|
 The
Chairman's Corner
Report from the
Chairman:
Republican Party of Florida meeting
January 8-9, 2009.
Being the new kid on the block and
this the first meeting that I have
had the opportunity to represent
Walton County on an official basis,
I was able to jump in and
participate thanks to the help of
State Committeeman Lane Rees and
State Committeewoman Brenda Rees.
Needless to say there was a lot of
business to take care of, one which
was on everyone's mind, was the
resignation of our State Chairman,
Jim Greer. Obviously, with that you
have people running for his office
campaigning for your vote.
When the smoke settled, three people
have thrown their hats in the arena
to run for the position as “Chairman
of Republican Party of Florida”.
First was State Senator John
Thrasher, (I have to point out that
seconds
before
Chairman Greer resigned Senator
Thrasher had e-mails going out to
everyone, announcing his decision to
run for Chairman). The next person
is National Committeewoman Sharon
Day, and the third Mark Cross,
Osceola County State Committeeman.
The strength seems to be between
Thrasher and Day. It will be quite
an aggressive campaign between now
and February 20, 2010 when we vote
on a new Chairman at a special
meeting in Orlando. This
Chairmanship is only for 10 months
and then it is up for grabs. Senator
Thrasher has already announced that
he was only going to run for these
10 months. This will be the end of
his political career on the other
hand National Committeewoman Sharon
Day is very dedicated to the success
of the Republican Party of Florida.
She has shown this leadership, in
her current position. The third
candidate Mark Cross was a
last-minute entry from the floor at
the close of business. Therefore, I
really do not know that much about
him.
During our Chairman meeting. There
were three main topics of concerns:
1. Grassroots program
to get our candidates elected.
The term grassroots
means getting out and knocking on
doors to get people out to vote.
With a high emphasis on absentee
voters and getting new voters
registered under the proper
guidelines of the elections office.
2. Tea Party
involvement with the Republican
Party.
Questions have been
asked where the Republican Party
falls within the philosophy of the
tea party. After carefully reviewing
the philosophy of the tea party, it
is quite evident that these people
follow the same guidelines as
Republican Party conservative
ideals, controlling government
expenditures. We as a party have
decided that we can support their
program. Invite their members to
participate in our party and
encourage any individuals who are
not registered to register. There
will be guidelines set out to follow
in advance we would like to extend
our hand of friendship and
willingness to work with everyone's
common goal
3. Coalition working
with surrounding counties.
“Panhandle
Whistle Stop Tour to Victory”,
is a coalition working with Escambia
County, Holmes County, Okaloosa
County, Santa Rosa County, and
Washington County. Together, we are
planning a victory tour with
stopovers in each county. Ours will
be on Saturday, June 12, 2010. Our
festivities will be in DeFuniak
Springs. I am thinking that perhaps
around the lake would be
appropriate. The location will be
announced. It will be our pleasure
to host a rally for representatives
running for U.S. Senate, US House of
Representatives, Florida Governor,
Attorney General, Chief Financial
Officer and Commissioner of
Agriculture and others. I am excited
to have our county participate in
this whistle stop I know that we
will turn out with an enthusiastic
crowd.
This is just a quick rundown of some
things that have happened this past
weekend. We also had all the
candidates present to introduce
themselves who are running for all
the open offices. I was amazed to
see how many people were running for
Attorney General, Commissioner of
Agriculture and other offices. We
will be providing additional
information on all these and other
races.
These are exciting times for the
Republican Party. Not only in the
state also nationwide. We have the
opportunity to win additional seats
in the state and the opportunity to
maintain our current seats we
control, giving us the leading edge.
On the national basis, this also
holds true. There has never been a
better time for the Republican Party
to grow and show true leadership.
Our success will depend totally on
everyone's participation with that,
success will be ours.
Both our State Committeewoman and
State Committeeman will be providing
additional information from this
meeting. I trust that the above
information gives you an idea of
some of the things to come.
Success in 2010,
John J. Magee.
Chairman, Walton County Republican
Executive Committee |
