March Brunch – “Los Tres Amigos” – 2019

In what has become an annual event, the March meeting of the RCNPB featured “Los Tres Amigos”. This year’s lineup consisted of Palm Beach Gardens Councilman Matthew Lane, CD21 likely candidate Christian Acosta, and the perennial favorite, former PBCGOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein. Florida Representative Rick Roth also made an appearance.

Matt Lane, who took this opportunity to announce his bid for re-election next March, described his view of the responsibilities of a city official. First up is public safety and security, and the Gardens is now providing city police resources to patrol the local schools. With increased demands following the Parkland shootings, the School system was grateful to accept the help and is paying the city for the effort. After the Pittsburg synagogue shootings, the city is also stepping up security activities surrounding the Jewish centers around Hood Road.

Other priorities include fiscal restraint with the public purse and transparency of government operations. As we have witnessed on multiple occasions, Matt will frequently pull large dollar items from the consent agenda for public discussion, particularly when it is not clear that an open bidding process was used. In Matt’s view, understanding the way contracts are adopted is the way to keep tabs on public spending.

Lastly he mentioned term limits, pointing our that he was the lone vote against placing the ballot questions in 2018 that sought to weaken the charter provisions that had only recently passed. Fortunately, the voters soundly rejected this attempt and the 2 terms of 3 years is still in effect.

The second amigo to speak was Christian Acosta who has announced his exploratory quest to unseat CD21 Congresswoman Lois Frankel in 2020. This D+17 seat was uncontested in 2018, allowing the incumbent to remain in office without campaigning for the privilege. Stretching along the coast from Singer Island through Delray Beach and encompassing most of the county south of Southern Boulevard, including Wellington, it deserves a Republican challenger.

Christian is a resident of Boynton Beach and teaches Electric Power Engineering at Palm Beach State. A nuclear engineer and Pittsburg transplant, Christian has been making the rounds of the Republican clubs and plans to introduce himself at the Trump-45 Club next month. He claims that he is no relation to that “other Acosta” who is known for his rude behavior in the White House press corps.

Although not billed as one of the “tres amigos”, FH85 Representative Rick Roth spoke briefly about some bills of interest that are moving through Tallahassee. The Republican controlled legislature did not always work smoothly with Rick Scott, but so far they are in a honeymoon period with Rick DeSantis. The allowance for smokable medical marijuana is moving through the process at the Governor’s request, and they appear willing to embrace his initiatives in education, the environment and water policy, and health care reform. The Legislature also may be able to place a ballot question next year that would end the constitutional revision commissions that work their mischief every 20 years. The onerous multiple-issue questions that last year’s commission placed on the ballot may have been enough to spur action.

Keynoting the meeting was Sid Dinerstein. With a couple of pages of handwritten notes, he took the audience on a tour of all the hopeful things that have happened since the last election, and why the loss of the House was a two edged sword.

Arguing that following the 2016 election (which was a peak year for the GOP), we are now in a sweet spot, Sid explained that yes, the Democrats run the House, but the GOP didn’t do much with their majority when they were in charge. This led to the shutdown which we lost, because to win you need to have the media on your side. Consider that a “bottom”.

The Democrats can always be counted on to overplay their hand. For example, by delaying the State of the Union for a week, Pelosi didn’t realize that she moved it just past the greatest jobs report ever, completely strengthening the President’s hand. Putting on a great show, which was a masterfully done tribute to America, Trump was able to “hold the cross up to the vampires” by declaring “America will never be a Socialist Nation!”. Thus begins the 2020 campaign.

One of the President’s most valuable skills is to get his enemies to actually tell the truth.

In the past few months we have seen them reveal what they really think:

– How great is Venuzuela
– How they will not rebuke their anti-semites – Farrakhan, Sharpton, Omar
– How abortion is not enough – we need nothing less than infanticide
– That their signature transportaion project – the California “train to nowhere” is a failure
– How they will not deal with their three “friends in Virginia”
– Jesse Smollett
– Green new deal (“kill all the cows”) – is outlawing volcanos next?
– We don’t want your stinking jobs (Amazon in NY)
– Dem PACs pulling out of Ohio
– Reuters sitting on the Beto hacking story

Making the case that Trump will likely win 44 states, Sid ended on a note of optimism. Hugging the flag at the beginning of the CPAC speech says it all – that is the entire campaign.

