PLF’s Mark Miller at January Lunch

This month’s speaker was Mark Miller, Senior Attorney of Pacific Legal Foundation, one of the most active and effective public interest legal organizations in the US. Founded during the Reagan years, PLF has tallied up an impressive set of victories in high profile cases, including 11 wins at the Supreme Court. A 501(c)3 organization, PLF is supported by grants and donations and does all its work pro-bono.

Mark specializes in environmental law, land use and first amendment cases, and he described for us many of his projects that have been covered by the national media.

In his recent Supreme court case, Weyerhaeuser vs. US Fish and Wildlife, Mark successfully argued that restricting land use in Louisiana as habitat for the “Mississippi Dusky Gopher Frog”, an amphibian that has not been found there in decades, was a mis-application of the Endangered Species Act. In an 8-0 decision (Cavenaugh had not yet been confirmed), SCOTUS overturned both the district court and the 5th circuit who had maintained that Fish & Wildlife had ‘agency discretion’ to so designate.

Another case Mark explained was Knick v. Township of Scott, in which a Pennsylvania property owner challenged a recent town ordinance that required public access to her property which was alleged after an intrusive search, to contain graves. With an argument that this was in violation of the 4th (unrestrained search) and 5th (unlawful taking) amendments, PLF argued at the Supreme Court recently that the case should not have to exhaust all remedies at the state level prior to argument in federal court. This case, argued this month, is pending.

Another high profile PLF Supreme Court case was Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, in which voters who wore clothing containing political sentiments were denied access to the polling places. A tea party “Don’t tread on me” slogan was at issue. The Court issued its ruling on June 14, 2018, stating in a 7–2 decision that Minnesota’s law did violate the First Amendment, ruling it unconstitutional.

Mark has also been involved in state and local cases. In 2014 he represented the owner of the Crafted Keg brew pub in Stuart, who wanted to sell beer in industry standard “growlers” (64 ounce containers) in violation of a Florida law which protects large beer makers from upstart craft brewers. This one received national attention. “Why should his success be limited by a state law that’s irrational?”, Mark argued. After suing the state, this one was resolved in the Legislature where the 64 oz. growler was legalized.

He also volunteered to represent JP Krause, a Vero Beach High School student whose election to student body President was dis-allowed by the school over a “build a wall’ joke he made during the campaign. He was re-instated after the story was picked up by Fox & Friends and Whoopi Goldberg supported the student’s position on “The View”.

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After the meeting, in preparation of a full page ad in the Lincoln Day Dinner booklet, the club leaders were photographed with our new club banner:

Charles Bender and Monique McCall at December Lunch

Our annual Christmas lunch this year featured Place of Hope CEO Charles Bender and local vocalist Monique McCall.

With a beautiful rendition of “O Holy Night”, Monique got us started, and later ended the meeting with more seasonal fare including her own composition “Everyday is Christmas”. She has performed this song on local radio, and has also recorded “Feel Like Florida” an outstanding boost for the Sunshine State.

Charles, one of the founders of his organization “Place of Hope”, gave us an overview of current operations.

When you think of the leadership at many charitable organizations, you don’t immediately think “Republican”, but Charles defies the stereotype. To drive that point home, he showed off his white “Trump Socks”, a positive sign indeed. He has been in the business for many years and goes way back with our club President Fran Hancock. As the DeSantis organization finds it feet in Tallahassee, Charles will be there as part of the transition team.

Place of Hope is in the group foster home business – they take the really tough cases of kids who have been severely abused and may have had multiple placements in foster care. Many are rescued from sex traffickers at a young age. By the time they are referred by the Florida Department of Children and Families, they are typically in desperate straits as DCF will not remove a child from their parents lightly.

The approach taken at the five Place of Hope facilities is to “parent” the kids, and teach personal responsibility and independent living skills. They also try to keep sibling groups together if at all possible. When a child “ages out” at 18, they do what they can to get them set up in an environment that will help them be successful, and in their years of operations, they have had 300 adoptions.

For more information about Place of Hope or to make a donation, please visit their website at https://www.placeofhope.com. They currently have a 4-star rating with Charity Navigator, with 86% of their $7.6M in annual revenue going to program expenses.

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Next month, please join us on Wednesday January 23 for Mark Miller of Pacific Legal Foundation. Mark will share his interesting perspectives from arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court and will tell us about his recent 8-0 victory in Weyerhauser vs U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service”, (aka the “dusky gopher frog” case) which protected the rights of a Louisiana property owner against the “critical habitat” designation of the Endangered Species Act.

Thoughts on the Election with Sid Dinerstein

When we first booked Sid Dinerstein for his “after-election, looking-forward” thoughts, our current electoral chaos was not anticipated. With four races still in flux eight days after the election, we still don’t know with certainty where we will be when the dust settles, but Sid did have some encouraging words for us.

