RJC Florida Region presents
An Exclusive Event with
Speaker Newt Gingrich

Friday, January 27, 2012

The RJC Florida Region

is Proud to Present:

An exclusive opportunity to meet with

Presidential Candidate

Speaker

Newt Gingrich

Friday, January 27, 2012

Registration is at 2:30pm

Program is at 3:30pm

South County Civic Center

16700 Jog Road

Delray Beach, FL

 Click here for map and directions.

RSVP Required / Seating is Limited

We are sorry, but we cannot accommodate those who do not RSVP in advance

RSVP to Leah Sabin at (561) 995-9445 or by

e-mail: florida@rjchq.org.

The Republican Jewish Coalition does not endorse any single candidate in the Republican Primary for President. We offer the opportunity for any major candidate or their designated surrogate to address our membership.

The event was intended to inform the grassroots activist members of both groups about the candidates in the upcoming January 31st Florida GOP Presidential Preference Primary, and to provide them with additional information to motivate them to join the campaigns for the final 3 weeks prior to the primary.

Pam Wohlschlegel, Chairman and County Coordinator for Palm Beach County Tea Party and Florida Chair for Tea Party Patriots. introduced David DiCrescenzo, Publisher/Editor in Chief of The Patriots Press and long-time South Florida 912 member, who led us in a heart-felt, moving invocation. Then Jason Shields, another long-time South Florida 912 member and leader, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pam asked for a show of hands on how many undecideds were in the audience. Over 60% percent raised their hands. She spoke about the hard work ahead and how both PBCTP and South Florida 912 plan to work together to achieve success in 2012. Cooperation, Collaboration and Communication were to be the hallmarks of 2012!

Pam turned the podium over to Shannon Armstrong, Founder of South Florida 912. Shannon asked the attendees how many went to the first 9/12 March on DC in 2009.  Several in the audience had.  She asked us to consider how much intensity we felt then and in the 2010 election campaign and did we feel that now?  If not – we have to look within ourselves and regain that intensity as we head towards this most important election in 2012.  She then introduced the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Brian Mudd, Program Director 1290 WJNO & 1230 WBZT Financial Analyst & Co-host for The Morning Rush.

Brian also spoke motivationally – encouraging all of us to listen to the candidates’ positions and to pick our candidate, but to all get behind the eventual winner to ensure a win in 2012.  He asked Fred Scheibl, long-time member of South Florida 912 and co-founder of Palm Beach County Tea Party, to explain what the evening was about.  Fred gave the ground rules. 

Each of the candidate representatives were to have 5 minutes to discuss their candidates values on:  

•  Leadership – what makes a good leader, who they admire
•  Character – which attributes of character are most important, which guide their lives
•  Worldview – what is America’s role in the next 20 years, what are our top three economic problems, top three foreign policy challenges?
•  Quality of Solutions – What is the major advantages of your tax plan, your doctrine on foreign interventions, your approach to the size of government
•  Governing style – How will you get things done?  How will you “change Washington?”  How will you differ from Barack Obama?  From George Bush?

The next portion of the agenda was to discuss Policy Positions and each surrogate could pick from any of the following areas and speak for another 5 minutes:  Tax Reform, Spending and Deficit, Size of Government, 10th Amendment, Health Care, Regulations, Trade/China, UN/NATO/EU, Arab Spring, Role of the Military.

Finally – the reps would get 3 minutes each to wrap up and solicit volunteers, after which Brian would moderate 10 minutes of questions.

Fred explained that the PPP Voters’ Guide was a combination of responses provided by each of the campaigns coupled with the research done by several Palm Beach County Tea Party and South Florida 912 members.  The complete guide is 44 pages long, but the 4 page summary is also available online.  Thanks to all of the members who participated – in particular Alex Berry, Richard Bock, Joe Burge, Barry Carson, Mary Farrell, Laura Henning, Gary Summers and Kim Winker.

Brian then introduced the candidate surrogates:

  For Newt Gingrich: Tami Donnally, PBC Co-Chairman
  For Ron Paul: Francisco Rodriguez, PBC Co-Coordinator
  For Rick Perry: Craig Briscoe, Southwest FL Regional Director
  For Mitt Romney: Fran Hancock, PBC Co-Chairman
  For Rick Santorum: Starla Brown, Southeast FL Regional Coordinator

Each of the surrogates were volunteer activists with extensive experience.  All should be congratulated on the amount of work they put into preparing for the Event and in their outstanding detailed and eloquent descriptions of their candidates Worldview and Policies.  Thanks to all of you!  Well done!

Ed Fulop – South Florida 912 Project organizer and long-time member served as our time-keeper.  The representatives had clearly timed their presentations and most finished well-within their allotted timeframes!

