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Thread: Social conservatives, tea party prevail in Broward Republican Party

  1. #1

    Social conservatives, tea party prevail in Broward Republican Party

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pol...ry.html#page=1


    Broward Republicans have a new party chairwoman, but the election crystallized the internal struggle over the party's direction and left social conservatives and political moderates divided.

    Christine Butler, who comes from the conservative wing of the party and considers the tea party movement the "heart and conscience of the Republican Party," won a decisive victory for the top job.

    Butler won 114 votes from the 214 Republican committeemen and committeewomen who voted last week. Neither of the other two candidates — Karin Hoffman, who won 66 votes, and Levi Williams, who won 34 — was as focused on conservative orthodoxy.

    Social conservatives were energized by the results.

    "I'm obviously extremely happy. I think it's going to be a change that's going to be for the good," said Danita Kilcullen, a Republican committeewoman, co-founder of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale, and strong supporter of Butler's. "Christine says she will rule from the Bible, on which the Constitution is based, the Constitution, and the Republican Party platform. And that's all we're asking."

    Not as happy are Republicans who want to focus on conservative economic policies, smaller government and national security, but not social issues.

    Alvin Entin of Tamarac, a high-profile Broward lawyer and Republican committeeman in the county since 1996, and for a dozen years before that in Miami-Dade County, said he is resigning based on what he heard from Butler — the same comments Kilcullen praised — the night of her election.

    "Anyone with a modicum of reason is being run out of my party," he said. "I don't think it's supposed to be exclusionary. And if you look at the people who have just taken over the party in Broward County they are people who want to establish litmus tests and codes for who is a Republican."

    Entin said he decided to resign after hearing "God and the Republican platform are two of [Butler's] four basic propositions for going forward. I didn't sign up to join a church. I signed up to join a political party."

    He believes the local party is "going to become very heavily involved in what I think is the agenda of the radical religious right," such as abortion and gay marriage, which is "the least important part of what being a Republican is."

    Entin, 69, has been a Republican national convention delegate, the 1980 candidate against then-Democratic U.S. Rep. William Lehman, and led the 2013 recall effort against then-Tamarac Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad.

    Atkins-Grad was acquitted of corruption charges in 2012, but resigned just weeks before the scheduled recall election.

    Butler said she knows she "won't please everyone." She suggested it would have been better for Entin to attend a couple of meetings she runs "to see what my brand of conservatism is."

    "I basically referenced the Constitution and I said something about the Republican platform. I guess it's strange to me: Someone is leaving the Republican Party because of the Republican platform. I can't answer beyond that," she said.

    Butler said her reference to God was a way to describe how she, personally, operates — "here's who I am and where I am coming from" — and wasn't intended as a mandate for other Republicans. "I'm sorry that he had some interpretation that [it was] some code for exclusion."

    Ginger Eisenrod, of Coral Springs, said she and her husband Michael also planned to resign. They'll devote their energies instead to the political groups Republican Business Network and Americans for Prosperity.

    Eisenrod described herself as "probably more conservative than most," and an abortion opponent, but said she supports same-sex marriage. She said the two years leading up to the 2016 presidential election are too important to devote time to a local party in which conservative stands on social issues are so important to driving the actions of so many, which leads to infighting. "It's like second grade stuff. We just need some grown-ups in the room."

    Kilcullen said she wasn't bothered by such departures.

    "I don't even know who they are. I don't even know their names," she said. "I don't mind if they're replaced with something more conservative. I think that's fine. I think that's what people want. I think they showed that the other night."

    Besides navigating the gulf between those who care most about social issues and those whose priorities are economic, Butler has many issues to confront as the seventh Broward Republican chairman in eight years:

    •Difficulty raising money. The party didn't come up with enough cash to pay for field offices to support the election efforts Republican candidates this year.

    •Republicans lost some local seats they held and the party fielded no candidates in many local contests this year.

    •The number of county residents registered in the party has declined 17 percent in the last decade — while Democratic and independent/no party affiliation voters have increased. With just 22 percent of the county's registered voters, Republicans are now in third place behind Democrats and independents.

    •Candidates aren't relying on the party. Local 2014 winners — County Commissioner Chip LaMarca and state Rep. George Moraitis — raised their own money and put together their own get out the vote operations, as did Gov. Rick Scott.

    •Party meetings have been marked by infighting and caustic emails in which party members rip each other.


    Butler, 60, a Davie lawyer and certified public accountant, demonstrated political skill and strategic foresight in her winning campaign for chairwoman.

    Some recent party elections have required several ballots to come up with a winner. Well before this year's election, Butler had counted the votes and was confident she had enough to win. In her previous job of vice chairwoman, she coordinated the appointment of more than 100 new committeemen and committeewomen — the people who choose the party's leaders.