Starting with the fact that the military ballots (which lean considerably Republican) have not yet been tallied, and that recounts rarely if ever move votes in any substantive way, he opined that DeSantis and Scott will likely prevail. With the current 5,000 vote deficit, it does not look as good for Matt Caldwell. It is clear that the Supervisors of Election in Broward and Palm Beach must be replaced before the next election, and we need to work towards that end.

On a national level, losing the House was not a desired outcome, but it has interesting ramifications for 2020. Gridlock will ensue, not some Progressive tsunami. Sid believes we will have no immigration reform and no wall, but with an expanded majority in the Senate we will have judges. When President Trump is done he will have appointed fully 1/3 of federal bench. Deregulation is likely to continue (it doesn’t need Congress), as will trade negotiations, and the economy will continue its good performance. With the expectation that House Democrats will be out to torture Trump with endless investigations and impeachment, something even most Democrats are not asking for, a big 2020 sweep for the President is likely.

On the state level, Rick DeSantis origins in the Freedom Caucus bode well for no tax increases, more school choice, continued growth in population and tourism, a low crime rate, and no Medicaid expansion – a complete opposite of what a Governor Gillum would have sought. We will continue what Sid sees as the “Golden Age of Florida.’ And lest we forget, we will have 3 new conservative justices on the Florida Supreme Court in January.

Overall, not a bad outlook!

Sid was introduced by current GOP Chair Michael Barnett who calls Sid his mentor. Michael also asked for volunteers to help with the “count watching” at SOE as the hand recounts begin shortly. We also had at the meeting victorious State Representatives Rick Roth (HD85), Mary Lynn Magar (HD82), and Michael Caruso who is currently ahead by 37 votes in HD89, and Palm Beach Gardens Councilman Matthew Lane.

Please join us on Wednesday, December 19 for Charles Bender, Executive Director of the Place of Hope who will give us an update on their activities, and we will also have a little holiday music.

Ballot Amendments Explained

On October 24, our RCPB lunch consisted of a ballot tutorial by Fred Scheibl. Pointing out that the consequences of passage for many of these amendments are subtle, we heard an argument that the “picks” by various groups (including the RPOF) may be missing some key information.

In particular, it was pointed out that:

• Amendment 1 is touted as a tax cut, but in reality it will shift a tax burden from homestead property to business and rental property when localities raise their millage to counter the drop in revenue.
• If Amendment 2 does not pass and the cap on non-homestead property is allowed to expire on January 1, we will see an effective tax increase in the range of $700M next year.
• Amendment 3 does not provide “voter control of gambling”, it just limits who can put such a measure on the ballot and deprives the Legislature of their power to regulate.
• Amendment 6, in attempting to create additional “rights” for victims, actually compromises the constitutional rights of defendants for a fair trial and will significantly complicate the operation of criminal trials.

The following was provided as a handout at the meeting and may be useful in understanding the implications of the amendments. The boxes in the second column show the preference of RPOF, Trump Club 45, Florida TaxWatch, the Palm Beach Post, and the Sun Sentinel. Green is YES, Red is NO.

