Marco Rubio Visits Victory Center

Marco Rubio, Republican candidate for US Senate (Florida), made an appearance August 12 at the Palm Beach County Republican Victory Center in WPB. He was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd including local candidates who joined him for his Phone Bank Kick Off.

The “rising star” of the Republican Party was introduced by Sid Dinerstein, County GOP chairman. Marco spoke to us among other things about limited government and personal responsibilities. He mentioned his parents, who left Cuba’s communism, and took advantage of the opportunities offered in this land of freedom. They worked hard to assure him an education and a better life. He thanked all of us present at this event.

After his speech, Marco gave us of his time to have photos with him.

Grand Opening of the Jupiter GOP Action Center – 8/17 5:30PM

GRAND OPENING

OF THE

JUPITER GOP ACTION CENTER

AUGUST 17TH (TUESDAY)

5:30 – 7:00 P.M.

810 SATURN STREET, SUITE #28

JUPITER

WINE & CHEESE

FURNISHED BY THE REPUBLICAN CLUB OF

THE NORTHERN PALM BEACHES

LOU GALTERIO

(SINGING OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM)

BETH KIGEL

VICE-CHAIR OF THE REC

FRAN HANCOCK

STATE COMMITTEE WOMAN

COME MEET OUR CANDIDATES

&

GET INVOLVED FOR VICTORY 2010

INFO CONTACT: LINDA GORE (561) 744-5522 OR

REPUBLICANGORE @YAHOO.COM

Bill McCollum Highlights a special RCPB Friday luncheon

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum was the headliner for a special Friday RCPB luncheon.  We had a full house as we enjoyed an excellent, served luncheon, which allowed us to keep our attention on our speakers and minimize moving around.

Melissa Andrews, club President, kicked-off the meeting – informing us that AG McCollum was running a little late, but that we’d start with club business.  David Donnally led us in the Invocation and Pledge of Allegience.  He was followed by Lou Galterio, who sang the National Anthem.
Kimberly Mitchell, West Palm Beach City Commissioner made some initial comments and introduced Ellyn Bogdanoff (FL Representative, District 91), candidate for FL Senate 25.  Ellyn spoke about accomplishments in Tallahassee and the difficult challenges for the following year.  Anita Mitchell, club 2nd Vice President, then told us of her long time support of Bill McCollum and welcomed him to the podium.

(Story continues below the pictures.)

McCollum, candidate for Fl Governor, addressed several issues, including Florida’s lawsuit against the Healthcare law (based on two primary issues: using the commerce clause to force individual mandates, and adding additional people to the Medicaid roles without state control).  He segued to the business environment and how we have to make the Florida business and tax environment a draw for attracting new types of businesses.  He then tied Education into the mix – stressing the need for merit pay for teachers, some way of phasing out tenure and measuring progress.  Continuing education for science and technical education was a must.  Bill McCollum also addressed the status of the campaign – directly confronting the issues he has with his primary opponent, Rick Scott.  He took one question from the audience on the issue of states’ rights vs the federal government which are key to both his suit on Healthcare as well as his stance in joining Michigan, along with several other, in support of Arizona’s immigration bill.

Next, the general call for candidates brought out Sherry Lee (candidate for PBC Commission District 2), Joe Budd (candidate for US Congress District 19), Tami Donnally (candidate for FL House 85), Albert Key (candidate for FL House 84), and Nancy Cardone (candidate for FL House 83).   Starla Brown won our drawing for the South Florida Golf Card – congratulations, Starla!  And Lou Galterio closed the meeting with his rendition of “I’m Proud to be an American’.

Reminder – this is our last meeting prior to the primary elections on 8/24!  Please work for the candidates you support in any way that you can.

AG Bill McCollum – Keynote Speaker at our 7/16 Luncheon!

Attorney General Bill McCollum, Candidate for Governor

and

Hon. Ellyn Bogdanoff, Candidate for FL Senate (Dist. 25)

WHERE: Bear Lakes Country Club, 1901 Village Blvd, West Palm Beach

BLCC Policy: Business Casual Dress (No Jeans); Please Silence Cell Phones,

TIME/DATE:

Friday, July 16; 11:30 Gathering; Lunch and Program at noon

(NOTE: CHANGE to FRIDAY)

COST $25 Members

 $30 Guests

 Complimentary Valet

RSVP by Wednesday, July 14 NOON — 561-697-4911 or email:

info@gopclubpb.org

Action Center Grand Opening

Senate Debate Video – Other Candidates

Joe Budd for Congress, District 19


Sherry A. Lee for the District 2 county commission race


Tami Donnally Florida state House, District 85


Francisco Rodriguez Florida state House, District 83


Pat Rooney Florida state House, District 83


Steven Rosenblum Florida state House, District 89

Photos from Senate 25/27 Debate

Photos taken by Boris Balaban and Iris Scheibl.

REC Meeting Summary for 6/9/2010

Chairman Sid Dinerstein called the meeting to order and Sid Lanier led us in prayer followed by the pledge.

