is focused on education (“stop testing so much”), and ending sanctuary cities.

Also speaking was one candidate on the November ballot but not in the primary – HD85 representative Rick Roth. Describing President Trump as an “Evangelical Populist”, he speculated on a possible “red wave” in the fall. For that to happen though, we need to get out there and talk to the NPAs, convincing them to vote for Republicans.

Finally, we heard from Sid Dinerstein on the Palm Beach Gardens ballot questions. Sid, a key player in getting term limits passed in 2014, spoke of the attempts by the current council to weaken them. “The good news is that all five on the Council in 2014 are now gone; the bad news is the people on the Council that replaced them…”. The city was sued (by Sid and others) to invalidate the 4 charter questions on the March ballot, and 2 were thrown out. A third is being challenged on appeal. On the August ballot, the two that were thrown out have come back with different wording but the city is running a campaign designed to mislead the voters. Sid urges Gardens residents to vote NO, NO, NO on the three questions.

Thanks to Carol Porter for the candidate photos.

Primary Candidate Round-up August 22

More are signing up every day, but so far we have:

Dave Cummings CD18	Javier Manjarres CD22	Belinda Keiser Senate 25	Rick Roth House 85 (November)
Michael Caruso House 89	Matt Spritz House 89	John Mercadante Governor	Bob White Governor
Matt Caldwell Agriculture Commissioner

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2018 Political Jamboree

Every two years, during the summer of an election year, the county GOP hosts a “Jamboree” – an old fashioned political picnic for candidates on the upcoming ballot to introduce themselves to the party activists. With a barbecue lunch under the pavilion roof, surrounded by covered booths hosted by candidates and political clubs, it is gathering place for the GOP faithful and those who seek to represent them at all levels of government.

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After remarks by county chairman (and RPOF vice-chair) Michael Barnett, and state committee reps Cindy Tindell and Joe Budd, master of Ceremonies Sid Dinerstein introduced the candidates.

The only state-wide candidates present were Attorney General candidate Ashley Moody who listed her impressive resume and endorsements which include current AG Pam Bondi, and John Mercadante – a long-shot candidate for Governor with lots of enthusiasm.

In CD18, incumbent Brian Mast has drawn a couple of primary challengers, mostly as a result of his controversial stance on gun control which is perceived as a vulnerability. Dave Cummings spoke and presented himself as a conservative in support of the Trump agenda. The winner of this primary will face one of two well-funded Democrats in a race that has drawn national interest.

CD22 was represented by candidate Javier Manjarres who is facing Nicholas Kimaz (who was at the event but left before speaking), and Eddison Walters. The winner will face entrenched Democrat Ted Deutch (who has a long shot primary challenger in Jeff Fandl) in this D+14 district.

For state legislative offices, Belinda Keiser spoke. She is competing with current House member Gayle Harrell for the Senate 25 seat vacated by Joe Negron. The winner will face Democrat Robert Levy in the fall.

For House district 89, vacated by term limited Bill Hager, competitors Matt Spritz and Joe Caruso spoke. The winner of that race will face one of two Democrats in November.

At the city level, we had Boca acting mayor Scott Singer and his opponent BocaWatch founder Al Zucaro. Municipal elections are usually in March, but the departure of indicted former Mayor Susan Haynie prompted a special election to be held coincident with the August primary.

This year, the number of candidates was fewer than past years (9 versus 19 in 2016 and 14 in 2014), partly due to a lack of challengers overall, and partly from the absence of Republican candidates that are running. CD18 incumbent Brian Mast and challenger Mark Freeman were absent, for example. This year there are NO Republicans running for open seats on the school board, Port Commission, or County Commission districts 2 or 6.

DeSantis Rocks Trump National

On Saturday, Republican candidate for Governor Ron DeSantis appeared at Trump National in Jupiter with “The Great One” Mark Levin, Fox pundit Dan Bongino, and CD1 Congressman Matt Gaetz. The large crowd was welcoming and enthusiastic, and possibly indicative of a surge in popularity for his candidacy. With some polls showing that the double digit lead held by Adam Putnam has waned, Ron appears to be making the most of his endorsement by President Trump, and has begun to define his value proposition as governor.

Ron has had support among the tea party grassroots since before his election to the sixth congressional district seat (Coastal from south Jacksonville to New Symrna Beach including Daytona Beach) in 2012. A tea party conservative, he is a key player in the House Freedom Caucus. I have long been a fan of his work in Congress, repealing Obamacare, opposing the Iran deal, and pushing for oversight of the corruption at the top levels of the Justice Department and FBI. His candidacy for Governor though, had seemed to be weak.

