Upcoming GOP Chair Election in Hillsborough County

By FNR Guest Author, Jeff Dow, America First Republican

Florida has the strongest Governor in the Union despite the state’s Republican Party. Governor DeSantis is the leader of the Executive Branch and needs the help of the State Legislative Branch. A Republican voter would most likely be led to think that if the leader of the Republican Party of Florida was also a Florida State Senator, meaningful Party Platform legislation would be passed. Unfortunately, Republican voters in Florida are routinely gaslit by the Party which produces legislation with loopholes or language purposely weakening them. 

Florida is looked at as “The ‘Freest’ state in the country, but if that were true, wouldn’t Constitutional Carry legislation have been passed years ago? With a Republican governor, a Republican majority Florida Senate and Republican majority Florida House, why is it that Republican Party Platform issues are not being passed?  

Joe Gruters is quite possibly the single point of FAILURE within the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and politicians in the state. Gruters lit the fuse and fanned the flames October 12th, the night at the monthly Hillsborough Republican Executive Committee (HREC) meeting. It was civil during the hour before the meeting, and it didn’t begin to devolve into hostility until three minutes in when he asked, “Are we a party of rules?” Ironic, given the fact that the RPOF suspended all rules and placed new rules on a select few counties. Joe Gruters failed Hillsborough County starting on September 13th when an edict was put out under Joe’s name from Grievance Chairman, Richard DeNapoli. It demanded several changes the HREC needed to make in the coming months. These new “directives” were upon the heels of a decision based on an alleged Grievance Board decision stemming from fifteen grievances filed against the Hillsborough Chairman. 

There doesn’t appear to have been an actual hearing. The Grievance Committee Chair may have just made his own edict that was passed on to five “counties in question.” As Chairman of the Party, Joe Gruters stated in the meeting, “Five counties have been having issues.” The response given to those five counties was to suspend their county new member procedures. The change in the membership requirements were, “any prospective REC members, including past members, regardless of whether for an alternate or full committeeperson slot, who submit only the Candidate Oath and Loyalty Oath by 11:59 PM on September 30, 2022, causing their Candidate Oath and Loyalty Oath to be submitted to their local REC Chairman via email copy or RPOF Chairman Joe Gruters via email copy (meaning originals are not required to meet the deadline), shall have their applications voted upon as the first order of business at a mandatory regular REC meeting to be held in October 2022.”

It's important to break down the process that Hillsborough County uses for new members. If someone is interested in joining the Hillsborough REC, they need to submit their application documents and then attend two meetings. Prospective members must then take the training to learn what it means to become a Precinct Committeeman or Committeewoman in Hillsborough. Hillsborough's training program, created by Clarice Henderson, has been broadcast across the country on Steve Bannon’s podcast. It is a robust 2 hour 101 training program that teaches the basics for becoming a Precinct Committeeman or Committeewoman and how to build a team in their precinct. Most counties across the nation do a 15-30 minute training before their monthly meeting. Hillsborough county sets aside a two-hour training on a Saturday to teach new potential members of their roles and responsibilities. 

The process to join was changed mid-year of 2022. The REC body did not understand what the reasoning was for the change, but the Executive Board of Hillsborough decided that new members needed to move through a specific process of joining to become a new member. This was one area where State Committeewoman, April Schiff’s “side” and the “Conservative side” agreed. The process should have been to submit information, come to two meetings, and then attend training. After the application is dropped the order in which the rest of the steps are accomplished should not matter. Secretary Jeanne Webb made the process explicitly clear to all members through a lengthy email, but many felt it was overly cumbersome and “controlling” of a process to navigate.

Of the many grievances that were filed against the Chairman, it’s probable that the Secretary shares some of the blame regarding accepting applications. There were a few applications that were submitted and rejected, slow-walked or otherwise prevented from going through the process. According to the County Model Constitution, Article III, Section 3: “No candidate for a vacancy on the committee who meets the registration and residence requirements and follows the rules of procedure prescribed for filling a vacancy can be rejected for consideration by a membership committee, board or officer of the County Executive Committee.” The only time a member may be denied is if the majority of members present at a meeting are to vote in favor or against the membership of a prospect. Therefore, anyone who submitted an application and was denied, was denied incorrectly. 

RPOF DIRECTIVES 

There are several problems with the newest set of RPOF directives. First, and possibly most important, there is no rule within the RPOF that gives them the unilateral authority to make up new rules on the fly. If the RPOF wants to change the rules, it needs to come from the Rules Committee. Interestingly, and probably a HUGE conflict of interest, Richard DeNapoli added himself to the Rules Committee. Why are Hillsborough and four other counties being treated differently than the other 62 counties in the state? There have been no statewide changes to the RPOF Rules of Procedure or County Model Constitution. Therefore, Hillsborough and the other counties should oppose all changes made in this manner. 

