Sabatini
SABATINA GRANTED A MEETING OF RPOF IN SARASOTA TO TAKE OUT McDANIEL AS CHAIR OF RNC
McDaniels
Recently elected Chairman of the Lake County Republican Executive Committee and Florida State Representative Anthony SabatinI has become part of a nation-wide Republican grassroots campaign to take out Ronna McDaniel as Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
SabatinI requested and was granted a special meeting of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) to seek a vote on whether McDaniel should be terminated as the RNC Chairwoman. “Florida’s the most-talked-about Republican state and we’re going to vote Ronna down,” said Sabatini,
Gruters
Sabatina needed 30 members of the RPOF to have the special meeting and once that was accomplished, Sabatina now needs 130 votes to have a quorom to hold the meeting and then 130 votes to recomend termination of McDaniel by the NRC.
Florida State Senator Joe Gruters, who is Chairman of the RPOF scheduled a meeting he opposed to take place on 1/20/23 in Sarasota.
GRUTERS SUPPORTS McDANIEL AS HE SEEKS TREASURER OF RNC
Gruters attempts to deny the meeting rest on Gruters supporting McDaniel for Chair of the RNC. Gruters is running for the Treasurer position on the RNC and needs McDaniel’s support to gain the position.
Dhillon
McDaniel is seeking a fourth term as Chair of the RNC and is being challenged for the Chair of the RNC by Harmeet Dhillon, who has criticized McDaniel over GOP underperformance in the Midterms, where Republicans won a narrow House majority but netted a loss in the Senate.
The upcoming special meeting of the RPOF is to be held in Sarasota on January 20th gives the RPOF the opportunity to vote to support or terminate McDaniel for another four years as Republican National Committee Chairwoman.
The RPOF meeting is taking place at the same venue where local Republican grassroots organizations led by Connie Brunni came within 25 votes of taking out Jack Brill as chairman of the local REC.
Brill and Neal
Brill was supported by the major financial donor class led by Never Trump documented RINO Pat Neal and his Establishment "Pay to Play” developers, who have both Brill and Gruters firmly in their pockets.
Flynn and Brunni
Brunni was supported by the local REC grassroots and General Michael Flynn, who is a supporter of Trump for President in 2024. Brunni and her supporters believed those selected by Brill to lead the REC did not represent the views of the vast majority of local Conservative Republicans.
BRUNNI: "BRILL TRIED TO DESTROY GRASS ROOTS MOVEMENT"
Brunni supporters in statement to REC members seeking to take out Brill stated,
“The political climate in our county has spurred families to get involved in local government elections. How many Floridians find themselves as outcasts within their local Republican Party, and this has to stop! In Sarasota County, Jack Brill tried to destroy our grass roots movement for conservative school board candidates.”
"BRUNNI BACKBONE OF LOCAL REC ZEM GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT"
Brunni, who was also supported by Collier County REC Chairman Alfie Oates in the takeover of the local REC was the backbone of the local Republican grassroots. The grassroots organization was the moving force in electing Bridget Ziegler, Tim Enos and Robyn Marinelli for the Sarasota County School Board.
Oates
OATES AND FLYNN SUPPORT MEETING
Oates and Flynn also backed Sabatina in the takeover of the Lake County REC. Oates and Flynn have led recent successful grassroots campaigns to elect various candidate to lead local REC throughout Florida, which included Sabatina. It is obvious Sabatini would not have requested McDaniel’s removal if he did not have the approval of Oates and Flynn.
REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT VS. REPUBLICAN GRASSROOTS
Dhillon is turning the contest into a Republican Establishment vs. the grassroots of the Republican Party. Dhillon has stated, “We must hear the grassroots of our party, and elect leadership responsive to them. Above all, we must return to our main goal of winning elections.
“I’m running against Conservative Inc.” Dhillon recently stated. “I’m running against a swamp of fat cat consultants who take the money of small-dollar and billionaire donors, and they get paid whether they win or lose.”
Dhillon, who has been a member of the RNC for 6 years and is an accomplished attorney that has helped Republican candidates run for office in the past.
A recent straw poll of attendees at one of the nation’s largest gatherings of conservative activists showed overwhelming opposition to McDaniel continuing as chair of the Republican National Committee.
The survey at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest comes as McDaniel faces a challenge to her reelection for a fourth term as chair, and as a swarm of conservative media commentators have publicly called for her ouster.
Shapiro
“Somebody makes me the case because Ronna McDaniel should maintain her job at the RNC. She took over in 2017 and has presided over a blowout in 2018, a presidential loss in 2020, two run-off losses in 2021, and the loss of the Senate and wild GOP House underperformance in 2022.” – Ben Shapiro
“If she [Ronna] were an SEC football coach, she would have been out a long time ago.” – Erik Erickson
“We need some new leadership at the RNC.” - Kari Lake
Zeldin
“The question shouldn't be whether or not Ronna McDaniel can put together the votes to get re-elected to another term, I believe the real question our party needs to have been whether or not she should be running for a fourth term - and I believe the answer to that is no.”- Rep. Lee Zeldin
Kirk
Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point, sent an email to the 168 voting members of the RNC on Monday to “plead” with them to listen to grassroots conservatives who want them to pull their support from McDaniel. Kirk informed them of a new Turning Point political initiative, the Mount Vernon Project, to recruit new RNC members to challenge sitting members who are out of touch with grassroots activists.
