Dan Bongino on April 17

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.

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Also at the meeting were CD18 candidates Rebecca Negron, Carl Domino and Rick Roth.

RCNPB Co-Hosts Palm Beach Gardens Candidate Forum on 2/25

Los Tres Amigos – Valeche, Barnett, Dinerstein at February Brunch

NPB Republican Club Hosts Senate Candidate Ron DeSantis

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

Holiday Party Brunch with Ron DeSantis

See below for Brunch Menu

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CD18 Meet and Greet

PBCGOP Hosts Juneteenth

Legislative Update with Pat Rooney

Peter Feaman on the dangers we face in the world

RNC member and county committeeman Peter Feaman, speaking at the RCNPB March meeting, provided a sobering assessment of the challenges we face in the world.

“The winds of war are blowing” he said, – in the middle east, in Africa, Eastern Europe, Pakistan, South America, and Asia – beginning anew the struggle for freedom for people from those who would deny them. History repeats – the Crusaders were the first freedom fighters, seeking to liberate the holy lands from Muslim domination.

America is a special nation to face this challenge, he said, – our Declaration of Independence was the first assertion that our basic rights come from God – not from a monarch. He defined for us the “American Trinity”, three principles that define us: 1. “In God we Trust” – stated on our money and the touchstone for our government, 2. “e pluribus unum” – the assertion that regardless of ethnic or racial origin, we are all Americans, and 3. Liberty, not equality – we all start out with equal rights and opportunities and have the liberty to pursue them.

Sadly, all of these principles are now under attack from our own government.

In Peter’s view, the contemporary leader who is the best spokesman for liberty, the Churchill of our day if you will, is Bibi Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister has no problem is laying out that Iran and ISIS both plan world domination – they only differ on who should rule. As Israel is our only natural ally in the middle east, a country that shares our values, we should have a litmus test for our presidential candidates, asking what they will do for Israel.

We are fortunate to have someone with this world view representing us on the RNC.

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