Saving Western Civilization from Itself

“Rational Centrists”, the term our speaker Ken Abramowitz uses for the third of western society that thinks like “us”, are surrounded by the dark forces of Big Government, Isolationists, Political Islam and the United Nations. Although still a minority, we have improved our market share since the time of Abraham when the ratio was more like 1%.

Describing the threats to Israel as a precursor of threats to the west, he sees many of the same forces at work. Iran (who would like to wipe out the US as well as Israel), the Muslim Brotherhood and other Radical Islamists (Hezbollah, Al Queda/Daesh, etc), Globalist world organizations who reject national sovereignty (UN, EU, NGOs, etc), all figure prominently.

In order to prevail and maintain our way of life, Ken sees three key solutions.

We must maximize economic growth (happiness), protect the people intellectually, culturally and legally (liberty), and protect the people physically (life). Although Ken’s handouts went into some depth in these solution areas, he did not dwell on specifics in his talk.

Asked to grade President Trump on the defense of the west, most in the room gave all “A”s. Ken leans more towards a “B” grade though, as he objects to some specifics of the Trump agenda. While no one would argue that the economy is not booming, he faults the President for not taking on entitlements. While generally supporting the culture, he could do more on resisting aspects of Sharia in the US. On protecting physically, while the border fight is good, Ken believes pulling troops out of Syria is a big mistake. President Trump is a major improvement over his predecessor though, as he gives Obama three “F” grades.

Ken is the Chairman of “Citizens for National Security.” CFNS is a group of academic, scientific, intelligence, counter terrorism and defense experts who were involved in their respective fields decades before the 9/11 attacks on America.

Present at the meeting were County Commissioner Hal Valeche and PBG Councilman Matt Lane.

2018 Political Jamboree

Every two years, during the summer of an election year, the county GOP hosts a “Jamboree” – an old fashioned political picnic for candidates on the upcoming ballot to introduce themselves to the party activists. With a barbecue lunch under the pavilion roof, surrounded by covered booths hosted by candidates and political clubs, it is gathering place for the GOP faithful and those who seek to represent them at all levels of government.

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After remarks by county chairman (and RPOF vice-chair) Michael Barnett, and state committee reps Cindy Tindell and Joe Budd, master of Ceremonies Sid Dinerstein introduced the candidates.

The only state-wide candidates present were Attorney General candidate Ashley Moody who listed her impressive resume and endorsements which include current AG Pam Bondi, and John Mercadante – a long-shot candidate for Governor with lots of enthusiasm.

In CD18, incumbent Brian Mast has drawn a couple of primary challengers, mostly as a result of his controversial stance on gun control which is perceived as a vulnerability. Dave Cummings spoke and presented himself as a conservative in support of the Trump agenda. The winner of this primary will face one of two well-funded Democrats in a race that has drawn national interest.

CD22 was represented by candidate Javier Manjarres who is facing Nicholas Kimaz (who was at the event but left before speaking), and Eddison Walters. The winner will face entrenched Democrat Ted Deutch (who has a long shot primary challenger in Jeff Fandl) in this D+14 district.

For state legislative offices, Belinda Keiser spoke. She is competing with current House member Gayle Harrell for the Senate 25 seat vacated by Joe Negron. The winner will face Democrat Robert Levy in the fall.

For House district 89, vacated by term limited Bill Hager, competitors Matt Spritz and Joe Caruso spoke. The winner of that race will face one of two Democrats in November.

At the city level, we had Boca acting mayor Scott Singer and his opponent BocaWatch founder Al Zucaro. Municipal elections are usually in March, but the departure of indicted former Mayor Susan Haynie prompted a special election to be held coincident with the August primary.

This year, the number of candidates was fewer than past years (9 versus 19 in 2016 and 14 in 2014), partly due to a lack of challengers overall, and partly from the absence of Republican candidates that are running. CD18 incumbent Brian Mast and challenger Mark Freeman were absent, for example. This year there are NO Republicans running for open seats on the school board, Port Commission, or County Commission districts 2 or 6.