Mid-way through the presentations, Brian pointed out the quality, depth and caliber of the positions of any and all of the GOP candidates when contrasted with the current administration.  We should be proud to support any of these folks!

After the Q&As, Fred gave the current results of the member Surveys from both the South Florida 912 and Palm Beach County Tea Party websites.  When tallied together,  the tied overall winners were Congressman Paul and Senator Santorum.  The survey remains on the websites and you are welcome to continue to take and/or modify your ratings of the candidates.

Finally, Jason Shields announced the 50:50 winner and the meeting concluded.  Many stayed to talk with the various candidates representatives.

Thanks to all who participated.  Please feel free to distribute the links to the complete Voters’ Guide and to hand-out/print-out the short version to all whom you think may benefit from it.  We want informed voters at the upcoming Primary and hope these tools will assist you in your decisions.

Pictures from Iris:

Find out at our Presidential Preference Primary Event – a joint project between South Florida 912  and Palm Beach County Tea Party. 

When:  Tuesday January 10th  6:00 p.m Meet and Greet, 6:30-8:30 Program
Where:  First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach, 1101 South Flagler Drive

Moderator Brian Mudd

Our volunteers have researched the candidates’ policies. The campaigns have responded to questions about their candidates’ core values: such as Leadership, Character, Worldview, Quality of Solutions, and Governing Style, so we can get beneath the surface. There will be high-profile candidate surrogates at the forum to explain the answers and to answer your questions

The format will allow ample time to explore both core values and policy positions.

First take our survey – based on your current knowledge of the candidates.  Then hear from the campaign surrogates as they present their candidates’ views, moderated by Brian Mudd, Program Director for WJNO and WBZT and co-host of the Palm Beaches Morning Rush, on Tuesday, January 10th at 6pm at the First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach at 1101 S Flagler.  Pick up a copy of our short Voters’ Guide at our event and then check out the complete guide on our websites.  Survey results will be presented at the end of the meeting.

Still feel the same about your candidate?  Have a new one?  In either case, help out the candidate of your choice during the final 3 weeks of the campaign leading to the GOP Presidential Primary on 1/31.

The event is free, donations are welcome.  Bring your friends.

If you need additonal information, contact info@southflorida912.org

Venue Map:

Brian Mudd

The introduction of our 2012 Grassroots Presidential Preference Primary Voter’s Guide is a key part of preparation, and it will be made available at the event.

Each of the eight major Presidential campaigns are being asked to participate, and have been sent a series of questions designed to “get beyond the sound bites” and help us get to know the contenders on the basis of how they would approach the job, and how well suited to it they are.

The project has three parts – the questions, the event itself, and a member survey that asks each of us to score the candidates in the key areas of Leadership, Character, Worldview, Quality of Solutions, and Governing Style. The results of the survey will be included in the Voter’s Guide (available the night of the event), along with the candidate’s answers and our analysis of their policy positions. Following the event, after you have seen how they answered, we will ask you to take the survey a second time and we will record the changes (if any).

The Voter’s Guide will also have a section for the candidates policy positions, either provided by the campaigns or determined by our researchers from publically available campaign collateral and websites. Through this process, we hope to help you (and others who use our voter’s guide) to make an informed selection in the January 31 Florida Presidential Preference Primary.

Member Survey

Background

So much damage has been done to our country through enormous deficits, out of control spending, suffocating regulations, erosion of property rights and the rule of law, and a feckless and incoherent foreign policy, that stopping the damage is not enough. The next President must roll back the excesses of the past few years and restore our Republic to one of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.

It is a unique time. The country is gripped by fear and crushed by pessimism, yet we are yearning for leadership and open to new ideas. Not since the Carter Administration has there been such malaise, and polls show many think America’s best days are behind her and their children are destined to a lower standard of living and crushing debt. We fear our liberties are being eroded by a massive and growing federal government, that crony capitalism has corrupted the highest reaches of government, corporations and the banking system, that our traditional values of the family, the community, and the nation have been morphed into something unrecognizable. Yet there is some leadership to be seen away from Washington as the states press their case to overturn Obamacare and take the initiative on immigration policy from a failed federal bureaucracy. We as a people are resilient and capable, and will respond to a leader with bold new ideas and a commitment to fixing America.

The next President must have the right policy prescriptions for today’s known problems, and most of our candidates do, but that is not enough. Whoever assumes the position must also be able to meet and triumph over the challenges that lie ahead in an increasingly dangerous world, for a country left in a weakened state from fiscal irresponsibility, a decade of war, and a business sector left reeling from suffocating regulations and economic hardship that has led to the highest sustained level of unemployment since the Great Depression.

How can we determine who can carry this mantel?

