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.
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- King’s Academy Choir
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- Francisco Rodrigez (for FL 83)
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- Tami Donnally (for FL 85)
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- John, Anita and Melissa take the pledge
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:
December Meeting Announcement
REPUBLICAN CLUB OF THE PALM BEACHES – WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9 – NOON
Chanukah and Christmas Cheer at BEAR LAKES COUNTRY CLUB
MUSIC BY THE KING’S ACADEMY CHOIR
and
Honoring LONG-TIME CLUB MEMBER &
FORMER MAYOR OF WEST PALM BEACH
HELEN WILKES
INSTALLATION OF 2010-2011 OFFICERS
President: Melissa Nash Andrews
1 Vice President: John Jamason
2 Vice President: Anita Mitchell
Secretary/Treasurer: Bette Anne Starkey
Asst: Secretary/Treasurer: Dorothy Harper
Special Note: Keeping in the holiday giving tradition of our Club, join with us in making any size donation to Florida Resource Center for Women & Children, Inc. in Riviera Beach. FRCWC focuses on those who find themselves involved in domestic violence. We will collect donations at our meeting.
WHERE: Bear Lakes Country Club, 1901 Village Blvd, West Palm Beach
Business Casual Dress (no jeans); Cell Phones on Mute
TIME/DATE: Wed. December 9 ; 11:30 Gathering; Lunch and Program 12-1
COST: $20 Members/ $25 Guests
RSVP: by December 7 — 561-697-4911 or email: info@gopclubpb.com
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The Power of Icons
Icons can be powerful in politics. Watch this discussion of the Obama Iconography.
November Club Meeting Featured Lt. Colonel Allen West
The November meeting of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches featured Lt. Colonel Allen West, Republican candidate for Congress in Florida district 22.
Colonel West (US Army, Retired) was born and raised in Atlanta Georgia and is third of four generations of military servicemen in his family. His parents instilled in him a very basic principle, love of God and Country. In 2004, when it was time to retire from more than twenty years of service in the US Army, he brought his wife and two young daughters to Broward County, Florida, where he taught high school for one year. He then returned to Afghanistan as an advisor to the Afghan army, an assignment he finished in November 2007.
For more information, go to Allen West for Congress
Colonel West had the crowd on its feet as he encouraged us to pay attention and get active, that “those who do not participate in politics will be ruled by lessor men”.
The meeting was held at our regular venue, Bear Lakes Country Club. In addition to remarks by Colonel West, a very successful auction was held, and many of our members who are veterans were honored with lifetime memberships in the club.