Congressional Update from Brian Mast

Sunday brunch at Grandes Bella Cucina featured district 18 Congressman Brian Mast, fresh from a great week in DC where he attended the White House event for Wounded Warriors. Regarding President Trump he said “You can see the love in his eyes” as he gave hugs to the wounded veterans.

In his update, Brian mentioned some good things in the farm bill – specifically the work requirement for welfare, and the provision that each welfare program must be applied for separately. (Currently, one enrollment gets you approved for all of them). It will be decided on a party line vote of course.

He mentioned that the Congressional office in the VA Hospital is now open for business, ready to receive veterans who want to discuss issues.

Attending a tech conference in Miami, Brian observed journalist John Harwood raising the issue of the so-called impending “blue wave”. Brian thought this was a bad question as it only addresses party and not policy. (You may remember John Harwood as the moderator of the Republican primary debate where the candidates got so fed up with his bias that they ignored him for most of the evening and asked each other questions :-). There will be no blue wave said Brian confidently. With the tax bill and improving economy we will do quite well.

During a brief question and answer session, Brian addressed Brightline (he challenged their tax exempt bonds in a committee hearing), and problems with getting legislation through the Senate.

Regarding the fact that he is facing a primary challenge, he responded “this is not my seat, anyone can run against me if they wish.” Brian will face Dr. Mark Freeman and Dave Cummings in the August Republican Primary.

Los Tres Amigos 2018

Los Tres Amigos, for the third year running, were the highlights of our February meeting at Grande’s Bella Cucina.

Michael Barnett, PBCGOP Chair and vice chair of RPOF, was fresh from his recent Oval Office visit for the Black History Month event, where he rubbed elbows with Herman Cain, Alveda King and others.

The county GOP is in great shape he reported, raising lots of money. Lincoln Day was sold out in December, even without announced speakers, but it will be a great lineup. Sarah Palin will be the headliner, with guests Diamond and Silk, James O’Keefe, and Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA.

Michael gave us an update on outreach activities and reported that the local Haitian community is still supporting the President, in spite of media attempts to drive a wedge over alleged comments, because he keeps his promises. The Puerto Rican evacuees – estimated at over 300,000 and settling around the I4 corridor from Osceola to Hillsborough counties, are a toss-up. About 90% are expected to settle permanently and many have registered to vote – but there are more Independent registrations than either Democrat or Republican. The African American community is harder, but Trump carried a larger percentage of that group than a typical Republican and the Economy will help in the 2018 election cycle.

Next up was attorney James D’Loughy, who (with Sid as plaintiff) is suing Palm Beach Gardens over the misleading ballot questions for the March election. James was a city council candidate in 2013, jumping into the race to speak out about dirty politics, and one of the driving forces that put term limits on the ballot in 2014. That measure passed with 80% of the vote and all 5 current council members were able to run and win because of it. Now that same council has decided that they really want more terms than permitted, and want to be able to run again when their limits are up – a measure that they have placed on the March ballot to “let the voters decide”. The city is using large amounts of taxpayer money to promote a YES vote on the four questions in a misleading way – part of the reason for the lawsuit. James suggests you vote NO on all four questions.

The third “Amigo” was former County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein, whose topic was “Honey, I shrunk the Dems!”

Invoking the “Gretsky Rule” (go to where the puck will be …), Sid was very upbeat about the 2018 and 2020 elections. “I’d run with a 4% GDP growth anytime.”
He believes that 80% of the 2020 votes are already “cast” – they were locked in with the Carrier Deal in December 2016, especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Dems have become the “no jobs” party and have shown they will not stand up for the working man in those states.