We believe the qualifications of our champion can be found in five key dimensions:

• Leadership – who can inspire us to greatness? Who has the ability to clearly lay out the problem, communicate the urgency, convince us to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve success?
• Character – who can we trust? Who is loyal to their principles and their countrymen, respects others’ points of view, yet has the courage and confidence to make politically difficult choices?
• Worldview – who sees the world as we do? Who sees America as exceptional, its people capable and motivated, its strength in the individual efforts and decisions of the many,not the central wisdom of government?
• Quality of Solutions – who has proposed solutions that really get to the crux of the problem? Who understands that changes have consequences and can explain the broader ramifications of their tax plan or their entitlement reform proposals?
• Governing Style – who is likely to see their solutions implemented? How will they work with Congress, particularly the other party to form governing majorities on issues? Who can use their political capital and support from the voters to realize a mandate for change?

Candidate Questions

1. Leadership
a. What are the characteristics of a great leader?
b. What leader has most influenced you in your life?
c. In what leadership roles that you have held have you been most effective and whatdid you accomplish?

2. Character
a. Some of the dimensions of character include trustworthiness, loyalty, warmth, respect, courage, and reverence. How do these attributes guide your behavior and how much do they influence your view of others?
b. Who was the major character influence in your life? How and why?

3. Worldview
a. What do you see as America’s role in the world for the next 20 years?
b. What level of debt, deficit and taxation is “reasonable” and why?
c. What are the top 3 economic problems that “must be solved” to secure our future?
d. What are the top 3 foreign policy challenges of the next decade?

4. Quality of Solutions
a. Explain the major advantage and the most important side effects of your tax plan.
b. What is your “doctrine” regarding the intervention in foreign conflicts?
c. What should be “done” about the United Nations?
d. Close to 50% pay no income taxes – how do we change that?

5. Governing Style
a. How would your style differ from George Bush? From Barack Obama?
b. It is difficult for a President to “change Washington” – how will you work with the existing DC environment and avoid both frustration and/or corruption by it?

Policy Positions

1. Tax Reform – what are the key aspects of the tax reform initiatives (if any) that you would attempt to implement if you become President?
2. Spending and Deficit – Our $15T debt is the largest single threat to our institutions and our way of life. What are your top policy prescriptions to address this issue?
3. Size of Government – the federal government has become a major factor in everything we do and would be unrecognizable to the founders. How will you “make Washington inconsequential in our lives?” What federal programs would you eliminate or turn over to the states?
4. 10th Amendment – the states have asserted themselves in the last couple of years over immigration policy and health care. There are additional moves coming over EPA overreach, education and energy. Where would you draw the line between federal jurisdiction and that given to the states by the constitution?
5. Health Care – Most agree that Obama care must be stopped and 26 states are taking their judicial challenge to the Supreme Court. A legislative solution is needed and there is some fear that the PACA has already made turning back the regulations almost impossible. What steps would you take to deal with this issue and what priority would you give it?
6. Federal Regulations, EPA, NLRB, FCC – The Obama administration has greatly increased the regulatory assault on business and citizen alike. What can be done to reign in the entrenched bureaucracy and how will you approach this task?
7. Trade policy, China – What is your position regarding fair trade with China concerning currency manipulation, intellectual property protection and dumping? Should our trade policy favor certain countries or regions or should we treat everyone equally? What do you see as the future of manufacturing in this country?
8. United Nations, NATO, European Union – In what way would you change the relationship between the US and these organizations from what the current administration has done?
9. Radical Islam, Arab Spring, Iran – Contrast your approach in these three areas to the Obama administration. What should be our future posture towards the emerging regimes in the middle east and Maghreb and how should we deal with Iran’s weapons program?
10. Role of the Military – Our force composition has changed in response to the asymmetrical threats we face, yet our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has illuminated many shortcomings in regards to “nation building” projects. How does the military factor into your vision of America’s role in the world for the next decade and what changes would you make in structure, weapons systems and human resources in the military forces?

• Sunday November 20, 27, Dec 11 & 18
• 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
• Market is located at City Hall Complex next to PBG Fire Station # 1 at 4301 Burns Road
• We will register volunteers
• We will direct people to SOE web for voter registration
• We will hand out information on issues and candidates

• Our booth will be recognized by the American flag proudly on display and the elephant logo
• Candidates can stand in the booth and speak to visitors
• Candidates are allowed to walk around but not campaign as walking
• All handouts can be placed at the booth
• All signs can be placed at the booth
• Contact person is Linda Gore- please call 686-1616 to volunteer

Shannon Armstrong, co-founder, kicked off the meeting and then introduced Doug Armstrong, co-founder to lead us in the prayer, followed by Virginia Brooks of the Christian Coalition for the Pledge of Allegiance.  Shannon then spoke about the Charity of the Month and how she also needed volunteers to prepare bags, and donate a few food items for serving the needy on Thanksgiving day.