For the most part, Ron had seemed to be touting his Congressional bona-fides, and his campaign literature and fund raising appeals seemed more a call for Congressional re-election than a bid for the top executive job in the third largest state. A line of attack from the Putnam camp is that he is running his campaign on Fox News (Ron is a regular), has never held an executive job, and knows little about the Florida issues outside of Washington.

It was a different message we heard on Saturday. First, his surrogates described his work in DC as just as much “Florida Issues” as national ones. Health care, Immigration, tax cuts and de-regulation to boost the economy – these are all things that concern us within the state’s borders.

When Ron took the podium, he brought the focus back locally. Water issues and toxic algae, sanctuary cities and immigration, these are state issues, as is opposing common core and introducing civics back into the K-12 curriculum. He drew a sharp contrast to Adam Putnam on Sugar money (he doesn’t take it), ethanol mandates (Putnam opposed a measure to stop the measures that were harming the marine industry), and Congressional term limits (Putnam opposed).

Although his website is still short on specifics, he seems to be holding his own on the issues with Putnam and referred the audience to the Fox News debate between them last month, which he feels he won.

On the Democrat side, Jeff Greene seems to be developing a lead. With the money he plans to put in the race, a unified GOP will be needed to hold on to the Governor seat. DeSantis and Putnam are both credible candidates, but a tightening race may see the race turn negative. Let’s hope not.

At the end of the day, the Trump factor may make the difference. The President has endorsed DeSantis, and praised his work with the Freedom Caucus. There is evidence that Putnam has never really been a Trump fan. We will see how much weight that carries in Florida.

Anne Roberts Scholarships Awarded

At our lunch meeting on June 27, the annual Anne Roberts scholarship awards were presented to three previous winners who have demonstrated academic excellence in the continuing pursuit of their studies.

Presenting the awards was Dr. Emma Banks, CEO of Inlet Grove High School in Palm Beach County. Dr. Banks provided an insight as to how she encourages her students with the importance of getting an education. It could be the difference between supporting their future family with one job or juggling 2 and 3 if they are prepared for what life brings.

Also speaking was former scholarship recipient Dylan Brandenburg, who has since graduated from FSU and is now a Law Student. He reported on how grueling life is in law school and regaled us with law student pranks on how not to be called on in class if unprepared.

Our Scholars receiving $500 each are:

1. Jenna Calderaio, one of 80 in the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship at FSU. She is interning with Congressman Brian Mast this summer. She has been politically active with Americans for Prosperity, FSU Republican Club, and Turning Point. She hopes to have a career in product development.

2. Lauren Staff, a senior at UF, majoring in Telecommunications. Lauren reported on her journalism month studying the communications world in Italy. She is passionate about sports and aspires to work with ESPN or FOX sports AFTER she attends UF Law School. Lauren has been staff writer for the FLORIDA ALLIGATOR NEWSPAPER and also works with ESPN Gainesville radio 95.3. She has been active in Student Government, Honor Society, and Future Business Leaders; she also participated in “Support our Troops” of North Palm Beach at Dwyer high school

3. Jessica Blakley, majoring in Economics and Public Policy at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Among her achievements as one of the winners of the PB POST Pathfinder Awards, President of future Business Leaders, 2nd place winner at PBA Entrepreneurship Challenge, she created her own business “Make Up Doctor”. At Belmont, she was elected Congresswoman in the Student Government and was chosen to intern this year in the TENNESSEE LEGISLATURE. Jessica has volunteered in Haiti Missions, Belle Glade Missions, Puerto Rico Missions, Christ Fellowship Office. Jessica aspires to study for a Doctorate degree to works as an economic analyst for the Federal Reserve.

Jenna and Lauren each gave us an update of their activities, but Jessica could not be with us at the meeting. Instead, she sent us the following letter:

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Dear RCPB members,

For those of you who I have not had the opportunity to meet—hello! My name is Jessica
Blakley. I am a third-year Economics and Political Science student at Belmont University in
Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is an interesting and energetic city, and I am blessed to call it
my home away from home. As I was unable to attend the June 27 meeting with the other
scholarship recipients, I will take this opportunity to provide an update of the last six, exciting
months of my life.