    Butler said her first priority is "fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. We don't have a lot of money. We're feverishly setting things up."

    The next objective, she said, is turning the Broward party into something that's credible locally and elsewhere in the state. "We're going to be ambassadors, everywhere we go, and just spread a positive message."

    She's holding a board meeting before the end of 2014 and is planning a full roster of monthly gatherings next year to prepare for the 2016 elections. "I'm going to have objectives for the group. I don't want to miss a month. It's too critical. We've got less than two years go to."
    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Amash (R) MI-3rd
    "Young people want a Republican Party that believes in limited government and economic freedom and individual liberty, but they want a party that also acts on it.”

    THE FUTURE OF THE GOP = R[∃vo˩]ution 2.0: Rand Paul 2016

    Quote Originally Posted by NOVALibertarian View Post
    First they ignore you= Ron Paul, 2007-2008
    Then they laugh at you= Ron Paul, 2012
    Then they fight you= Rand Paul, 2014-2015
    And then you win= Rand Paul, November 8th, 2016



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  3. #2
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    Not sure how I feel about the "social conservative" part, but ultimately, a move in the right direction for them. Good for them. May better, prosperous days be in their favor.

    Oh, also, the dude whose complaining about being "ran out of the party". Lol, now you know how libertarians felt in 2008 and 2012 with Ron Paul. In no way are you even being driven out. Discussion on the issues is healthy! It forces you to defend your positions, and it looks good to. Infighting isn't the worst thing, and with the way Broward is, it might be the one thing that saves them.

  4. #3
    xxxxx
    Last edited by Voluntarist; 05-13-2016 at 12:10 PM.
    You have the right to remain silent. Anything you post to the internet can and will be used to humiliate you.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by jeffro97 View Post
    Lol, now you know how libertarians felt in 2008 and 2012 with Ron Paul.
    But now it's being done with good ol' Moderate middle of the way Republicans it seemed like from talking to a few people a couple weeks before the vote at a chairman debate.
    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Amash (R) MI-3rd
    "Young people want a Republican Party that believes in limited government and economic freedom and individual liberty, but they want a party that also acts on it.”

    THE FUTURE OF THE GOP = R[∃vo˩]ution 2.0: Rand Paul 2016

    Quote Originally Posted by NOVALibertarian View Post
    First they ignore you= Ron Paul, 2007-2008
    Then they laugh at you= Ron Paul, 2012
    Then they fight you= Rand Paul, 2014-2015
    And then you win= Rand Paul, November 8th, 2016

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by philipped View Post
    But now it's being done with good ol' Moderate middle of the way Republicans it seemed like from talking to a few people a couple weeks before the vote at a chairman debate.
    True. I will remark and say that the establishment shouldn't be dismayed much though. They ran two people, so that was definitely going to split the vote for them. They should have seen this coming. Even if they didn't have a combined majority, they still gathered 100 votes. It sort of feels like Virginia Beach last year (but the other establishment dude dropped out last minute at the meeting). A lot of people were well pissed off at that meeting, largely because how it was conducted and carried out in the end.

    If you can, keep us updated on the situation in Broward. Monitoring this will be important come next year and for 2016 State House races.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by jeffro97 View Post
    True. I will remark and say that the establishment shouldn't be dismayed much though. They ran two people, so that was definitely going to split the vote for them. They should have seen this coming. Even if they didn't have a combined majority, they still gathered 100 votes. It sort of feels like Virginia Beach last year (but the other establishment dude dropped out last minute at the meeting). A lot of people were well pissed off at that meeting, largely because how it was conducted and carried out in the end.

    If you can, keep us updated on the situation in Broward. Monitoring this will be important come next year and for 2016 State House races.
    I will do it as much as I can. Gotta get liberty going in Broward and hopefully bring an article that will actually be generally good news for those on this site. I'm on the ground learning and doing everything I can to make sure it happens by election year.
    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Amash (R) MI-3rd
    "Young people want a Republican Party that believes in limited government and economic freedom and individual liberty, but they want a party that also acts on it.”

    THE FUTURE OF THE GOP = R[∃vo˩]ution 2.0: Rand Paul 2016

    Quote Originally Posted by NOVALibertarian View Post
    First they ignore you= Ron Paul, 2007-2008
    Then they laugh at you= Ron Paul, 2012
    Then they fight you= Rand Paul, 2014-2015
    And then you win= Rand Paul, November 8th, 2016

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by philipped View Post
    I will do it as much as I can. Gotta get liberty going in Broward and hopefully bring an article that will actually be generally good news for those on this site. I'm on the ground learning and doing everything I can to make sure it happens by election year.
    Thank you, and good luck! If you need a bit of motivation, I'll supply some Ron.


  9. #8
    I used to live in Broward and I would love to hear about more liberty spreading in the area. To Liberty!



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