Following a brief introduction about getting active in the 2012 cycle, Shannon turned the meeting over to Doug who gave us a heartfelt talk on Courage – our Value of the Month.  He described his grandparents’ journey to the US from Canada, against a backdrop of them holding an American Flag received when they finally became American citizens in their 50s.  As Doug described other ways in which all of us have to overcome fears and demonstrate Courage, he segued into the Courage it will take for us to turn things around in 2012.

Iris Scheibl described the Election Cycle theme of the meeting and showed a short video about True the Vote and the importance of involvement in the actual election process – from validating registrations to poll-working and poll-watching.  Shannon then introduced Susan Bucher, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections (SOE), our key-note speaker.

Mrs. Bucher talked about the importance of true and honest elections.  She described actions she’s taken in improving the process since taking over from her predecessor.  Besides significant cost-cutting for efficient use of tax-payer dollars, her primary goal is to ensure that the Elections results are the story, and not the inadequacies or delays caused by the SOE!  She spoke about the importance of the roles of poll-worker and poll-watcher and how poll-watchers in the latest Lake Park election earlier in the week did a great job.  Poll-workers are human, and the poll-watcher can go a long way in observing and preventing problems.  She encouraged folks to get active in either role.  The Supervisor also mentioned that as long as poll-watchers were properly vetted and had been registered with her – new this year – they can be moved from precinct to precinct as needed – a big improvement over prior years.  She talked about changes that have gone into effect recently – a shorter early voting schedule, rigorous voter registration rules *, and changes in the length of absentee ballot requests.  Also mentioned was that young people are strongly encouraged to become poll-workers and she is doing out-reach in that regard.  She fielded questions from the audience.  Among them were:  What about duplicate registrations and votes, eg by snowbirds, across states? – (FL Secretary of State in Tallahassee would have to do reciprocal efforts with other states); when are absentee ballots counted? – (results tallied first); when can address changes be made?  (can actually made at the precinct when about to vote – although this is strongly discouraged – please correct your address via the SOE prior to coming to vote). 

(Ed. Note: * Mrs. Bucher also said that if a group wants to have a voter registration drive – inform the SOE and they will provide someone to actually handle the voter registrations.  That way one can’t run afoul of the new voter registration law changes.)

Next up was Mark Hoch, Political Director of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County.  Mark talked about how each candidate, ballot issue, and party can have a poll watcher.  People can sign up by contacting him and the Party or via their candidates.  The candidates generally relegate the poll-watcher training to him and he will be conducting sessions prior to each of the elections.

Tara Ford described a plan that she has, working in conjunction with the GOP, to cover early voting locations with volunteers outside of the buildings, manning tents with information and ensuring that solicitation rules are followed.

So – certainly amongst all of these options – there is a way for you to do your part to ensure Honest Elections in 2012!

Announcements and candidates followed the speakers:

Bette Anne Starkey announced an awesome opportunity to see Anita MonCrief and Brandon Darby next Tuesday, 11/15.  Bring your friends of any political persuasion – this is not to be missed if you haven’t heard them before: 

Tami Donnally, County Chair for Team Cain announced a Rally for Cain on Wednesday, 11/16.  If you haven’t had a chance to hear any of the presidential candidates in person – now is the time to do start!

Laura Hanley, Candidate for County Commission District 1 spoke about the Veterans’ Day Parade Friday morning, and then about what she will focus on as a Commissioner.  Her twin daughters then recited a poem that they wrote in support of their mother.  Laura also then kindly volunteered to donate the remaining food item for the Thanksgiving meal, mashed potatoes.

Mike Lamayer, Candidate for Fl Senate District 25 – spoke about votes that his opponent had made recently.

Albert Key – Candidate for County Commission District 1 described a plan he was pursuing for easing foreclosures by having distressed homeowners work with their banks.

Thanks to the set-up and clean-up team for arranging the room, and always to Mickey Polulack for the sound-system!  Also to Alexa Armstrong who announced and collected the 50:50 tickets.  And to the 50:50 winner, David Donnally – who donated his winnings back to South Florida 912.

Check back at the website and in your emails for our December meeting plans!  But get involved and get active.  We get the government we deserve.

Some Pictures of the event:

The November 11 broadcast of NPR’s Morning Edition contained a report by Greg Allen, their south Florida correspondent. Greg attended our November 10 monthly meeting to explore the continuing support for Herman Cain among Florida activists, in spite of allegations of sexual harassment.

In his approximately 4 minute report, 912 members Fred Scheibl, Bette Anne Starkey, and Marianne Polulack give their views of Herman Cain and the accusations against him. You can also hear Shannon Armstrong as she gets the meeting started.

See Allegations Don’t Hinder Cain’s Tea Party Support to listen to the full segment.