In 2018, he thinks Brian Mast will win by 20 points. The national Democrats listed CD18 as a target race, but only because it is a closely divided district (by registration) and he does not think they will pour money into it as there are other districts where the pickings are better. He then listed many of the things which have made the Democrats weak and shrinking:

• Voter Fraud – a foundation of their strategy, will be less effective because we are talking about it and the fraudsters will keep their heads down.
• Good Help – the association with Black Lives Matters, Antifa and other groups of paid, professional thugs
• MS-13 and Sanctuary Cities – Trump is leading on these issues and Obama was absent
• The NFL – stupidity on many levels
• Political correctness – New York has renamed Columbus Day, “Indigenous People’s Day” – angering Italians everywhere
• Doubling Down on the tax bill – the Dems still call a widely successful and popular program “Armageddon”
• DACA – Trump has the high ground on this and the Dems will abandon the Dreamers in favor of an “issue”

With all of these Democrat negatives, Sid thinks Trump will win in 2020 easily.

To wrap it up, Sid described the State of the Union as “Trump hearts America”, and paraphrased the best line of the speech: “Americans are Dreamers too – AGAIN”.

Representative Rick Roth visits the RCNPB

“We’re the party that fights for principle, and thankfully in public”. This is Rick Roth’s answer to why we can’t all get along in Washington and Tallahasee.

Over a fine buffet brunch at Grande’s Bella Cucina, Rick touched on a range of topics from noting the upcoming 500th anniversary of Martin Luther and the Reformation, what it’s like to be a freshman legislator (speak quietly and listen), those in the legislature that he admires (Richard Corcoran especially although Rick is supporting Adam Putnam for Governor), and the importance of never giving up.

Some ideas he is advancing are intriguing.

– Noting that many graduating high school students know much less about our history and government than those achieving new citizenship status, he proposes that passing the same test required in the naturalization process be a requirement for a diploma.

– Amendments to the Florida constitution, most of which are proposed by the legislature itself, should require a 2/3 vote to pass, a higher threshold than the current 60%. Since most voters don’t read the supporting material for ballot questions – just the question itself (if that), it would require more effort by proponents to educate the voters.

– The Sunshine laws make things difficult for county commissions and city councils to efficiently govern, since they cannot talk among themselves out of the public eye. A bill Rick is proposing would allow groups of officials to perform fact finding missions together, discussing the topics freely as long as the meetings are noticed and minutes are kept.

In closing, he explained the age-old method of influencing your government officials – visit their offices to get to know the staff, and GIVE THEM MONEY. Like it or not, people do remember those on their donor lists.

And summed up his approach to legislating as “Quiet, principled, get the job done.”

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Also at the meeting, Sid Dinerstein reminded us all that the term limits that was imposed on Palm Beach Gardens Council by 80% of the voters in 2014 is being threatened by the new Council elected since then. The Council is proposing to increase the limit from 2 terms to 3, and allow people to run again after sitting out a term. If they proceed, it would appear on the ballot in March 2018 (by itself as no candidate is up for election in the municipals next year). With the expectation of an extremely low turnout, several hundred voters could overturn the will of the 16,000 that voted yes in 2014. Most of the members in attendance seemed to agree with Sid that this was wrong.

Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Maria Marino, a member of the club and a driver of the changes, was present and wished to rebut Sid’s allegations, but the discussion had to be curtailed as it wandered into other areas. Maria has been invited back to the December meeting to explain why she thinks tearing up term limits is a good idea.

Los Tres Amigos Share their Insights

A repeat of one year ago, the Republican Club of NPB brought together three speakers to share their wisdom on the current political environment.

Unfortunately, County Commissioner Hal Valeche was unable to reprise his previous appearance, but Frenchman’s HOA board member and Palm Beach Gardens Council candidate Michael Paolercio was able to fill the slot.

Just as Donald Trump has called for “draining the swamp” in Washington, the Gardens term limits referendum that passed last year has had the effect of churning up the local waters. With three long term incumbents reaching the end of their allowed tenure, the three open seats have drawn a rich assortment of 9 candidates. In a little over a month, a new council will be seated where the longest serving member has been there for one year.

Michael contrasted himself with his opponent, and cited his entrepreneurial experience in building a highly successful company, and his local work in overseeing the building projects of Chabad of Palm Beach Gardens, as examples of the kind of skills that the city needs. A grasp of the big picture, he said, is as important as the details.

