Three Takeaways from the Sunshine Summit
The Sunshine Summit, last weekend’s gathering of the Republican grassroots in Orlando, brought together 14 of the 15 candidates currently competing for presidential primary votes, along with most of the Senate candidates.
Unlike the events of the last two cycles in 2007 and 2011, which featured both televised debates and straw polls, this was mostly a candidate showcase – each was given 20 minutes to make their case. The extreme number of candidates this time, and the fact that Florida does not vote until March 15 – after 26 states will have already assigned their delegates, probably reduced attendance at the event. Still, there were upwards of 1000 in the hall, and the media presence was considerable. CSPAN covered the event live, and lots of recognizable on-air personalities could be seen roaming the halls.
External events played a role in what transpired, as reaction to the Paris attacks on Friday were integrated into the Saturday speeches, or in the case of Chris Christie, dominated their remarks. And the Democrat debate on Saturday night offered a unique opportunity to compare all of our contenders to Hillary Clinton and her two pesky sparring partners.
All the candidates remarks can be seen streaming on CSPAN.
After watching all the debates and attending the Heritage Action Event in South Carolina (with 10 of the candidates), I thought I had a good idea of the dynamics of the race and who was on my short list. That said, I left Orlando with a few new insights.
1. The outsiders have captured the imagination of large portions of the Republican base, even at an event comprised mostly of “insiders”.
As an event sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida, with a large number of blue-badged party officials in attendance, I expected a great deal of support and enthusiasm for the “favorite sons” Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, and less for the outsiders Trump, Carson, Fiorina, and (some would say) Ted Cruz. This was clearly not the case.
While Jeb and Marco have strong support, it was the outsiders who were the rock stars.
Ted Cruz laid out the red meat with a flourish and hit all the hot buttons from Obamacare to the border, the Iran deal, a flat tax, and support for Israel, to thunderous applause.
Donald Trump, avoiding any criticism of his rivals this time, took on illegal immigration (need a Dream Act for Americans), winning again, incompetent leaders, and suggested that college students should be taught about the first amendment. The response was widespread and overwhelming.
Ben Carson, after a quiet start discussing his upbringing, lit into an extensive litany of all the things he would do if he wanted to “destroy America” – all of which Obama has put into motion. His was the most complete and devastating attack on the incumbent President of all the candidates and the crowd responded with enthusiasm.
Carly Fiorina, the last speaker of the event, focused on the Paris attacks, the feckless and dangerous foreign policy of Obama/Clinton, and what she would be doing about ISIS. It seemed like Margaret Thatcher channeling Winston Churchill and left no doubt that she would be a serious and effective commander-in-chief. The response was loud and enthusiastic.
2. Almost all of the Republican contenders are displaying the vision, determination, skill and experience that could believably repair the damage that 7 years of Obama have wrought. Clinton is clearly not in the same league with these people, in spite of her over 25 years on the national stage, and tenure as Senator and Secretary of State.
One thing that has become obvious to many people is that there are many kinds of relevant experience besides being an elected official. The office of President is a unique job, unlike any other, and it takes a generalist to oversee a diverse set of tasks, a communicator to inspire the country and lead it in a positive direction, and a visionary to see our potential as a people and set the wheels in motion to carry us forward. Governors, Senators, Business Leaders – all have skills that are relevant to the job, and all of the candidates now in the race have been successful in their lives and bring serious qualifications and abilities to the table.
Some would say that the terrible state that the country is in – anemic growth, unsustainable debt, corruption at all levels, an abdication of world leadership – is a result of professional politicians and insiders (lobbyists, big donors, etc) having screwed everything up. Hillary Clinton, who is unarguably the stereotype of all those things, would represent more of the same, as could be seen on the debate stage in Des Moines. It was apparent in Orlando that our candidates (to a greater or lesser extent), reject the status quo and will lead the country in a different direction.
3. The weeding out process is going to be long and arduous, as very few of these contenders can be counted out, despite their current standing in the polls.
Until the first delegates are selected in the Iowa caucuses on February 1, the polls will be unreliable, as most likely voters appear to be making tentative selections. Many people, until they have to commit, will lean to the candidate that meets their ideological goals, appears to speak “for them”, says the “right things”, or wins debating points. When the rubber meets the road though, issues of electability, consistency, honesty, ethics, contrast with the Democrat candidate, and other issues will rise in importance. As this year is unusual in the number of candidates and the widespread dissatisfaction with elected officials, predictions are hard.
