Tuesday, August 13, 2024. Thank you for your excellent take-down of the RPOF's disgusting self-congratulation for the increase in registered Republicans in Florida. I'm writing from Orange County tonight, just home from a candidates forum in Pine Hills. No one from the local REC in attendance, as was the case last time. There are votes to be had in our county's nether regions, but you have work for them as were our candidates who spoke to night. As we near the primary election, our situation is disheartening, to say the least. We have six O.C. races on the primary ballot without a Republican running. Of those, the most important office is the Supervisor of Elections (SOE), critical to securing election integrity now and in the future. Consider this: Bill Cowles, the prior supervisor, abruptly resigned in January, and Governor DeSantis appointed Glen Gilzean to replace him. (Glen is a favorite of the governor's. Before becoming O.C. SOE, the governor appointed him to chair the controversial Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which the governor established to take over from the former Reedy Creek District that managed Disney's properties.) Yet Gilzean declined to run for SOE on the last possible day to file, when there was no possibility of another Republican getting in the race. Now Orange County voters are given the sad choice of five Democrats in the primary next week and one NPA on the November ballot. (Cynthia Harris is a whistleblower who publicly exposed the longstanding Democrat ballot harvesting that took place under Cowles and whose candidacy is being challenged in court on flimsy grounds). The other five races without Republicans running are significant: Clerk of Courts; O.C. Comptroller; O.C. Property Appraiser; O.C. Sheriff; and O.C. Tax Collector. All of these posts pay $190,000 or more. Wait! There's more. The Republican Party, both local and RPOF, gave up on State Senate District 17, allowing raving Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith to take the seat that was open since Linda Steward termed out. Smith got it without even a primary since no one else -- from any party -- ran for it! We (my colleagues and I) had a well-qualified candidate ready to go: a Hispanic lady with years of local conservative leadership and first class training from the Leadership Institute. The local REC would not go to bat for her, and the RPOF would not bless her candidacy. She decided not to run. Who can blame her? Incidentally, in 2022 Steve Dixon, a candidate who had never run for anything ever, got 44% of the vote against Stewart, a 24-year battle-hardened veteran. Steve ran a five-week campaign on less than $30,000. He clearly won the in-person balloting and lost because of a flood of mail-ins. Again, however, neither the REC not the RPOF lifted a finger to help Dixon, and this year they gave the State Senate 17 seat to Smith for nothing. In effect, they have totally written off Orange County.
BOOM! This one gave me the chills Kat and I think you are a Floridian at heart!!!
Million dollar question...the RINO or the ELEPHANT on August 20th? When the Elephant wins, look for the big top to come tumbling down because true conservatives are FED UP WITH THE RINOS#!T!!!
Tuesday, August 13, 2024. Thank you for your excellent take-down of the RPOF's disgusting self-congratulation for the increase in registered Republicans in Florida. I'm writing from Orange County tonight, just home from a candidates forum in Pine Hills. No one from the local REC in attendance, as was the case last time. There are votes to be had in our county's nether regions, but you have work for them as were our candidates who spoke to night. As we near the primary election, our situation is disheartening, to say the least. We have six O.C. races on the primary ballot without a Republican running. Of those, the most important office is the Supervisor of Elections (SOE), critical to securing election integrity now and in the future. Consider this: Bill Cowles, the prior supervisor, abruptly resigned in January, and Governor DeSantis appointed Glen Gilzean to replace him. (Glen is a favorite of the governor's. Before becoming O.C. SOE, the governor appointed him to chair the controversial Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which the governor established to take over from the former Reedy Creek District that managed Disney's properties.) Yet Gilzean declined to run for SOE on the last possible day to file, when there was no possibility of another Republican getting in the race. Now Orange County voters are given the sad choice of five Democrats in the primary next week and one NPA on the November ballot. (Cynthia Harris is a whistleblower who publicly exposed the longstanding Democrat ballot harvesting that took place under Cowles and whose candidacy is being challenged in court on flimsy grounds). The other five races without Republicans running are significant: Clerk of Courts; O.C. Comptroller; O.C. Property Appraiser; O.C. Sheriff; and O.C. Tax Collector. All of these posts pay $190,000 or more. Wait! There's more. The Republican Party, both local and RPOF, gave up on State Senate District 17, allowing raving Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith to take the seat that was open since Linda Steward termed out. Smith got it without even a primary since no one else -- from any party -- ran for it! We (my colleagues and I) had a well-qualified candidate ready to go: a Hispanic lady with years of local conservative leadership and first class training from the Leadership Institute. The local REC would not go to bat for her, and the RPOF would not bless her candidacy. She decided not to run. Who can blame her? Incidentally, in 2022 Steve Dixon, a candidate who had never run for anything ever, got 44% of the vote against Stewart, a 24-year battle-hardened veteran. Steve ran a five-week campaign on less than $30,000. He clearly won the in-person balloting and lost because of a flood of mail-ins. Again, however, neither the REC not the RPOF lifted a finger to help Dixon, and this year they gave the State Senate 17 seat to Smith for nothing. In effect, they have totally written off Orange County.
Well, Kat, you hit it out of the park again.
BOOM! This one gave me the chills Kat and I think you are a Floridian at heart!!!
Million dollar question...the RINO or the ELEPHANT on August 20th? When the Elephant wins, look for the big top to come tumbling down because true conservatives are FED UP WITH THE RINOS#!T!!!