Adam Hasner anchors March Lunch

Former Florida House Speaker and current CD22 candidate Adam Hasner brought his message of America at the tipping point to the RCPB March lunch at Bear Lakes today. Adam will likely face Democrat candidate and former West Palm Mayor Lois Frankel in November in the newly constituted D + 9 District.

“Children born today could likely see the arrival of the 22nd century,” he began. What kind of a future will they experience? We are close to a tipping point now with less than half of the country paying any income taxes, food stamps at an all time high, and 99 weeks of unemployment insurance payments dividing us. What kind of world are we leaving for our children? People are scared.

This next election (“the most important in our lifetime”), is not about ideology – it is about math. Without getting our debt under control, the future will be very different.

“Both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for this situation and it must stop,” he said to applause from the group. In answer to the question about whether he would have voted (as current CD22 member Allen West did) for the debt ceiling deal last summer that led to the feckless “super committee” and the sequestration that could likely gut the military, he answered a definite NO! We must stop spending more than we take in, and we should not raise the debt ceiling any farther. Eliminating the debt should be a primary focus of the Congress.

Prior to Hasner’s keynote, we heard from CD23 candidate Joe Kaufman. Nationally known for his work against radical organizations in the US who raise money for terrorist groups, he hopes to defeat DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. A self described conservative, he says he will have strong Democrat crossover in the district. He will need it, as the district is D + 23 (49% Democrat, 26% Republican). He must first dispatch Republican rivals Karen Harrington and Ozzie deFaria in the August Primary. Harrington faced off against Schultz in 2010, in the old CD20 (which has a lot of overlap with the new CD23) and managed to win only 38% of the vote to Schultz 60%.

Other candidates in attendance were Mike Lameyer (Senate 34), and a surrogate (his sister) for James O’Hara (House 81), as well as State Committeeman candidate Fran Hancock.

Encouraging Words from Ralph Reed

Faith and Freedom Foundation Founder Ralph Reed rallied the troops with an inspiring pep talk at Binks Golf Club. Jointly hosted by Palm West Republican Club, the Republican club of Central Palm Beach County, and the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches, the event was a good kickoff to election season in this very important year.

Club Presidents Janeen Capizola, Tami Donnally and Melissa Andrews respectively welcomed Ralph to Palm Beach County and GOP Chair Sid Dinerstein gave an interesting introduction of Mr. Reed, going back to their collaboration during the 2000 contested election in the county.

Ralph Reed is no stranger to south Florida, having grown up in Miami, and he gave good description of how important swing state Florida is to the outcome of the Presidential election. Touching on a number of issues, he particularly examined the recent administration salvo in the war on religion.

Although Barack Obama could very well repeat his win here as in 2008, there is a path to victory for the GOP if we all work together. In a break out session after the main event, he went into more detail about the technology that F&F is bringing to the table and what will be required to win the day.

Some pictures from Delia Menocal and Carol Porter:

January Lunch Featured Dr. Carrie Blanchard

The Club’s January luncheon was the venue for Part I of the two-part series: Economic Freedom and the Path to Prosperity. The Club was joined by Dr. Carrie Blanchard from the Florida Chamber Foundation, who offered some valuable insight into the state of Florida’s economy and the opportunities that exist for our leaders to help promote greater economic freedom for all Floridians.

The second half of the two-part series will take place at the February luncheon and will explore charitable giving as an alternative to government-imposed welfare. We will be joined by Charles Bender from Children’s Place of Hope, a faith-based child services organization largely funded by charitable giving. And we hope to also be joined by a representative from the James Madison Institute’s Research Advisory Counsel. We hope you will join us for this exciting event!

A Look Inside ACORN

Join us on November 15 for a special program provided by RCPB and Americans for Prosperity.

Conservative Solutions to Illegal Immigration

Our October meeting featured a debate on solutions to illegal immigration in Florida. Moderated by Rick Kozell, the panel consisted of Florida 82 Representative William Snyder, Brewster Bevis of Associated Industries of Florida, and two local business owners who confront the issue on a regular basis, Richard Roth of Roth Farms, and Sean Rooney of Link Staffing. A synopsis will follow.

Pictures from Delia and Fred.

September Lunch with Slade O’Brien had a Focus on Activism

Today’s RCPB Luncheon was focused on activism.  After the Invocation and Pledge led by Sid Lanier, Club President Melissa Nash welcomed Honoraries – Gary Nikolits, PBC Property Appraiser and Bill Diamond, Palm Beach City Council.  Melissa then had several club members briefly comment on their experiences at Presidency 5 and CPAC-FL in Orlando the prior week. 

Melissa then introduced Slade O’Brien, Florida State Director of Americans for Prosperity.  While Slade covers all of Florida, he lives in Palm Beach County.  He has been leading several seminars on activism and  GOTV in the area and folks should take advantage of the next ones when available.  For more information on AFP Florida go here..

