Conservatives tip Broward County Republican Executive Committee

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A hard-fought battle was won in Broward County on December 8th, 2014.

With a stunning majority, the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC) was snatched from the past two years of moderate/progressive Republican leadership and put into the laps of Conservatives —  those Republicans who openly advocate that the Bible, the Constitution, and the Republican Platform serve as the basis by which outcomes are decided.

Not only did Vice Chair, Christine Butler take the Chairmanship, but her entire slate was also voted-in making up the entire Board, and creating what looks to be a welcomed coming era of détente, replacing two years of wrangle and discord.

In 2012, hardly known, Christine Butler ran for Chair of BREC but lost to the more familiar candidate, Tom Truex.  Butler became Truex’s Vice Chair.  The relationship that ensued between that administration, namely the Chairman himself versus half the membership body, has been constantly referred to as, “infighting,” but in reality has been a “fight” from the Conservative wing of BREC against those referred to as “RINOs.”  Had Conservatives allowed themselves to be “silenced”, settled for “unity” regardless of the gravity of the issue at hand, or accepted that Conservatives were the cause of the ‘in-fighting’, the BREC election would not have been won.

During her two-year term as Vice Chair, Butler showed herself to be fair-minded, and clearly far more conservative than the rest of the BREC Board, easily winning the hearts and minds of TEA Party conservatives. TEA Party Fort Lauderdale elected more than 30 members to BREC over the past year and members campaigned and voted overwhelmingly for Ms. Butler.

Topics of contention over the past two years have included then BREC secretary Cara Pavalock who used a portion of the BREC email list asking members to “wear red” if they stood for those who spoke out for same-sex marriage.  Ms. Pavalock wound-up resigning from office.

Other clashes have included such issues as:

  • allowing a Libertarian to guest-speak and lobby for the Amendment 2 medical marijuana bill,
  • fights over common core and big-business charter schools to
  • in-house uprisings and shouts of accusations of the chairman ignoring the rules and platform,
  • filibustering and fence-sitting, name-calling.

At one meeting Chairman Truex referred to his opposition members, likening them to crackpots and pigs. Not nice.

This win for Broward County conservatives was fitting following the Republican victories in the 2014 mid-term elections, and sent a clear message that “The People” are sick of hearing of “diversity”, “compromise”, “moderation” and yearn for a return to Conservatism and true Constitutional Republicanism.

Also running for BREC Chair was main contender, Karin Hoffman, “[L]eader of the defunct ‘DC WORKS FOR US’ who in 2013, as reported by Red Broward, asked Republican leaders to urge Governor Rick Scott to drop his 2014 re-election bid.  Hoffman’s coup attempt came amid a constant barrage of negative media for Governor Scott. Hoffman hoped Scott dropping out of the race would open the door for Florida CFO Jeff Atwater. Multiple sources say Hoffman backed away from her plans after most Republican leaders scoffed at joining her. The sources say a meeting was held with Scott campaign staffers.”

Attorney, Levi Williams, was also a contender promoting himself as the candidate who would bring-in the capital needed to run BREC and elect future Republicans.  We are looking forward to Mr. Williams’ leadership in that effort.

Hopefully, this success will serve as a model for other Republican Executive Committees around the State of Florida.  If Broward County can do this, certainly it should be possible for other such clubs to follow suit in saying “NO’ to RINOs.