Et tu Manatee REC?

"Send Parliamentarians, Hired-guns and Money the $#!+ has Hit the Fan"

And we had heard such good things coming out of Manatee County REC! Florida News Report received a whistleblower email and we are reprinting it with permission from its author who will remain anonymous as all of our sources do.

The email dated June 29th begins:

The tactics on display at Monday night’s Manatee County REC meeting by the Board were truly astonishing. The establishment Board was apoplectic having been thoroughly briefed by one of their assets that a not-so-secret caucus (ByThePeopleManatee) of true MAGA committeemen were planning to motion on the floor that the REC work to vet and evaluate candidates in the contested primary races and bring the results to the assembly (which of course could result in an endorsement in the contested elections). The horror! Heresy! It could not be tolerated. Every aspect of the meeting from the agenda to the new orange warning signage and thugs at the door was orchestrated in an almost OCD feeling response to this rumor of an impending outbreak of actual democracy. 

The other rumor clearly and dutifully relayed to the chair was that this same group of troublemakers would also be handing out printed material. Again, how dare they communicate openly with the other committeemen and women, what is this America? No, sorry, only Board material will be allowed. In response several bright neon hand written posters were taped to the doors  threatening no tolerance and confiscation for the handing out un-approved print material.

And then there were the enforcers. A cadre of burly (albeit geriatric) male bouncers encircled the target offenders, all women, with their horrific spreadsheets full of publicly available financial data and copies of the mission statement. Contraband carrying targets identified the bouncers push-walked them out the door standing and circling in a threatening manner and grilling them about their intentions. Oh and of course pointing to their smart neon posters in sharpie marker declaring the new censorious proclamation. The bouncers kept the targets in their sights all evening and made sure they knew who was in charge. No free speech on their watch- Good job guys! 

While it sounds funny, the reality is we were being threatened in a physical manner and a little nervous walking to the parking lot, for our views and opinions…..by the self proclaimed constitution lovers. 

Several PCs were sent to talk to the troublemakers as sort of ambassadors, to try diplomacy and explain that we just need to elect Republicans - get it? If you want to endorse join the Liberty Caucus. 

Why is it that the establishment RINOs don’t understand that they give themselves away when they recite the mission statement of the party but stop several words before the period. 

Here’s the difference: The job of the REC is to ….

A. “Elect Republicans”

B. “Elect Republicans who uphold the Republican party platform” 

See how that works? Incumbent loving establishment types want you to believe all Republicans are the same just like a wolf wants you to believe all four legged animals are the same. Including sheep. But we know they are not. 

We know that whoever wins the primary becomes our only choice in November. 

The primary is vitally important to anyone who wants a real Republican elected. We also know that with no intervening events like endorsements the incumbent almost always wins. 

Monday night we heard a slick political consultant, a “hired gun” tell us we should think otherwise; that we should stop all this silliness and focus on November. Who cares that we could be stuck with a parent-hating school board and a County Commission as infested with special interest money as Rt 41 is with the human trafficking they allow to fester? As long as we elect a Republican we’ve done our job so shut up and start door knocking and donating. If you want the RINOs out for real, take Pedicini’s advice: “Get out your checkbook”. I’m not sure but I think he just admitted that the sooner we get the candidates out of their heads and on the take the better and then let the money decide the outcome of the primaries. Why?…..because the more money in the eco-system the more that drops to the bottom where he feeds. 

Thus, Carol Whitmore never comes to the REC to debate Jason Bearden and answer questions from the floor because she might cry and admit she is pro abortion in between sobs and outright lies sparking the REC to exercise its right to endorse a newcomer, a real candidate that might actually have integrity and disrupt things. So instead of debates and endorsements the corn is popped and a series of interesting but irrelevant speakers are paraded out providing little more toward the accomplishment of the mission than entertainment value. 

Where have all the brave patriots elected to the REC this year gone you ask? Let’s go Brandon! Save the country for my grandkids!!!  They’re still there and they still care, but the Board is so incredibly heavy handed they sit silently and stare forward unsure of who are the good guys and who are the bad guys when that unseemly ‘contentiousness’ breaks out on the floor. Troublemakers or patriots - who can tell? Here’s a hint: If you’re actually fighting for something it probably won’t feel boring or easy or comfortable -  and it may get downright nasty. Remember Trump? A disruptive obnoxious, ego maniac…..who exposed the game and may have saved the country. No one in the GOP liked him in 2016.

Clearly the battle lines are drawn but last Monday night the Chair and Board went a step further than ever imagined and proved themselves in fact totally corrupt. The dog and pony show opened with an “unlicensed” parliamentarian held out as a RPOF professional, sitting at the long front table. Giddy with his new perception of competence and legitimacy the chair whispered periodically to this new and conspicuously unnamed guy who sat like a lump as every attempt to speak from the floor was quashed (you can’t just keep interrupting to make a point of order)! So many elements of the proceeding were out of order it would have been like an aerobics class trying to point them all out. The agenda is never approved nor amendments allowed from the floor, the agenda was radically changed without assembly approval, the minutes are never distributed in advance, the financial report is literally a joke, the motion to adjourn was skipped entirely, and motions from now on will be ruled out of order except for trivial matters and oh, no one can hand out printed material In or around the building or those materials may be ‘confiscated’ and you may be removed. The Ministry of Truth, aka the Board, voted that particular censorship rule into existence out of thin air behind closed doors; must be the new math establishing that quorum….but never-mind you didn’t think this was a democracy did you? 

This Board does not understand that they are working to serve the assembly of committeemen, that they have no more legitimate voting power than any other PC and that their job is to allow the will of the assembly to be heard, that the agenda, the minutes, the financials and everything else belongs to us, The People….and sadly not many PCs know that either. 

But back to the mysterious unnamed “parliamentarian” and the corruption bit. After the parliamentarian issued a series of obviously fallacious rulings like: all motions except administrative niceties must be approved by the Board 15 days before the meeting. (Thats like nails on a chalkboard to any trained parliamentarian” according to a real one, Tim Wynn PRP) 

After the meeting, the nameless parliamentarian, who admitted being paid directly by the chair, was asked about his ruling and why he shut down our motion and all floor activity, and he just pointed lamely to a single cheat sheet and said “Steve (Chair) gave this to me”. It was ostensibly an excerpt from the RPOF Rules and Procedures cut and pasted and copied onto a piece of paper with another section of the County Model Constitution 7:12:A pasted below it. Odd, since the entire page or document could have been on hand or a single page copied in it’s entirety, but this was cut, pasted and photocopied….ransom note style. The first paragraph was the beginning of RPOF Rule 8- Endorsements;

Our new crack parliamentarian eagerly pointed out the relevant language (just like we rehearsed) and it was clear that the excerpt on his sheet read “endorsements are not allowed in a primary”, the only problem is that the actual document says the opposite. When he was shown that actual document he just shrugged and moved on to the next cut and paste paragraph referring to resolutions, which must be submitted in writing 15 days in advance and approved by….wait for it….the Board. Implying, falsely,  that almost all motions are actually in fact resolutions (including this one of course) and so if you must speak or think for yourself, ok but you get on the agenda at the pleasure of the Board. In our last appeal to reason, we pointed out that the motion that was shot down didn’t even mention endorsing, only researching and reporting, which are not resolution-worthy activities, his response? “Oh, I didn’t catch that”.

Well Mr. Mystery-parliamentarian whose “not yet licensed” and “only works for the chair”, I did catch that and I truly hope the PCs  are catching on as well.