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.

North County Candidate Forum Draws Crowd at Abacoa

Adam Putnam Describes the Stakes in the November Election

By Meg Shannon, Republican Club of the Palm Beaches

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Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam was the featured speaker at a joint meeting of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches and the Republican Club of the Northern Palm Beaches, He told the audience that Florida is the last bastion of large states that are not blue in color, and if the Governorship is lost, Florida will look more like Michigan, New York, Ohio and California.

Florida needs to stay conservative by keeping Republicans as the Governor, the Attorney General, the Chief Financial Officer and, the Agriculture Commissioner, and as the majority party in the Florida House and Senate. Pointing out that Republicans are the ones with solutions in the country, he noted that in Florida Republicans have created an environment for businesses to succeed and families to thrive. Palm Beach County is the perfect example of the American Dream. Noting that the current culture of problem solving is fragile, he reminded the audience that just a few years ago Time Magazine had a cover story calling Florida the “Sunset State”, claiming that tourism, real estate, the manufacturing base and diversity in the economy were all dead. At the same time the Wall Street Journal had front page stories claiming that Florida had a 15 to 20 year glut of condos.

Today, 5 years later, with a Republican Governor, Florida leads the nation in job creation, crime is at a 43 year low, and it has a balanced budget after paying off $5 Billion in debt and putting $3 Billion into a savings account in case of hurricanes. Florida and Texas are succeeding, with our chief competitors being states in the southeast like the Carolinas and Tennessee which, like Florida, have low taxes and low regulatory burdens. Florida can set its own destiny, with things in Washington broken for the foreseeable future.

Hilary Clinton, wants a Democratic Governor in Tallahassee to help bolster her presidential run. The potential opponent to Governor Scott is likely to be Charlie Crist who has changed his mind on every single issue of conscience. He has no compass. People can respect leaders who hold beliefs, but someone like Crist undermines public confidence. We need to be energized to keep him from being re-elected as he has morphed from a Republican to an Independent and now to a Democrat. While Crist left the state with many problems when he left the Governorship, we want to make Florida better by improving tourism, engaging in the shale gas revolution, bringing back Pratt Whitney, developing biotech, and creating more medical cities. Florida is not just a prize to be enjoyed later in life, it can be the American Dream now for many people. That’s why our leadership is so important.

Why is having a Republican Governor so important? The Florida Constitution requires that we re-write it every 20 years, so the next Governor will have the right to name half of the committee which will do this. Clubs like ours are in the front line of grass roots activism to keep Republicans in control of our state. In 2010 Republicans were passionate and committed, and this is what is needed this year. Nothing is more persuasive than our supporters talking to their neighbors one-on-one. It is much more important than any advertising done during a campaign. The other side has put legalizing medical marijuana on the ballot to energize their base and increase turnout. We all need to pull together for the good of the state by continuing the pro-business, pro-family environment we have created in Florida.

PBG Candidate Forum Synopsis

New Officers Sworn-in

At the February meeting at Frenchman’s Reserve Clubhouse, County Commissioner Hal Valeche administered the Oath of Office to newly elected leaders Marilyn Parmet (President), Linda Gore (First Vice President), Jane Pike (Vice President), and Linda Stoch (Membership Chair). Treasurer Jeff Holtzman could not be present.

Following remarks by Hal in support of the candidates for the Palm Beach Gardens Council election on March 11, (Robin Deaton and Mike Peragine, who were both present), Marilyn introduced the speaker for the evening, American’s for Prosperity Florida Director Slade O’Brien. In a Powerpoint Presentation, Slade took us through his view of the Challenges and Opportunities for 2014.

Some Pictures of the event:

Get out of our Comfort Zones – says our keynote speaker

Allen West was the keynote speaker at our 2013 Holiday Party.

Members and other guests were eager to hear from former Congressman West at our year-end meeting.  Outgoing President Cindy Tindall described the evening’s events and then after the invocation by Howard Parmet, and the Pledge of Allegiance and a song of thanks, there was a mad dash to the sumptuous Turkey buffet.