Chm. Dinerstein then called for a moment of silence to honor Kristin Hoke, WPBF Reporter/Anchor that passed away earlier in the day. He described her as a consummate professional and praised her for her brave battle with cancer.

The Board congratulated Chm. Dinerstein and especially his wife, Esther,  on their 43^rd Wedding Anniversary.

Chm. Dinerstein announced that the County had dropped the issue of the additional 1% sales tax for the Fire Department. He thanked those of us that attended the meetings as well as the efforts of other groups that participated in opposing the tax.

Our speaker, Pam Bondi, candidate for Florida State Attorney General was introduced and a brief biography was given.  Pam, a fourth generation Floridian and graduate of Stetson Law, sees the AG as a legal job and not a political position. She has 18 years experience as a prosecutor and has worked with Fox News as a Legal Consultant. She supports smaller government and reduced regulation for businesses. On immigration, Pam fully supports Gov. Brewer of Arizona and the legislation she recently signed into law. She noted that the Governor had no choice but to enact legislation at the state level given that the Federal Government has failed grossly to enforce existing laws and secure our borders by any means necessary. 
 
Visitors were recognized. Chairman Dinerstein questioned Mark Hock as whether to vote on the current applicants or to wait on the outcome of the next motion. The decision was made to go ahead with the vote on candidates. Although 5 new members were admitted to the Committee, Mark  reiterated that they would be unable to vote tonight.

Mark Hock noted that an affirmative vote of 107 would be necessary to pass a motion to amend our Constitution and change the structure of the Committee from a district system to a precinct system.  Under the current system we have 100 districts with 4 committee members per district for a total of 400 positions, 240 of which were open as of May 2010. The precinct system calls for 1 committeeman and 1 committeewoman per 1000 registered voters, precincts would have 2 to 8 committeemen, totaling 2400.  John Parsons then reintroduced a motion for same that was tabled at our May 12 meeting. Second was made and Dean Taffel presented the argument against the motion*. Several committee members spoke to the issue, the majority being in favor. Linda Mazziotti explained how the roll call vote works with the Chairman only voting in the event of a tie. Chm. Dinerstein cast the 108^th vote for, with 16 against, and 3 abstentions.

Greg Langowski made announcements regarding upcoming events.

Numerous candidates were given 2 minutes each to address the assembly. The audience was dwindling precipitously and one candidate commended the remaining members for staying, saying we were the core of the party.

Other Committee members were given 2 minutes to address what was left of the crowd.

Chairman Dinerstein adjourned the meeting around 8:45.

 

*Dean also pointed out that we need to go directly to the people using the examples of Scott Maxwell’s successful bid for Lake Worth City Commission because of our grassroots effort. His other example was how much absentee voting picked up after the radio spots that Sid Dinerstein had recorded were aired.  This was met with much applause.

Fire/Rescue Sales Tax Status

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The 1 percent sales tax proposal has been pulled from further consideration for the November ballot. Confirmed by county staff, the reason given was problems with the statute that made wording for the ballot measure difficult to craft. Perhaps our patient opposition and public outcry had a positive effect? Thanks to all who participated in saving the taxpayers from a BIG mistake.

See the text of the letter from County Administrator Bob Weisman to Commissioners and staff at

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On Tuesday, June 8, the Board of County Commissioners voted 4-3 to continue on to “First Reading” of the ballot initiative for November. In spite of the fact that 33 of 34 speakers were VEHEMENTLY opposed to the measure, Commissioners Marcus, Aaronson, Vana and Santamaria voted to proceed. Commissioner Taylor changed her vote from last time and opposed it. For a blow-by-blow description of the events and who said what, see the featured article at as well as the Post and Sun-Sentinel articles on the subject that are linked from there.

Many members of Republican Club of the Palm Beaches came and spoke against the proposal, including Melissa Andrews, Barry Carson, Tami Donnally, Nancy Hogan, Carol Hurst, Mike Lameyer, John Parsons, and Fred and Iris Scheibl.

Sighted in the audience were Sid Dinerstein, Carl Domino, Claire Jones, Yvonne Inglis and Bette Anne Starkey .

NEXT STEP:

Tuesday 6/15/10 – We need to turn out again, in larger numbers (if that is possible 🙂 to once again speak against the proposal. We can expect more speakers on the other side at that meeting as they will try to counter the optics of overwhelming opposition.

Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Scott Interview at DC Works for US

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Fred and I drove down to Coral Springs in order to hear Rick Scott, GOP candidate for Florida Governor, running against FL Attorney General Bill McCollum in the primary. Mr. Scott is considered controversial – because, as he put it, he ‘upset the apple cart’ as he started to gain in the polls against the assumed GOP candidate. Scott is also controversial because of his role as CEO of Columbia/HCA during a huge 1997 Medicare/Medicaid fraud scandal. However – he also had been a huge opponent of Hillarycare. And he was the guy running the Conservatives for Patient Rights commercials battling Obamacare. My post is for information only – I think we need to hear/see more from all of the viable candidates.
Fred summarized Scott’s approach as ‘Government by Audit’ – when asked what he could have done differently at HCA, he said they should have had more auditors to keep tabs on things. An answer that he could have given (but didn’t) is that a leader can set an example for an organization that breaking the law is not OK.

