NPB Republican Club Hosts Senate Candidate Ron DeSantis

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Sunday afternoon brunch at Frenchman’s Reserve was an excellent opportunity for the club to introduce Florida Senate Candidate Ron DeSantis. The brunch was something new for the club, and the expansive array of delicious food was a grazer’s delight.

First elected to Congress in 2012, Ron represents Florida district 6, a coastal district stretching from south of Jacksonville to New Symrna Beach. An outspoken member of the House Freedom Caucus, which was instrumental in booting John Boehner from the Speaker’s chair, he gets a well-earned 89% on the Heritage Action Scorecard, highest in the House.

As a 2016 Senate Candidate, he will face Representative David Jolly (Heritage Action 41%), Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantero, and former CIA and Army Special Forces Veteran Todd Wilcox in the August Primary. The winner of that contest will go on to face either our own Patrick Murphy (Heritage 16%) or Allan Grayson (also 16%).

Describing the country’s mood as “malaise”, and a feeling that neither party has a clue, Ron suggested that if Obama had been President during World War II, we would have lost.

Militant Islam, he said, is not limited to a few terrorist groups like ISIS, but a wider problem – witness the reaction at the Turkish Soccer match when calls for a moment of silence for Paris were met with chants of “Allahu akbar”. And ISIS is not the only Muslim Caliphate – there is a Shia version spreading from Africa to Asia led by Iran. Obama’s weakness has demonstrated to them that we can be attacked with impunity.

Ron then ran down his thoughts on a number of issues of the day, including:

• He sponsored a bill with Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton to eliminate aid to any country that accepts Guantanamo prisoners and then lets them return to the battlefield.
• With Ted Cruz he pushed a bill to put a pause on the import of Syrian refuges.
• He would arrange it so any home-grown Jihadi who leaves the country to fight for ISIS could not return.
• He opposes Ethanol subsidies as crony capitalism.
• He supports articles of impeachement for IRS Chief Koskinen.
• He opposes Common Core and voted against the NCLB re-authorization.
• He thinks Hillary Clinton should be prosecuted for her email server and its attempts to avoid Congressional oversight and FOIA request.
• He sees Obamacare failing before our eyes – much quicker than predicted, and thinks we should move to replace it with patient-centered healthcare.

Learn more about Ron DeSantis at his website: www.desantis2016.com

In other Club business, the slate of officers was elected for 2016:

Marilyn Parmet, President
Linda Stoch, Vice President
Bill Nelson, Treasurer
Jane Pike, Secretary