Ballot	Others	My Pick	Rationale	Your Pick ?
#1 – Increased Homestead Property Tax Exemption	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	Since taxing authorities will simply raise millage to make up for the $600M shortfall, the net effect is to shift a tax burden from homesteaders to businesses and vacation property. Counties and municipalities have booked plans to raise their rates if this passes. Commercial, rental and vacation property owners would see a tax increase on passage, as will homestead owners who fall don’t qualify for the additonal exemption (< $100K)
#2 – Limitations on Property Tax Assessments	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	YES	This simply makes permanent something we have had for 10 years and is set to expire on January 1. If it doesn’t pass, an estimated $700M new taxes will be immediately imposed on non-homestead property owners since their assessed values (20% or more below market value) would immediately rise to market value next year.
#3 – Voter Control of Gambling in Florida	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	If passed, would make it very difficult to challenge the Seminole monopoly on gambling and places wrongful restrictions on the legislative body. It doesn’t give voters more control, it just limits who is permitted to put a gambling referendum on the ballot. This would be the first such restraint on the freedom of action by the Legislature, and would be a dangerous precedent.
#4 – Voting Restoration Amendment	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	There is already a process for a felon to get their voting rights restored after a waiting period, and it requires the felon to ask for it, rather than being an automatic action. Passage could potentially add 10% to the voting population at a single point in time, much larger than the margin of error in recent statewide elections. No one knows how such a large voting block would act, but Democrats believe it will favor them and thus support it overwhelmingly.
#5 – Supermajority to impose / authorize / raise state taxes	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	YES	Anything that makes it harder to raise taxes is a good thing. Andrew Gillum’s plan for increasing taxes would be stymied if this passes and he is fighting hard to defeat it. Support and opposition to this amendment is largely along party lines.
#6 – Rights of Crime Victims, Judges	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	This amendment increases the rights of victims at the expense of the rights of the accused, and it tampers with the judicial process for criminal trials. It would tie the hands of defense attorneys regarding the timing of hearings, and could require criminal defendents to pay restitution to victims. The criminal justice system arbitrates between the charges brought by the state (who must prove guilt) and the accused who defends against the charges. It is not meant to be a means for victims to extract restitution or revenge, or to inject themselves into the process. That activity belongs in the civil courts. If passed this Would make for VERY BAD law. Passage would also let judges stay on the bench another 5 years (to age 75), and prohibit courts from deferring to the rulings of state agencies (aka the Chevron Doctrine.)
#7 – First Responder / Military survivor benefits, colleges	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	Creates another unfunded mandate on local governments who would be required to pay the benefits to local first responders, and adds bureaucracy to the management of colleges and universities. The current organizational structure of the college system would be enshrined in the constitution, making it much harder to change if needed.
#9 – Prohibits offshore drilling, indoor vaping	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	A prohibition on offshore drilling should not be in the constitution. We elect legislators to make these kind of decisions. Removes the Legislature’s control of energy development, limiting future opportunities for tapping oil and gas reserves. Attempts to treat vaping the same as smoking cigarettes, an unproven assertion.
#10- State and Local Government Structure / Operation	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	This amendment would force the eight counties who currently have appointed officials to create elected constitutional offices. This weakens the “home rule” ability of local governments. Our county already has constitutional elected officials, but some would argue appointing them would be an improvement, particularly with the Sheriff. Other provisions establish executive departments that need not be in the constitution, and constrains the Legislative calendar.
#11- Property Rights, cleanup, criminal statutes	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	YES	This will provide flexibility to affect those sentenced under laws that are being repealed, and otherwise cleans up some obsolete sections of the constitution.
#12- Lobbying and Abuse by Public Officers	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	The 2 year restriction already in law is sufficient – most states have similar ethics laws but none goes beyond 2 years. This amendment would leave too much of the details of the proposal to others (Ethics Commission), such as defining what is a “disproportionate interest”. Should be a matter for legislation, not the constitution.
#13- Ends Dog Racing	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	This seeks to eliminate existing businesses and would likely result in a move away from pari-mutual betting to card rooms and slots at existing facilities. Some believe the “humane treatment” language is a trojan horse leading to other restrictions on the treatment of animals (limit hunting for example).
County #1- School Tax increase	RPOF TC45 TAXW PBP SS	NO	The PBC school district just got a 10 year windfall with the sales tax increase. They need to make do with the money they have. According to WJNO’s Brian Mudd, we have the highest per-student spending in the state (over $15K) – much more than even Broward or Miami Dade.

Some additional Resources:
Our 2018 Amendments Analysis:	https://gopclubpb.org/2018-election/2018-ballot-questions/
TaxWatch Voter’s Guide:	http://www.floridataxwatch.org/library/2018voterguide

What is the Constitutional Revision Commission (CRC) ?

The Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) convenes once every 20 years to examine the Florida Constitution and propose changes for voter consideration. Created by Article XI, Section 2 of the Florida Constitution, the CRC is composed of 37 Commissioners. Fifteen Commissioners are appointed by the Governor of Florida, nine by the President of the Florida Senate, nine by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and three by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. The Attorney General of Florida automatically serves on the CRC. The Governor designates the Chair of the CRC.

The CRC meets for approximately one year, traveling across the State of Florida, identifying issues, performing research and possibly recommending changes to the Florida Constitution. As part of this process, the CRC holds public hearings to learn about issues that matter most to Floridians and considers proposed constitutional amendments submitted by the public. Any proposals that pass the CRC’s final vote would be placed on Florida’s General Election ballot (November 6, 2018) and must secure at least 60 percent voter approval to become law.

The 2017-2018 Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) was the third of its kind in Florida history.

In 1968, Florida voters passed an amendment requiring a CRC every 20 years.

The 1977-1978 CRC placed eight amendments on the ballot and none passed.

The 1997-1998 CRC placed nine amendments on the ballot for and 8 were passed.

The 2017-2018 CRC held 15 public hearings across the state. It adjourned on May 11, 2018, and compressed 905 individual proposals into 8 complex amendments.

The 37 commissioners were chaired by businessman and former Senate candidate Carlos Beruff who ran against Marco Rubio in the 2016 primary. Also on the commission were Pam Bondi (AG is always a member), State Representative and Lt. Governor candidate Jeanette Nunez, FL Senate candidate Belinda Keiser, and former Senate President Don Gaetz.