I spent my past semester serving as a full-time intern at the Tennessee State Legislature at the
pleasure of Senator Jack Johnson and the Commerce and Labor Committee. Senator Johnson is
the Chairman of this committee; therefore, I was not only commissioned for constituent duties in
his office, but was also responsible for larger duties within the committee as well. My day-to-day
tasks included routing and responding to constituent calls and correspondence, tracking bills and
resolutions in the Commerce and Labor Committee, and helping the committee staff prepare and
analyze bills. Through this internship, I developed a greater understanding of the legislative
process, as well as a deepened perception of many obstacles which Tennesseans are facing. This
internship was one of the most demanding things I have achieved thus far in my college career.
The connections made and skills learned were absolutely invaluable to my degree in Political
Science.

Soon after the close of the legislative session, I had the amazing opportunity to travel abroad to
Europe with a group of fellow Economics students from Belmont. We spent three weeks visiting
Portugal, Poland, and England studying the implications of Brexit on trade, immigration, and the
economies of both the European Union and the United Kingdom. Brexit is one of the most
controversial economic and political decisions made in my lifetime. After hearing from various
government agencies and businesses in the countries we visited, I have gained a broader
understanding of the effects of such a historic decision.

I am thankful for the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches for its continuous support and
encouragement. Your generous scholarship has enriched my education and has allowed me to
take advantage of opportunities that might otherwise have been a financial stretch. Thank you for
your investment in the next generation of leaders.

Sincerely,
Jessica Blakley

No July Meeting in Support of the Jamboree

Help our Club continue as one of the most staunch supporters of the Bi-annual Old Fashioned Political Jamboree held every other summer in an election year.

We are a co-sponsor with a special tent to sell a little jewelry and some cute desk elephants to raise money for our scholarship fund. Look for our tent at the park.

Bring your reservation check (to Rep Party of PB County) or $30 cash to our scholarship lunch on June 27. We will provide your reservation in a LIST OF ATTENDEES to the Jamboree Organizers.

WHAT:	OLD FASHIONED POLITICAL JAMBOREE, (camaraderie, friends, candidates)
WHEN:	SATURDAY, JULY 14, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
WHERE:	South County Civic Center/Park—16700 Jog Rd, Delray (across from Morikami)
COST:	$30 for the BEST BBQ and all the fixin’s (check or cash)
BRING:	Your appetite and a fan (it’s summer in FL)

Dr. Emma Banks to present the 2018 Ann Roberts Scholarships

Presenting the awards for the club will be our featured speaker, Inlet Grove Community High School CEO Dr. Emma Banks.

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Dr. Banks, CEO of the Inlet Grove Community High School (Charter School), developed and implemented the first successful Mentor’s Program for teen parent students in the PBC school system. At Inlet Grove under her tutelage, 99% of students get into college or the service industry upon graduation.

As a TV producer, she is working on the documentary “Street Talk”, which provides insight to the needs of the youth who have dropped out and have committed crimes. She is also responsible for “Reality High” a real life drama show, and the children’s teen talk show “Our Future Generation” which was the number one children’s show n the Nielson ratings.

The only child of Jennie Miller and born in the small town in Monticello, Florida, she began her education at Delaware State where she received her Bachelors Degree in Distributive Education, her master’s degree in Administration and her doctorate in Organizational Leadership. She began working for the State Department of Education in Florida in 1978 then she moved to West Palm Beach and began working at an adult vocational school in 1987 as an Assistant Principal. In 2004, the adult vocational school became a charter high school and Dr. Banks became Principal of the 700-student facility. She is now the President / CEO of Inlet Grove.

CIA Stories

Our May lunch featured former CIA agent Michelle Rigby Assad, author of “Breaking Cover, My Secret Life in the CIA and What It Taught Me about What’s Worth Fighting For.”

Telling several stories from her book, Michelle related the management of an Iraqi insurgent source during the “surge” (2006) when “nobody wanted to be in Iraq”. She and her husband, also a clandestine agent, were sent there “against their will”. The intelligence she gathered through the trust she engendered with the asset was significant, as women are not treated seriously in Iraqi militant culture.

Women are not treated very seriously in the CIA either apparently, as the one of the main takeaways from her talk was the gender bias she experienced throughout her career there, and she does not think it is any better today.

She was successful in spite of this challenge though, and she pointed out that there are 50 to 180 thousand applicants each year and just becoming an agent is significant, man or woman.

“The CIA is in need of fundamental changes,” she said, and it “has been successful in spite of itself”. Asked whether the appointment and confirmation of Gina Haspel to lead the agency showed improvement, Michelle was not particularly impressed. “Gina” she said, “is a headquarters person”, (not a field agent) and more of a “keep it together” executive than a visionary.