In Hillsborough, along with the new directive from Richard DeNapoli, was a list of all the  applicants who met the September 30th deadline. Of the roughly 120 applicants who had been recruited from the  ‘Conservative’ side of the HREC, 39 were marked as “disqualified.”  In contrast, the 70 applicants recruited by the ‘Establishment’ there were ZERO issues found with their applications; all were accepted.

         In addition, Richard DeNapoli in his previous email, stated: “All applications submitted by 11:59 PM on September 30, 2022, pursuant to the above shall then be disclosed by 5:00 PM on October 2nd, 2022, to each of the respective local REC Chairman, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, State Committeeman, and State Committeewoman.” Those names were not disclosed to the Executive Committee until October 11th at 2:13 PM (28 hours before the meeting). Imagine having only 28 hours to organize a fair voting system for 190 applicants. The only FAIR option would be to create a paper ballot which included all applicants. The body of the membership would then be allowed to vote yes or no on each member. 

  Addressing the new members vote, Gruters first wanted a blanket acceptance of all new members. The Conservative side had MORE to lose by denying all members than the opposition side. The intent of the REC was to take a vote for each member as they were presented. Gruters wanted to have an audible vote for members, but not a paper ballot. The vote counters for the paper ballot were liked and respected by both sides. Why would you oppose the idea of a paper ballot and prefer verbal ballots or a “no” vote for all members? Why did Gruters get to choose the motion? Why did Joe choose what motions would be received? Motions are made by the body, not the Board or Chair.  Joe used his position to pick and choose motions he wanted to accept or reject. 

Hillsborough had made the decision to have a paper ballot so that they could ensure there was a simple majority on each member. There was a second reason for the ballots, and that is there were 10-11 precincts that would be going over the limit of maximum number of people allowed to be Precinct Committeemen and Precinct Committeewomen (PCM/PCW) per precinct. Based on the RPOF County Model Constitution, that for every 1,000 registered voters in a precinct, you can have one PCM and one PCW. For example, if there are 2400 registered voters, a precinct can have three PCM and three PCW. The problem is that these 10-11 precincts were going to have more than allowed by the County Model Constitution. Having a paper ballot would have taken all of this into account, and in the situation where one precinct had equal votes for a member position, there would have been another vote or one person would have accepted the alternate position (which does have voting privileges if one of the primary members for their precinct is not in attendance). Joe was challenged on this very issue by those asked to count the votes, and he responded with “I will handle the SOE.” (For context, the SOE is the Supervisor of Elections. These positions are publicly elected positions, and the Chairman of a party does not have the authority to just waive those.) It was for this reason specifically that it was crucial to use a paper ballot over a voice vote. 

There has been a long-time war between Waurishuk and Schiff. Wednesday night, when the Conservative base stood up against April’s shenanigans, it was perceived that the Conservative base was siding with Waurishuk. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

   The America First base broke from Chairman Waurishuk on the notion that Wednesday was a victory. Both sides lost really good prospective members from joining the HREC at a crucial time. The only reason the America First base voted how they did was because they knew the entire process was incorrect and refused to be run roughshod by anybody --- including the Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. 

The America First base within the HREC has been completely alienated by Waurishuk and he has alienated us at a time when we should be strengthening our stand.  Ironically, several who stood up for what was right Wednesday night -  are the same people Waurishuk viewed as his enemies at one point or another over the last two years. While his ideology is aligned with America First Republicans, he is not interested in working toward goals in a group of likeminded people. His perceptions are so skewed, he doesn’t recognize real allies and dangerously, often doesn’t recognize real enemies. He ignores sound advice from long time friends. I cannot tell you how many good and decent people have called me to ask me why Jim hates them and no longer speaks to them. “Join the crowd,” I say.  

In my opinion, both Chairman Waurishuk and Secretary Webb along with Joe Gruters, Richard DeNapoli and April Schiff all share in the responsibility for the chaos in the meeting.

It is Time for Change  

The majority of the Hillsborough America First Republican base is ready for a new Chair who can focus on what is needed to recruit, train and campaign for strong America First Republican candidates who believe in the Republican Party Platform and will support it. Hillsborough needs a leader that leads by example in all areas. If we are to be a party of grassroots then the next leader should be someone with actual skin in the game that has earned the respect of their fellow precinct committee members through their actions, not their words.

What’s at Stake? The Heart and Soul of the Republican Party

The Party has never been so divided…. And it’s not just over policies… it’s  over the heart and soul of the GOP. As more members wake up and realize that the Party is overrun with Establishment Republicans who aren’t principled and don’t support the Party Platform, the stronger we become as we take a stand. I am not talking about unity - unity would demand that America First Republicans compromise with the Establishment - the Establishment that would love to continue shoving “moderate” Republican candidates down our throats.

America First Republicans want REAL GOP candidates - true believers - to represent us and uphold the Party Platform and we won’t stop until that goal is achieved.