What's Your Republican State Committeewoman been up to?

In the Hillsborough County GOP, it’s like a WWE throw down……

Hillsborough County State Committeewoman, April Schiff, has become a phenomenon in the local Republican Party. Long involved in Hillsborough County politics, Schiff is known to be politically aligned with the “Status Quo” Establishment Republicans. A “Jeb Bush” fashioned moderate, Schiff seems to make no attempt at concealing an effort to regain control over the Hillsborough County Republican Party. 

What’s at stake? 

Current Hillsborough GOP Chairman, James Waurishuk, is a staunch ally of former President Trump and an “America First” Republican. Maligned by the local media, Waurishuk has been the only Florida County Chairman to urge Governor Ron DeSantis to remove the Washington D.C. Capitol Police who set up shop in Hillsborough County to harass constitutional conservatives at the behest of Joe Biden’s shadow government. Waurishuk has attempted to protect citizens from an out-of-control Federal government.

Earlier this year, a resolution was drafted by another “America First” Republican and Waurishuk ally, Anthony Sabatini, to call for an audit of the 2020 Presidential General Election in Hillsborough County.

This resolution was drafted after public records were obtained from the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office that revealed that SOE head, Craig Latimer, had accepted $2.9 million dollars from Mark Zuckerberg through a non-profit called Center for Tech and Civic Life.

No county in Florida deserved more election scrutiny than Hillsborough after the 2020 election. Their own internal documents from 9/21/2020 show the Hillsborough SOE received the “grant” and the next day entered a no-bid contract with Vistra Marketing, 9/22/2020:

Given this information? Why would anyone resist Sabatini’s request for audit? Yet, when the Audit resolution was introduced to the Hillsborough County GOP members during a meeting, chaos ensued. “Status Quo” Establishment Republicans refused to even listen to the reasons the Hillsborough SOE should be audited and not only were they against the Republican Party seeking election integrity, they were furious that anyone would dare question  the SOE who is a Democrat.

It appeared that they couldn’t care less about Vistra Marketing running what appeared on the surface to be a sophisticated “Get Out the Vote” effort on behalf of SOE, Craig Latimer. Even sketchier, an email was obtained from Florida Division of Elections head, Maria Matthews, who appears to have been the Center for Tech and Civic Life contact person stating the “grant money” was available to Florida County Supervisors of Elections:

 And here’s a question for you…. Why didn’t Zuckerberg just give the $2.9 million dollars to Vistra Marketing to run the campaign in Hillsborough? Why run it through the Supervisor of Elections office? In Wisconsin, some say that the Zuckerberg funded non-profit, Center for Tech and Civic Life got access not only to voter information, but to information systems and made recommendations for off site information management. Could that possibly have happened in Florida?

Hold that thought.

April, April, April

Elected as Hillsborough County State Committeewoman in 2020, April Schiff’s name appeared in an article dated 12/5/2020 acknowledging her association with the newly formed Hillsborough Leadership Council. Read entire article here:

Prominent GOP donor Hung Mai of Tampa is chairman of the new group, the Hillsborough Leadership Council, which also includes go-to GOP finance maven Nancy Watkins and veteran political consultant April Schiff.” 

Schiff, as State Committeewoman, is allowed to be part of a “group” like the Hillsborough Leadership Council, however, as a newly elected Republican State Committeewoman, she has rules to follow. Starting in early 2021 the Hillsborough Leadership Council stated their goal was to register voters.

In May of 2021, even Bay News 9 questioned why an outside group was doing the work of County Republican Party, with an effort led by Schiff: 

TAMPA, Fla. — “A nascent political committee headed by some prominent Hillsborough Republicans has been formed to try to reverse the party’s dismal performance over the past three election cycles.

“Our goal is to get more Republicans elected in Hillsborough County,” says Hillsborough State Committeewoman April Schiff, who along with GOP fundraiser Hung Mai and nationally recognized Republican campaign treasurer Nancy Watkins have created the Hillsborough Leadership Council.

“A voter registration drive is in the works,” Schiff told Spectrum Bay News 9 last week. “We will be recruiting candidates, helping them get through the process as well as contributing to their campaigns.”

That sounds like the responsibility of the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee, but there has been growing dissent among some local Republicans with Chairman Jim Waurishuk since he defeated Schiff to lead the party three years ago.” Read entire article here 

Reports at that time circulated alleging State committeewoman Schiff had attended Republican club meetings around Hillsborough to promote the Hillsborough Leadership Council over the County GOP. One Hillsborough GOP member even attempted to call Schiff out during the May meeting over those allegations. At that time, a full investigation should have been launched by Chairman Waurishuk and the Board to find out exactly what Schiff was doing under her title of State Committeewoman, but in an effort to be more inclusive with the “Status Quo” Republicans in the County Party, they decided not to cause any more division.

If Schiff had been investigated and found to have been promoting a private group’s efforts instead of the County GOP’s efforts, a grievance could have been filed with the the Republican Party of Florida and a call for her resignation could have been launched at that time. 

Instead, April Schiff filed a Grievance against Chairman James Waurishuk as reported in the Tampa Bay Times July 10, 2021. Read entire article here 

“April Schiff, a top officer of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, has filed a grievance with the state party seeking the removal of other local officers including Chairman Jim Waurishuk. Schiff’s grievance cited what she says are violations of party rules, personal attacks against her and inflammatory social media postings by Waurishuk that she says have damaged the state and county parties. Schiff, a longtime local party stalwart and political consultant, was elected last year as state committeewoman, one of two county delegates to the state party’s governing board, in an election in which all registered county Republicans could vote. 

The complaint contends the three improperly used local party resources including email to oppose her campaign for the post; sought to prevent her from functioning in the post by, among other things, denying her access to the position’s official email address; and engineered a failed attempt to have her reprimanded at a May party meeting.” 

“Go offensive when you’re vulnerable. It is a political strategy move when your weakness has been perceived by your enemy.”  Saul Alinsky

As late as September 2021, Schiff was still using her position as State Committeewoman to promote the Hillsborough Leadership Policy Council and fundraise:

Is Schiff using her elected position to raise money for a private group? Has she been raising money for the County Republican Party, too? If she has raised money for the Hillsborough GOP, does anyone have the amount she has raised?

Earlier this year it was discovered that a Florida Elections Commission complaint was filed against April Schiff 12/2/2021 for campaign violations:

This “longtime local party stalwart and political consultant” who should have known the rules, didn’t observe the rules and ended up settling the matter with  a Consent Order and paying a fine. Schiff, as an elected official, has clearly defined roles and responsibilities as outlined in Rule 11 of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Rules of Procedure. She is to be “a member in good standing” according to Florida State Statute 103.091 and is to follow campaign finance law according to State Statute 106.0702 like any other candidate running for office. 

With so much controversy surrounding just one State Committeewoman who the RPOF seems to regard as a member in good standing, it’s no wonder our Party is so divided.

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