Next up was County GOP Chairman Michael Barnett who was recently elected as Vice Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, a position that will keep him traveling around the state.

Michael spoke of how amazing it is to be the County Party of the President, with the Winter White House right here in our neighborhood. The Lincoln Day Dinner is sold out already, in spite of the fact that no speakers have been announced. Just holding it at Mar-a-Lago evidently is enough. The county really delivered for the President, giving him over 52% in the primary and 25,000 votes more than Mitt Romney got in the 2012 general. We had an amazing 91% of absentee ballots returned.

Looking forward, the “Drive for Five” focus of 2018 – to retain the governorship and cabinet and win Bill Nelson’s seat for the GOP, is going to take a lot of work and we need to be getting ready. The county gave Rick Scott only 38% of the vote in 2014, and though a Republican will probably win the state, we need to work as hard as if we are 10 points down.

Finally, former Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein gave us his views of “What is Going On”. We have been in a war with Progressives since Woodrow Wilson took the White House in 1912, instituted an income tax and launched the federal reserve. Unfortunately, we have not always realized (that we are at war), and surprisingly, the election of Donald Trump means we are winning.

With their long-range plan of turning us into Mexico – a socialist, one-party country, we came very close to losing it all. If Hillary Clinton had been elected, it would have guaranteed 10 million new immigrant and progressive voters. So it was really “28-3 in the third quarter” and the Democrats thought they had won – after 103 years of conflict. This unexpected loss is why they can’t return to being “normal people”.

Abe Lincoln was the first President to actually “take back ground” from the Progressive agenda. Donald Trump is the second. Even Ronald Reagan failed to do this as he accepted (and gave amnesty to) 3 million illegals, “as long as we don’t take any more”. Trump, by moving to actually reduce the number of illegals and rejecting amnesty, doing energy reform, health care reform, school choice, etc. will actually set the Progressive agenda back.

Politically, Republicans have principles and an ideology that binds us together while Democrats are a coalition of sometimes competing interests. Trump has introduced large cracks in that coalition – with unions and black voters, and is about to tackle the Democrats ace in the hole – voter fraud.

In summary, Trump has been a “GOAT” – the “Greatest of All Time” President Elect and sure to have more accomplishments in a short time than many Presidents get in a term.

Congressman-Elect Brian Mast Highlights our December Brunch

Congressman-elect Brian Mast joined us for a Victory celebration at Frenchman’s Reserve on December 4. As the new Republican representing the 18th district, he will join a unified Republican Caucus in the 115th Congress ready, willing and able to implement the Trump agenda starting on day 1. After 4 years of representation by the very liberal Patrick Murphy (rated 4 out of 100 by the American Conservative Union), we look forward to having a Congressman who shares our values.

Brian recounted his experience in the weeks following the election, particularly the “Freshman Orientation” in the capital where he participated in closed door caucus sessions that attempted to discern just what the voters mean by “Drain the Swamp”. He was encouraged by the apparently very real concern by Representatives old and new that the voters clearly reject business as usual in the Congress, and they seem to really want to deliver on the Trump message of ending corruption and moving on the right priorities, not just those that will fill the pockets of the participants. While he can’t guarantee that his colleagues will follow through on this theme, he certainly plans to do so.

Brian plans to reside in his capital office while in Washington (as do 80 other House Members), and travel back to the district frequently on weekends. His wife plans to home-school their children starting after the end of this school year, so they will be more easily able to travel with him as needed.

We look forward to seeing Brian frequently in the future and wish him well on what could be a long and productive political career.

Next month, join us as the club will host Sid Dinerstein for a look at the past election and what it portends.

Dan Bongino Highlights April Brunch

Dan Bongino, has been a Secret Service agent in both the Bush and Obama White Houses, a US Senate and later a House candidate in Maryland, a radio and podcast host and the author of “Life Inside the Bubble” and “The Fight”, about the alternate reality in which our political leaders make monumental policy decisions.

On Sunday, he gave us his view of the problems we currently face as a country.