I took a lot of notes and this is a long post. Many of the questions asked of him should also be the kinds of questions we ask of our candidate for other state offices (such as in the Senate debate on 6/24).

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Here’s a few pictures (fuzzy cellphone – sorry) of the event. The narrative continues below them.

Meeting Summary

Karin Hoffman kicked off the meeting and spoke about the need for activism. She also spoke in defense of the DC Works for US strategy of endorsing primary candidates. She feels that waiting until August is too late to build up the volunteer base and techniques and that it’s more important to pick the candidates NOW. She also spoke about needing to win, not 30 or 40 congressional seats – but over 110 in order to have a veto-proof majority. Karin also announced that Bill McCollum will appearing at DC Works for US in about two weeks.

Opening Remarks: Mr. Scott said that he has spent the last 1 1/2 years fighting the healthcare bills. But that he’s running because the state is a mess and we keep electing the same type of politicians. We need someone who has runa businesses before. Rick has done all kinds of menial jobs and came from modest means. He purchased his first business at 21 – a donut shop. (As an aside, he remarked that if you let the employees eat unlimited donuts, after the first couple of days they will never eat one again!) He owned various businesses since then, the largest being Columbia/HCA with 285 thousand employees. He’s lived the American Dream and he has had setbacks. We need accountability in government, like there is in the private sector. We need to balance budgets. He also spoke to making the climate better for businesses in Florida. That the only way we’ll recover is by bringing in businesses and expanding the economy – not by spending programs.

1) Accountability budgeting – set measureable and outcome oriented goals and measure them daily.

2) Arizona-like immigration bill.

3) Defend the state of Florida (eg from federal actions)

He doesn’t need this job but feels he needs to act.

Karin then followed with questions submitted by members by email. There were no questions from the audience.

Speak to your Columbia/HCA Controversy: Can’t make excuses. The company had 1)best patient satisfation 2)Lowest prices 3) Best patient outcomes. But did a bad job of internal/external audit. In business, the executives are accountable; in government – NOT. How to fix it in government? More internal/external auditing. How to enforce immigration? Use the Governor’s pulpit to educate/cajole. Push the Federal government to act and do their job. Pass an Arizona-like bill. Use all agencies to enforce the law. Make e-verify mandatory? Yes – or something like it. But he wants to remain sensitive to not overwhelming businesses with regulations. How will you decide when to use the National Guard (eg in oil spill/border issues)? Need a forceful governor and legislature. It’s their obligation to act if the Federal Government doesn’t How to prevent the oil spill from damaging FL and what is your position on drilling? 1) First solve it (the oil flow) 2) hold the companies accountable and keep them responsible for compensating those whose businesses/livelihood damaged 3)we need to be energy independent – which includes nuclear, alternative energy as well as offshore drilling. How about distance for drilling? Find out what caused the blow-out. Need experts. How to handle the rise in unemployment/create jobs? 1) Create a state budget that business people won’t feel relies on increased taxation 2) limit regulations that impact business from coming to the state 3) States that have lower spending as a percent of their GDP have better business environments – so lower spending. 4) The governor has to be a salesperson – promoting the state. What is your position on Hometown Democracy? (Iris’ note: Amendment 4 on Nov ballot) It’s a disaster. Job killer. We elect individuals to be responsible for monitoring/planning growth. Can’t have every decision voted on. Why vote for you? Not a career politician, not accountable to any interest group, not going to pander. How to protect Floridians from actions by Congress/Federal Gov’t? Educate the citizens. He didn’t see Governors and Attorney Generals speaking out to their people during the healthcare fight and talking about the implications. Our state elected officials need to take a stand. So when Congress votes – the impact on the states will be clear. Use laws. Defend states rights. Impact on FL of gov’t standards on waterways? Get the facts. Sit down with everyone. High Speed Rail? What is the ROI? Will it pay for itself? From what he’s learned, it won’t. Position on accepting Federal Stimulus Dollars? Against the stimulus bills because you can’t tax or spend your way to prosperity. We should not have accepted the stimulus dollars. We want our elected officials to stand up for our state. Agenda 21/Sustainable Development? Not familiar with it. FL Senate Bill 6? His daughter is a special needs teacher. He believes in accountability and merit pay. The best teachers should make the most money. New teachers should not be getting tenure. What’s the purpose of public schools – to teach! Vouchers? Absolutely believe in them. FL HB 21/SB 98, Right to bear arms? Strong believer in gun ownership and right to bear arms.

At this point, after Karin had squeezed in 3 or more questions after Mr. Scott’s handlers had said he had to leave, Karin thanked him and the candidate was whisked away through the crowd. A few candidates for various office spoke very briefly but the meeting was over.

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