Slade also mentioned a few other organizations:  True the Vote was one of them.  Also he suggested joining Liberty Linked  as an activist website that enables one to connect with fellow conservatives.  He talked about the importance of social media in the upcoming election cycle, and touched on Anita MonCrief and her whisteblower role in the Acorn scandals.

Melissa also pointed out that future REC meetings will be held at the Vista Center and that October’s RCPB meeting will be a Special evening meeting with a panel discussin Illegal Immigration in Florida.

Pictures by Delia

Senate President Haridopolis Highlights July Lunch

The July RCPB lunch featured Mike Haridopolis who was well received as President of the Senate, even if he has ended his Senate campaign.

As previously reported, he recognized that the importance of leading the FL Senate would require more time than allowed by being a candidate for US Senate. He vowed that he would not be running for any office while holding his present position.

Of interest to many in the group, he answered a question about the disposition of the E-Verify bill that did not pass the legislature, or even emerge from the Senate committees for a vote. This was the perfect segue into the fact that our club will present a program on Thurs. Oct 27 on the merits of E-verify with organizations and local businesses who are pro/con.

The event was attended by several new members who enjoyed the program enough to comment: “I am so impressed with your speakers and programs that I want to be a part of your club.”

Here’s a few pictures from Delia:

Former Ambassador Al Cardenas Highlights June Lunch Meeting

On Wednesday, June 22 at Bear Lakes, Keynote speaker Al Cardenas of the American Conservative Union, gave his views on current events and emphasized how important it is to stand on principles, such as boldly supporting the Ryan budget, given it is the only “real” proposal on the table to fix our structural fiscal problems. He considers it a moderate document, since it takes 28 years to achieve balance and does not touch Social Security. We need to stand for conservative principles, both while running for election and governing. Consistency provides mandates – if you take a controversial stand and are elected on that basis, then you have a mandate to implement that position. Ambassador Cardenas also announced that a regional CPAC convention is to be held in Orlando coincident with Presidency 5.

Also noted at the meeting was the formation of a new grass roots group in the county, the Palm Beach County Tea Party. Pam Wohlschlegel, formerly county coordinator for SFTP, has formed a new group to build a coalition of activists from related organizations dedicated to fiscal responsibility, constitutionaly limited government and free markets. She pointed out that she has been a Republican since her school days, but decided to work through a non-partisan group because of their success in attracting disaffected Democrats and Independents to the conservative cause.

Also speaking were Joe Kaufman, candidate for CD20 (Debbie Wasserman Schultz), and Starla Brown, PB and Broward coordinator for the Mike McCallister for Senate campaign. The meeting was hosted by Bette Anne Starkey.

Pictures by Boris Balaban and Delia Garcia Menocal.

FH83 Representative Pat Rooney Highlights Award Lunch

On May 25th, the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches was pleased to welcome state representative Pat Rooney at its monthly luncheon.  Representative Rooney provided a summary of the 2011 legislative session, including its highs and lows and some of the initiatives most directly affecting South Florida.  Most notably, Representative Rooney discussed the Republicans’ successful efforts to trim burdensome government spending in order to promote the creation of private sector jobs, offset the ever-increasing federal tax burdens on Floridians, and propel Florida’s economy out of the ongoing recession.  He also discussed the passage of a bill designed to help balance Florida’s long term budget by requiring state employees to fund a small portion of their own pensions.  He expressed great optimism about the opportunities to solve the challenges of illegal immigration while also recognizing the complex impact that any such solution will have on Florida’s agricultural industry and the overall economy.

As a businessman, Pat described the frustrations of being a freshman legislator working through the considerably different world of lawmaking, and some thoughts of how to improve the process, including his proposal for using video conferencing to connect the lawmakers from the southern part of the state during committee time, to make more efficient use of everyone’s time.

Although the session was somewhat contentious, and much was sandwiched into the last few weeks, there were some good things to emerge. In Pat’s view these included saving some funding for libraries and the disabled, FRS reform, and the bill to curb pill mill abuses.

Representative Rooney also took part in the Club’s ceremony awarding the 2011 Anne Roberts Memorial Scholarship.  This year, the scholarship was awarded to four deserving candidates who are in the process of pursuing their college degrees.  Representative Rooney and the entire Club were pleased to recognize all four candidates for their academic accomplishments and their embodiment of Republican values.   

There were four scholarship winners this year, each receiving a check for $500, and the awards were announced by surprise guest (via video recording) Congressman Allen West.

Receiving the scholarships were John Clark, Shirley Schaff, Kimberly Twoey, and Jason Ferrara.  Click here for the Press Release – ARM Scholarship 2011

Pictures courtesey of Delia Garcia-Menocal.

Senator George LeMieux Highlights April Lunch

Former Senator (and now candidate) George LeMieux gave us an interesting perspective on the federal budget struggles and what is at stake in the battle over the debt limit. Appointed by Charlie Crist to fill the slot vacated by Mel Martinez, his Washington experience gives him some advantages over his two announced competitors Adam Hasner and Mike Haridopolis, but all three would make capable Senators and it will be a spirited campaign.

Here are a few pictures of the event:

« Previous Page — Next Page »