One is that “We are no longer moored to the Constitution”. As examples he cites the recent move by a group of Democrat State Attorney Generals to prosecute “climate deniers” – or those who hold differing views from them and their cronies, in direct conflict with the First Amendment. The Obama Executive Amnesty is another example, which cites “prosecutorial discretion” to exempt large classes of people from the laws enacted by Congress.

Another problem is that the left has redefined the message of the economy. No longer do we discuss the reasons for our historical economic power, but instead talk of “how much of our earnings are we allowed to keep”, “evil rich people”, and the “distribution of income”. Where is that “distribution center” anyway?

On health care, Dan pointed to Bernie Sanders call for “Medicare for All”. In reality, the Medicare progam as it is has funding challenges and expanding it is just unaffordable.

Lastly, Dan spoke about Education. We are an “ideas economy”, but our schools are falling way behind the rest of the developed world and today’s students will lack the tools they need to compete. The most reasonable way out is to provide school choice.

Even with all these problems, Dan is optimistic. We are coming to the end of the reign of “the worst President in History”, and the USA is still a special place. Where else do you find that the biggest problem of our poor is “obesity”.

Present at the meeting were candidates Rick Sessa who is running for Sheriff against incumbent Rick Bradshaw, and Roth Farms owner Rick Roth, a candidate for CD18.

GOP at the Crossroads

Many of the so-called “establishment” are seriously plotting ways to thwart the results of the primaries at the Republican convention. They apparently feel that “their” party has been taken over by the barbarians from flyover country. They think that a convention draft of someone who has entered no primaries, taken part in no debates, spent no time campaigning, would be preferable to either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. Even a Hillary Clinton presidency (the likely outcome of such a draft) would be preferable to submitting to the rabble.

My first reaction was that they had seriously lost touch with the rank and file of the Republican party, but that is an oversimplification.

The party is defined by its voters – not those that consider themselves the “leaders”. Who are they leading? People like Mitt Romney, John McCain, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham have much more in common with Hillary Clinton than they do with the “real” Republicans who provide the heart and soul of the GOP. Maintaining the status quo in Washington, with a heavily Progressive bureaucracy controlling more and more of our daily lives and a Congress that sees being the majority as simply a means to a bigger office and more access to lobbyist dollars, is the goal of both parties. The so-called “GOP leadership”, including our new Speaker who has given the Obama juggernaut everything it wants in their spending bills, have betrayed those that gave them the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014.

I have been a Republican for my entire voting life and have worked for candidates at all levels since the 2004 re-election of George W. Bush. I held my nose and supported McCain, and supported (although with minimal enthusiasm) Romney as he threw away what should have been an easy win by running one of the worst campaigns in modern history. I will no longer support those who have such contempt for the voters as to tell us we are morons.

The McConnells and Boehners and Ryans tell us they can’t govern from the Congress – even though they told us if we elected them in 2010 and 2014 they would change the dynamic. Now they claim they need the Presidency.

In my view, we need an insurgent – a real change agent, to alter the relationship between our government and its citizens. Currently what we have is condescension and scorn, with a dose of fraud and deceit for good measure. We are at an inflection point in our history – the country is circling the drain and everyone out there in flyover country knows it but people of the “GOP leadership” just can’t (or won’t) acknowledge it.

Without drastic change, starting immediately, the country is lost. Donald Trump may not be a movement conservative, but he is a change agent. Stopping illegal immigration, negotiating better trade deals, changing our tax and regulatory structure to bring whole industries back to the US, repudiating the “America Last” policies of Obama and Clinton – that is his agenda. Ted Cruz would proceed with a similar set of goals, but I think that Trump has a better chance of actually becoming President. He has already put a dent into the Clinton’s machine by reminding us all that Bill is an un-indicted sex offender, and that she has committed felonies – whether the Justice department prosecutes them or not. He has already altered the party registration picture, generated unprecedented turnout and voter loyalty, and has a good chance to bring some blue states to the Republican fold.

It is not that Trump will “change the Republican Party” or if it can “survive”. The party has already changed – Trump is just the best candidate suited to lead what it has become. Any attempt to ignore the will of the voters with shenanigans at the convention will not just disrupt this year’s race – it will end the GOP.

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