Political Wisdom from “Tres Amigos”
The RCNPB February Meeting at Frenchman’s Reserve delivered an assortment of political tidbits along with an amazing Sunday brunch.
After the Pledge and a prayer delivered by Angela West, the first “amigo”, County Commissioner Hal Valeche went through his top 3 list of accomplishments for the year just past:
Baseball will remain in the county, thanks to a deal to place the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals at a new location on 45th street after the Palm Beach Gardens venue was soundly rejected by the neighborhood. Using a $50M grant from the state and county money in the form of the bed tax, the taxpayers will be building a fine stadium for the teams. Hal explained how this will bring in tourist dollars and keep the teams at Roger Dean from bolting to greener pastures.
Uber, the disruptive technology company that is giving the established taxi companies heartburn, is allowed to operate in the county under a deal that Hal helped arrange. The state is now moving to regulate the new businesses (including Uber and Lyft) and will supersede local ordinances, but county action was necessary in the meantime to allow them to operate without the regulatory overhead required of the taxi companies.
Verdenia Baker, who was deputy to former County Administrator Bob Weisman, was hired to replace Bob after a nationwide search involving 80 candidates that ultimately came down to Verdenia or Assistant County Administrator Shannon LaRocque.
Hal also spent some time explaining the upcoming proposal to increase the county sales tax (possibly up to 8% from the current 6%) if the county, the school district, and Fire / Rescue are all successful placing them on the ballot and getting them passed. To compensate for several years of underspending on county infrastructure, each 1/2 cent of the sales tax would generate over $1.1B in its ten year life to pay for building refurbishment, drainage projects and road striping. Many believe the county has yet to make their case that this is necessary. Hal and the other commissioners will be discussing the options on Tuesday 2/9.
The next “amigo” was county GOP Chairman Michael Barnett who spoke of the readiness for upcoming elections. With a new office on the first floor of the building they have been in on Palm Beach Lakes, there is lots of room for candidates to bring in their volunteers to meet and make calls. He also brought us up to date on minority outreach, an example of which was the party’s participation in the MLK day parades in Riviera Beach and Lake Worth, and the kudos from the black community about the good work in the community.
Fundraising in going well with a sold out Lincoln Day event with Donald Trump, and vice Chair Tami Donnelly is hard at work training a grassroots army. With special interest in the municipal elections on March 15, Michael offered help to Republican candidates and reached out to Gardens Council candidate Carl Woods and Jupiter’s Wayne Posner who were present at the meeting.
Third “amigo” was former county Chair Sid Dinerstein who spoke of the “shifting of tectonic plates”.
Describing Donald Trump as an “American Firster” rather than a conservative, Sid explained how Mr. Trump is running for the job as “top cheerleader for America” – something very different from most of the candidates in the race in either party, and why he has a strong appeal among those who blame the political classes for the decline of our country.
With insights not heard often from our party, Sid explained that black voters know that the Democrats have reserved all the low wage jobs for the illegals, and would be open to Republican candidates who used that fact to gain support.
Perhaps Sid’s most interesting observation however was that “conservatives never take back ground”. In other words, most conservatives when elected, work to keep the problems from getting worse, but NEVER try to roll back the damage that the Democrats have done. In this election cycle, perhaps the success of Donald Trump may suggest that this is changing.
Also at the meeting were CD18 candidates Rebecca Negron, Carl Domino and Rick Roth.
JTRO Meeting February 9