Some weeding out has already begun, as few would expect Lindsey Graham or Jim Gilmore to become the nominee, and two candidates have already left the race. But all the rest have ardent supporters and judging by the enthusiastic response at the summit to most of the candidates, there are many “acceptable alternatives”. It is truly a deep bench.
CD18 Meet and Greet
PBCTP Candidate Forum Highlights CD18 Candidates
Heritage Action Candidate Forum
Freedomworks 9/12 Summit Spotlights Freedom Caucus
Pat Rooney Explains House Opposition to Senate Health Care Proposal
Our May meeting featured Representative Pat Rooney, who provided us with an update on the Legislative Session that just ended. As you may know, a special session has been called to complete work on the budget since the House and Senate could not agree on Medicaid expansion.
The Senate has proposed a new entitlement called FHIX (Florida Health Insurance Exchange), that aims to provide taxpayer subsidized insurance to the 800,000 currently not covered by Obamacare or other programs. FHIX would be of benefit to those between 100% and 130% of the poverty line, and would require significant new spending, regardless of the amount of Federal funds that it would attract. Hospitals, insurance companies strongly support it (as it is a windfall for them) as does the Florida Democrat Party.
The House in its wisdom is opposed to this program as is the Governor, and view Medicaid expansion as called for in Obamacare to be too expensive for Florida. Pat Rooney provided us a fact sheet generated by the House that debunks a lot of the claims being made by proponents of FHIX.
To see the House Fact Sheet, click HERE
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.
Club Hears County Government Update from Commissioner Hal Valeche
At its first meeting of 2015, Commissioner Hal Valeche swore in this year’s officers and gave us an update on some topics of interest at the county level.
Elected to the commission in 2012, a Republican success in an otherwise dismal election cycle, Hal has enjoyed his time on the commission, the “best job” he’s had short of his days as a fighter pilot. Representing north county district one as one of only 2 Republicans on the seven member commission (Steve Abrams of district 4 in south county is the other), Hal does not always prevail. He was the only commissioner to oppose the 1 cent hike in the bed tax for example, which recently passed.
Addressing the county budget, he acknowledged that the half a billion Sheriff’s portion is not totally under the control of the commission, and is crowding out other necessary spending such as on roads and bridges. The Sheriff is an elected constitutional officer, and although the overall spending level must be set by the commission, they have no purvey over the line item detail, and the Sheriff’s popularity in his service area limits the commission’s ability to challenge him. (Only Commissioner Paulette Burdick challenged the Sheriff’s budget in the last cycle).
An upcoming duty that Hal is not looking forward to is the selection of the next County Administrator. With high praise for the current administrator Bob Weisman, who he said can never be ‘replaced’, he discussed the search committee that has been formed to choose among a couple of in-house choices and others drawn from nation-wide recruiting, and how difficult it will be to decide on the candidates in full public view. (Sunshine laws prohibit private interviews or non-public discussion).
Touching briefly on the upcoming decision concerning development in the Agricultural Reserve (West of the turnpike from Lantana south to Clint Moore), he explained the tradeoff between the rules established when the reserve was formed with a taxpayer approved bond issue and the wants and needs of current property owners who would like to sell their farms to developers. Another tough decision for the commissioners.
And finally he touched on the baseball stadium, which he has been involved with since it was first proposed in Palm Beach Gardens. The county has approved $135M from bed tax revenue to pay for the construction and maintenance of a facility – currently proposed within West Palm Beach south of 45th street. A current sticky point has been that the county must acquire the land from the city of West Palm Beach, which takes it out of the city’s taxing jurisdiction. The city proposes a land swap for a small county parcel downtown, near the TriRail station. Although this swap has been opposed by county staff, Hal indicated that it is very close to a resolution.
Taking a few questions from the audience, Hal explained further the relationship between the commission and the Sheriff (it’s complicated), the county’s role in the All Aboard Florida project (very little), and how and why the original $90M baseball proposal grew to $135M.
Following Hal’s remarks, he swore in the new officers (shown below). They are Ron Nelson, Jane Pike, Linda Stoch and President Marilyn Parmet.
CFO Jeff Atwater at Co-Sponsored Event
Co-sponsored by the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches and the Republican Club of the Northern Palm Beaches, Florida CFO and Palm Beach County favorite son Jeff Atwater joined us for lunch at Bear Lakes.
Jamboree 2014
Every two years, during the summer of an election year, the county GOP hosts a “Jamboree” at the South County Civic Center. With a barbecue lunch under the pavillion 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.