After leaving the CIA, she and her husband worked with producer Mark Burnett to help Iraqi Christians escape persecution. They were able to airlift 149 to Slovakia over a period of 4-1/2 months.

Also at the meeting was Agriculture Commissioner candidate Denise Grimsley. Denise touted her lifelong experience as a farmer, but also as an executive and finance professional.

Please join us next month for our annual scholarship meeting where the club will announce the awards for the 2018-19 school year. Inlet Grove Charter School CEO/President Dr. Emma Banks will be our speaker.

Rick Roth Updates on Recent Legislative Session

House District 85 Representative Rick Roth, featured at the April lunch, gave us his overview of the recent session in Tallahassee.

Agriculture in the state is declining, he said, with subsidized farms in Mexico taking their toll. The big priority to come will be water – having enough clean and available as the population grows from 20 to 30 million.

The session was dominate by the impact of Hurricane Irma and the Parkland shootings. The Parkland bill was done quickly and is a good first step. Calling it a “massive failure of government” – from BSO to the FBI, the response was bipartisan. $400M was set aside for school safety, resource officers will be added to the schools and more funding will be available for mental health programs.

In the financial area, $170M in tax savings was passed and an additional property tax exemption will be on the ballot in November, along with a proposal to require a 2/3 majority of the legislature to increase taxes or fees.

Through the strong leadership of Richard Corcoran in the House, we passed an $88M budget with additional spending on education, public safety, medicaid, and land conservation. $15K in sales tax savings were granted to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to help with the mandate to buy generating equipment.

On opioids, prescriptions will be registered and there will be new transparency in record keeping.

Some specific bills mentioned were HB37 to allow primary care agreements to not be regulated as insurance, and HB351, which will bring transparency to prescription drug prices.

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Also at the meeting was Baxter Troutman, candidate for Agriculture Commissioner. A citizen farmer and cattle rancher from Polk County, Baxter has been placing people in farm jobs in Florida and Georgia for 21 years. His five top issues for the campaign are: Water resources, the citrus greening disease that has reduced crops by 75%, Labor – finding enough, land – prevent crowding out of farms by developers, and NAFTA, which is killing Florida agriculture.

Next Month, join us on May 23 for Michele and Joseph Assad, the former CIA agents who have written the book “Breaking Cover”.

Authors of “Breaking Cover” at May Lunch

ARE YOU CAPTIVATED by ESPIONAGE? Do you read Spy Novels? Real Life INTRIGUE ? (Ted Bell, Daniel Silva, Nelson DeMille, Ken Follett, John le Carre’)

Bring your Friends May 23 to hear from TWO former CIA secret agents who have walked the walk and lived the life for 10 years—- Joseph and Michele Rigby Assad—who met in school in central Florida, graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic College, finished graduate studies at Georgetown, Washington DC, and were sent by the CIA after 9-11 to countries whose names had to be redacted from Michele’s book, “BREAKING COVER”, for protection.

Michele believes that God/Providence brought her together with Egyptian immigrant, Joseph Assad to direct both their lives in ways she will explain…..how SHE in particular, was forced to blend in to the middle east culture to obtain highly sensitive information helpful to the US Government’s work there.

Michele and Joseph will keep us in suspense as to their project to vet and re-locate a number of Iraqi migrants and their quest to find a country that would take them; in this case, it was Slovakia. There were many ups and downs when the airport closed frequently on the days they were scheduled to leave due to impending air strikes and many checkpoints to deal with. (This was a featured story on ABC’s 20/20). Both Michele and Joseph continue their work as international security consultants splitting time between the Middle East, Florida, and Washington, DC. We are lucky she has this date free for us.

Michele reports on the 3 handicaps of a CIA agent’s experience: “We are Americans; we are non-believers; we are CIA officers: — and for her, “She was a Woman”.

There will be copies of Michele’s book for purchase.

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Michele Rigby Assad is a former undercover officer in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Operations. Trained as a counterterrorism specialist, Michele served her country for ten years, working in Iraq and other secret Middle Eastern locations.

Upon retirement from active service, Michele and her husband Joseph (also a former agent) joined a group of Americans who wished to aid persecuted Christians. Their efforts resulted in the evacuation of a group from northern Iraq that was featured on ABC’s 20/20 in December 2015.

Michele holds a master’s degree in Contemporary Arab Studies from Georgetown University. Today she serves as an international security consultant, splitting her time between the Middle East, Florida, and Washington, D.C.

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