Colonel West had several messages to us for 2014:

• It’s not enough to keep the majority in the House – we need to expand it.
• He asked 3 questions of us – had we read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”?  Had we read “Rules for Radicals”?  And had we read the GOP’s Growth and Opportunity Strategy report?  Many had read the first two, none had read the latter.  How are we going to win if we hadn’t even read the document?
• We in Palm Beach County need to get out of our comfort zone and get out to communities like Belle Glade and Pahokee
• DO talk about social issues with the black community.  School choice is the top issue there as is abortion.
• The Republican Party was formed to fight slavery; now we are fighting economic slavery  Reject being called racist.
• We have a war for/on behalf of women, not a war on women
• The ‘other side’ never stopped campaigning.  Our party has to step up.
• Obamacare is going to fail.  The strategy will be to blame the insurance companies and then move to Single Payer – “Medicaid for all”.
• He ended with an oft used quote about combat “If you find yourself in a fair fight then your tactics suck!“

After a question and answer session – Allen had to leave for the TV studio in Boynton Beach for a segment on the Kelly Files on Fo News Channel.

Cindy conducted the election for the 2014 Officers’ slate.  Marilyn Parmet was elected President; Linda Gore – First VP, Jane Pike – VP; Treasurer – Jeff Holtzman, and Linda Stoch, Membership Chair.  The position of Secretary remains unfilled and members are encouraged to volunteer for the Board- just contact Marilyn.

After the elections – candidates for office were given a few moments to speak.  Speakers running in the GOP Primary for Congressional District 18 against Patrick Murphy were:  Ellen Andel,  Beverly Hires, Carl Domino, Alan Schlesinger and Ilya Katz.  Calvin Turnquist also running for the seat was not present.  Also speaking was Henry Colon, the only Republican candidate running against Ted Deutch in District 21.  Paula Prudente handed out cards for a new GOP candidate running against Alcee Hastings, District 20.  You can keep abreast of all the 2014 by clicking on the 2014Voter’s Guide button on the first page of the website.

Thanks to all who came and Congratulations to the new Officers!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

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Some pictures from the event:

October Meeting Featured Senator Joe Negron

Senator Joe Negron, was our October Guest. Representing District 32, which includes all of Martin and St. Lucie Counties, as well as the far north (Jupiter / Tequesta) of Palm Beach County, Senator Negron has represented the Treasure Coast in either the House or Senate since 2000.

Senator Negron spoke of the things that unite us rather than a division of ideas. State and local governments have the most impact to each of us, yet national security, taxation and regulations should be the big picture. We should “always with kindness, and respect, appeal to our elected representatives” to consider the impacts and both intended and unintended consequences of their actions.

Our state has a great example in our Governor – we must work to re-elect him to continue the economic stability we are experiencing.

Senator Negron is currently running for re-election in 2014, and has drawn a Republican challenger (Brandon Cannon) for the August Primary.

Some pictures from Jane Pike:

Words of Wisdom from Sid Dinerstein

Our guest speaker for September was former PBC GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein.

Explaining in clear terms why Republicans are not on a winning path, Sid laid out some simple Zen-like truths.

The path to victory is not through finding a bunch more white guys to vote for us. Hard core Democrats are never going to accept our worldview, so why waste time trying to convert them. Find natural conservative constituencies and make your case.

As an example of the latter, he used charter schools. Lots of them in Florida are really helping their students, many of whom are minorities, but the local teachers unions and school boards hate them. Solution: have the Governor appoint an education coordinator for charter schools and give them some Tallahassee weight.

Another example of a “natural” Republican opportunity would be Detroit – show the residents of that city what Democrats have done to them and that there is a better way. Closer to home, there is the Haitian community – with their political clubs and radio stations. Sid has made inroads with the Haitians and offered to the Governor an opportunity to address a meeting of a couple of thousand but was rebuffed by staff. For 2014, the Haitian Republican clubs that are forming could be a real asset in the St. Lucie County areas of CD18.

As usual, he left us both challenged but encouraged.

The meeting saw the addition of several new members and the participation of Gardens Mayor Bert Premuroso.

Coming up next month will be Senator Joe Negron.

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