Kirk stated, “Instead of funding America First candidates, McDaniel spent $17 million dollars on “donor mementos.” Instead of funding America First candidates, Ronna spent over $500,000 in private jet expenses. Instead of funding America First candidates, McDaniel spent over $75,000 on “entertainment.”
Wax
Gavin Wax, president of the New York Young Republican Committee, said, “Dhillon's record makes her uniquely qualified for the position. She is intimately aware of the issues that are crucial with the America First base and has her finger on the pulse of these issues.”
Wax further said, “[Ronna] McDaniel is the ultimate political chameleon, using Romney's bona fides to get an unearned position of authority but reinventing herself as a Trump Republican when that benefited her ambitions. Although she masquerades as a Trump ally now, she has clearly brought the baggage of the establishment with her. The RNC under her control has failed time and again."
The 1/20/22 RPOF meeting in Sarasota will take place a week before the RNC meets to elect the next Chairman of the RNC. At that same meeting of the RNC, Gruters is seeking to be the Treasurer of RNC.
If Gruters, who is not seeking re-election to be Chairman of the RPOF fails in seeking to be the Treasurer of RNC, Gruters become just another Florida State Senator facing being term limited.
GRUTERS DAYS WERE NUMBERED AS RPOF CHAIRMAN
Ogles
If anyone has any doubts that Gruters, who has been at the center of the controversy within the party since 2019, days were not numbered as Chairman of the RPOF, they must be reading those puff pieces for Gruters in SRQ and Florida POL written by Jacob Ogles.
VISIT BY CASEY DeSANTIS TO RPOF H.Q IS REVEALING--RPOF STOCKED WITH "GRUTERS AND SUSIE PEOPLE"
Problems between Governor Ron DeSantis and Gruters began back in 2019 after DeSantis learned that Gruters and former U.S Senator Rick Scott's political operative Susie Wiles were staffing the RPOF with operatives loyal to Wiles and Gruters.
Ron and Casey DeSantis
These tensions and suspicions became a reality for Wiles and Gruters, especially after the two most important political advisers in DeSantis’ orbit — chief of staff Shane Strum and DeSantis wife, Casey DeSantis — went to the Florida GOP headquarters in Tallahassee in April of 2019 to check it out.
Wiles
What they found was an organization stocked with “Susie people" and Gruters was following in line by hiring "Susie people" and replacing the highly competent political operative George Riley with the handpicked Wiles and Gruters mouthpiece from the Sarasota REC, Jennifer Locetta.
Even after Locetta and Wiles were sent packing to Washington D.C tensions continued to worsen but were kept out of public view, as not to create a rift between various RPOF factions during the 2022 political cycle.
RECENT "OUTING" MAKES GRUTERS "RADIOACTIVE"
Then when Gruters was outed by a male RPOF staffer for sexual harassment after getting drunk at a Tallahassee nightclub, Gruters days became numbered as RPOF chairman. No way did DeSantis wants Gruters returning as Chairman of the RPOF.
GRUTERS CONSERVATIVE BASE QUESTIONED
In addition, Gruters Conservative base took a hit after introducing legislation (SB 438) in 2020 aimed at ending workforce discrimination against LGBTQ Floridians, Conservative activist John Stemberger called on Gruters to resign as the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
Stemberger
Stemberger, president of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council, wrote, “No state Republican Party chairman in the history of America has ever supported a bill this dangerous and irresponsible. The bill represents both bad policy and bad politics and because of his refusal to pull his support from this egregious legislation, we are announcing a grass roots campaign to unseat him as state party chairman."
Ziegler
Stemberger recently endorsed the Vice Chairman of the RPOF Christian Ziegler to replace Gruters as Chairman of RPOF. Ziegler along with Tallahassee lobbyist Evan Power are running to replace Gruters. Power ran against Ziegler four years ago for Vice Chairman, but pulled out of the race two weeks before he was arrested for a DUI.
Both Power and Ziegler unlike Gruters are supporting Dhillon to replace McDaniels with Ziegler stating, "Changes must be discussed and changes made."
"GRUTERS MOVES RPOF MEETING TO BENEFIT McDANIEL
Gruters in order to insure neither Power or Ziegler vote for Dhillon as Chair of RPOF, Gruters moved the RPOF annual meeting date to elect the Chair of the RPOF from January to February. RFOP Executive Committee will now elect a new chairman on 2/25/23 after the RNC election on 1/27/23.
By delaying the vote, Gruters has essentially extended his 2-year term as State GOP Chair so he could vote for McDaniel despite what the RPOF Executive Committee wants, despite what the GOP grassroots want, despite what the two candidates who are running to replace him as RPOF Chair want.
In addition, Gruters cannot run for Treasurer of RNC if he is not Chair of RPOF, which he would not be if the election of Chair of RPOF was held as planned on the first week in January.
RPOF MEETING ON 1/20/23 IS THE BEGINNING FIGHT FOR SOUL OF REPUBLICAN PARTY
The meeting of the RPOF ON 1/20/23 will take place at the Potter Building on the grounds of the Sarasota County Fairgrounds. The meeting will no doubt receive national attention as Florida has become the center of the fight for the soul of the Republican Party between the Republican Establishment and the grassroots supporters of the Republican Party.
Brunni has stated although she and her fellow local grassroots organization members can’t attend the meeting, they will have a strong presence outside the meeting venue.
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