The commission considered 123 commissioner proposals and 782 from the public, adopting 25 which were packed into the 8 ballot questions.

Scott Maxwell on the Importance of Poll Watchers

With the election less than 6 weeks away, the county party wants a lot more volunteers to man the polling stations, both as poll watchers and to wave signs at the early voting locations. That was the main message from Executive Director Scott Maxwell on Wednesday.

Scott wants to physically cover all 14 of the early voting locations with a unified Republican presence. Unlike the limited hours during the primary, the EV sites will be open fully 7AM to 7PM.

Poll watcher classes have already started so the time to sign up is now. To illustrate the importance of that job, Scott told us the story of the rampant voter fraud that had been perpetrated in his city of Lake Worth before he was elected to the City Commission, and how effective poll watchers put an end to it.

This is story I had never heard before, and as a current poll worker, I was skeptical that it could happen with our stringent processes on checking voter identification. As we heard though, with an inside job performed by criminal poll workers, anything is possible. Poll watchers are our only line of defense against it.

Here is Scott’s story:

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In a convoluted scheme perpetrated by a coterie of far left activists, their teams went door to door seeking out those who had not voted lately, with the intention of identifying those who had died or moved away, but were still on the rolls. They then ran multiple candidates for each of the city commission seats to split the vote enough to force a runoff. When the runoff occurred, other volunteers flooded the polling places claiming to be those voters they had previously tagged as no longer eligible but still on the rolls. Since this can only work with the cooperation of the poll workers in the targeted precincts whose job it is to verify identity, it was accomplished by packing the precincts with poll workers who were part of the conspiracy.

Scott had always wondered why seemingly fringe candidates were winning these elections, and was able to ferret out how they were doing it by analyzing the voter history data for the main and runoff elections. The fix was simple – put poll watchers in the precincts to watch what was happening and prevent the fraud from taking place. This worked, Scott and other non-fringe candidates began winning elections, and the corruption has been stopped.

The evidence of collusion on the part of the poll workers was taken to the State’s Attorney and the Supervisor of Elections. Unfortunately though, time went by and ultimately the statute of limitations had passed and no prosecutions for voter fraud occurred.

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So, become a poll watcher for November and help insure a fair and open election.

Next month, join us on October 24 for a discussion of constitutional amendments you are being asked to approve. The large number of complex ballot questions to appear in November require research to really understand the consequences of their passage. Let us help you through it with a distillation of the important issues and some recommendations on how to approach them. See who put the questions on the ballot, who supports them and who opposes them. You will come away enlightened!

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.

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

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”.

Peter Feaman on the Congressional Elections

“Work like it’s up to us; Pray like it’s up to God!”

With this exhortation, Peter Feaman gave us his views of the upcoming midterm elections.

Peter is the Florida Committeeman on the Republican National Committee and a member of the Rules Committee that presides over the conduct of the national convention and primaries. The RNC is in great fundraising shape this year compared to the Democrats he reports, and is 100% in lockstep with the President on his agenda.

“There has never been a better Republican President than Donald Trump in terms of policy”, he said. Losers like Bill Crystal who predicted that Trump was not a conservative have been proven wrong by his actions.

We are in the middle of a revolution or a civil war though – the left has still not accepted the results of the election. Barack Obama had pulled the country so far off the founder’s roots (and there is so much work to do), it is very important that we don’t lose the House in 2018.

The Democrats and the media would have you believe that they will win big and seek to demoralize our voters and donors, but in fact, the DNC is in debt and has little in the bank while the RNC has raised over $150M in the last year, $12.8M this February alone. We have been building a targeting database since the 2012 election and now have over 3000 points of data on 200 million voters.

The Senate will be tough for the Democrats – Nelson (FL), McCaskill (MO), Donnelly (IA), Heitkamp (ND), Manchin (WV) and Baldwin (WI) are all incumbents in Trump Country and at risk. The GOP can likely pick up 5-6 seats – not 60 but close.

In the House, it could turn over if the Democrats win back 24 seats – not unusual historically, but there are 53 open seats and only 6 (3D and 3R) are tossups.

Regarding our own Brian Mast (FL18), lots of people are mad as hell over his troubling gun grabbing rhetoric, but we still need to support him. Yes, he is not with us 100% of the time, but a Democrat would be against us 100% of the time. Remember: “Principle without Pragmatism is Suicide!”

It is important to remember that regardless of the Congressional Preference polls, the “mood” polls favor Republicans as the President works to bring back Reagan’s “Shiny city on the Hill,” and the tax cuts will certainly help. But ultimately, keeping the House is up to us.

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Please join us next month on May 25th for Florida House Member Rick Roth (HD85), who will give us an update of the 2018 legislative session.

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