The Real Story behind the Manatee County REC Suspension

The Republican Party of Florida Strikes the Grassroots

As clean up continues around the state of Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we offer our prayers to the victims.

After receiving numerous grievance complaints regarding the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee, the Republican Party of Florida voted to suspend the local political committee on Sept. 7, 2024. Read here

Republican Party of Florida Chairman, Evan Power, made a statement why the decision to suspend the Manatee GOP:

“The grievance committee decided it was impossible to understand the complex dynamics of all of these grievances,” Power wrote in an email to party members.

Power explained it wasn’t just grievances driving the decision. There were also lawsuits and police reports.

Excuse me, but that is nothing new in county Republican Executive Committees around the state. None of the other RECs ever got suspended… even Broward County. Read here

It seems there is more going on than it being “impossible to understand the complex dynamics of all these grievances” when there are only two matters at hand: the chairwoman April Culbreath’s unapproved use of party funds and her leadership failures. If the RPOF could remove Blake Paterson earlier this year as Chair of the St. Johns County REC—a REC with just as much rancor and hostility toward him as Manatee REC members have toward Culbreath, the RPOF could have removed Culbreath with just as much ease.

So what’s the real story?

In 2023, April Culbreath was Vice Chair, but was essentially operating as the Chair, on behalf of Steve Vernon (we do not know why) who had been elected Chair the previous year. She officially became Chair when Vernon stepped down in what was presented as a personal decision.

Lack of Leadership

The largest fundraiser county RECs have every year is the Lincoln Day Dinner, which can net funds as high as $200,000. The second largest fundraiser county RECs have yearly is the Reagan Day BBQ.

As Chair after Vernon stepped down, Culbreath scheduled neither.

As a matter of fact, in 2023, ahead of a presidential election year and decidedly the most important election of our country, Culbreath raised just $42 for the year.

Learning nothing from her failure to fundraise the previous year, Culbreath again failed to schedule a Lincoln Day Dinner or Reagan BBQ for 2024. Until the Manatee REC was suspended, Culbreath had only raised $70 for 2024. Can you now understand why she received a vote of no confidence from the Grassroots/America First members of the body?

Conflict of Interest

Culbreath was busy instead running for office and fending off all the published pages of disciplinary action she had against her while she was a cop for Manatee County sheriff’s office. The MREC body asked her to step down. She refused.

By occupying the leadership seat and doing absolutely nothing to grow the party and raise funds, she neutered the power of the county party from campaigning for Donald Trump in 2024 March for the Presidential Preferential Primary. It was after that Primary that members of the MREC body began to work outside the organization to get out the vote for the August Republican Primary…. and what would become a big win against the RINO/Republican Establishment candidates in Manatee County.

If conservative Republicans have anyone to thank for such a big win in Manatee County, it is Culbreath. She galvanized the grassroots to hammer home her dismal record of leadership as she ran for County Commission in District 3. And because she had been recruited to run by two of the Manatee County Commissioners, James Satcher and Jason Bearden, she made Satcher a target of the grassroots as he ran for Supervisor of Elections (Bearden is only safe until 2026). Satcher lost the Primary, fired three Manatee SOE employees, and refused to step aside despite violating several rules to insure voter integrity within the office. Read here

Culbreath also hurt another County Commissioner, Kevin Van Ostenbridge, who struggled to capture his first district, District 3, so he switched to running for the Countywide seat, hoping the reports of his antics in office had not reached west Manatee County residents. One of his lowlights included verbally abusing a kid during a commission meeting. The young teen attended the meeting to voice his concerns on a vote to roll back a wetlands buffer that would help developers overcome land use obstacles like Florida’s vital natural water filtration ecosystem. Read here Van Ostenbridge was defeated by George Kruse, the incumbent.

Grassroots’ Target

These defeated candidates—Culbreath, Satcher, and VanOstenbridge—were the choice of the Republican Establishment and the targets of grassroots activists. All relied on a fake “MAGA” voter guide published by their political consultant, Anthony Pedicini, and distributed by April Culbreath’s Manatee REC office.

There should have been no difficulty in the RPOF deciding to remove Culbreath after the vote of no confidence early in 2024 for failure to fundraise alone which was her duty. But the RPOF took no action except to side with Culbreath despite the evidence.

So What was the Suspension Really About?

The RINO/Republican Establishment retaining control.

The Grassroots coming out of the Primary victorious put them in a prime position to vote Culbreath out. Both Grassroots’ State Committeeman and Committeewoman candidates, Trent Wayman and Jackie Heisse, won in the August election. This signaled to the RINO/Republican Establishment that they could lose control over the Manatee REC.

The RPOF was not going to allow that to happen, so with a vote, they suspended the entire organization.

Unintended Consequences

We contend it was the inaction of the RPOF to remove Culbreath that caused the grassroots uproar, action, and victory in the Primary. The Grassroots/America First faction would never have organized to the degree they did had the RPOF done its job. Historically, for the Grassroots to be motivated to action, there has to be a target that has been clearly identified and a collective outrage that propels them forward. Culbreath wasn’t their only target; her political consultant, Anthony Pedicini, had also made himself a target throughout the previous three years as the Bradenton Times obtained and published texts he had sent to the county commissioners telling them what to do during public meetings. Read here

Pedicini was the political consultant for each of the RINO/Republican Establishment candidates, taking great pleasure ridiculing and attacking Manatee County conservative Republicans on social media for years. And because of that, Pedicini made it easier for the Grassroots to use him as a piñata every chance they got. He didn’t care. He apparently likes being a target. And that helped the Grassroots tie the RINO/Republican Establishment candidates to him—making the larger target easier to hit.

News recently revealed that Evan Power has appointed a “Field Director” to open the Manatee County REC office back up for the November 5th election. Read here

Our guess is that a new MCREC board will be appointed by the RPOF in December to hold the grassroots activists off from seizing control until the December 2026 board elections.