Resolutions with a dust cover
vs.
A dust-covered Resolution
I was recently asked about Lee County’s Border Security Resolution by a friend in Citrus County, as to who wrote it, and whether it was worth getting behind. Her question spawned this article about resolutions done right, and those done wrong. There’s a huge difference between a resolution designed to bring about political change... and a feckless, wreckless resolution, designed to suck the oxygen out of the room, so powerful resolutions can’t get passed. Michael Thompson’s ‘Toilet Paper Ballot’ resolution is the classic example of feckless. I will get to that after a little explanation of the typical tactics used by textbook narcissists, who want all efforts to go through them, so they can take credit for everyone’s efforts. This is classic con man behavior.
But, to answer my friend’s question about the Border Resolution… I don't know if Tara Jenner wrote it, or if someone else helped her. It was fairly benign, and feckless, but sounded good at the time, until you pick it apart. She presented it at the Feb meeting in Lee County and scheduled it before the ‘Ban The Jab’ resolution (BTJ), so we would never get BTJ passed before losing quorum”. It’s so poorly written, it begs the question as to whether it was ever intended to accomplish a goal, or just run out the clock. I strongly urge any county REC considering it, to read it very carefully and see if it really accomplishes anything. Again… if it was such an important resolution, why is she only now pushing it to be adopted by other RECs now, 9 months later?
A little Lee County ‘Limited Hangout’ History
It would appear that Lee Chair Michael Thompson (MT) and Vice Chair Tara Jenner (TJ) were working behind the scenes with the RINO establishment to stop the ‘Ban The Jab’ (BTJ) resolution, and in a multitude of ways.
TJ imposed a 'no recording' meeting rule, even though the former chair assaulted her 18yo son last May for recording the meeting. “Rules for thee, and not for me”.
She instituted a 2-hour timer, even though she wouldn’t have been elected in Dec, if Joe and I didn’t put a stop to the 2-hour timer. “Rules for thee, and not for me”.
MT bragged at an RPOF Committee meeting, that BTJ wouldn’t even come up for a vote, because there was a 2-hour timer, and we would lose quorum by then, anyway.
TJ created the agenda very specifically to drag on and on, slowly. Every possible tactic was used to make the meeting move like molasses. The groaning from the members was very evident of this fact.
TJ’s friend, Lindsay Funair, raised the objection to the “Minority Outreach” duty of the “Community Outreach” Standing Committee. This was designed to consume at least 20 minutes of debate time, which it did.
Mike Slenczka was poised at the end of that debate to call for adjournment, which failed.
Finally, we got to resolutions. And, just in case we did, TJ had the feckless Border Res on the agenda, ahead of BTJ. The members passed it with little, if any, debate. Most of the 60 new members sworn in that night joined specifically to be a part of passing BTJ, and by now they were the loudest groaners in the room, regarding the obstruction tactics.
MT allowed Andrew Sund (AS) to make a motion to “Object to Consideration of this matter” during BTJ, even though AS missed his opportunity to do so, which must occur before the motion is in debate. There is a very narrow window to object to consideration. Once a motion is made and seconded, it is considered in debate, even if the presenter has not begun uttering a single word of his argument. Amotion to object to consideration is rarely done. MT and AS were seen on the sidelines, planning it. MT proclaimed this from the podium, during debate.
TJ used every slow tactic to drag the meeting on during the debate to object. This included slow “Rise and count off” voting, the slowest possible way to vote.
When AS’ ‘motion to object’ failed, TJ was witnessed by several members, mouthing silently to AS, “I’m sorry, I tried”.
In the March meeting, to obstruct Ted Reese’s Election Integrity Res, TJ presented Denise Nystrom’s History Book Res. The amount of pushback against amending the agenda, to get the EI Res on the agenda, was ridiculous. A 5-minute vote turned into roughly 80 minutes of mud.
Every obstructionist tactic to the 2 greatest resolutions in our current political sphere failed. So, TJ has doubled down in her tactics, to the point of absurdity.
Both the BTJ and EI Res’s have been adopted by other counties across FL, and even other state parties, and by organizations outside of the Republican Party, like The Florida Republican Assembly.
Neither 'Border' nor 'History Books' have even been shared with other counties, let alone published, pushed, or presented to lawmakers. The difference between Resolutions with a dust cover, and dust-covered resolutions.
Now, they need to finally start pushing those two, while diminishing our two.
They are way outclassed on BTJ, so MT is now trying to co-opt the EI res. According to several sources, he got caught plagiarizing Ted’s EI Res, and passing it off as his own work to Ivan Raiklin. So, now he’s pushing for a feckless ‘paper ballot’ res that has less teeth than a 99yo retired boxer who chews tobacco and eats whole lemons. Calling for paper ballots “in counties where the SoE agrees”, after spending 2 years declaring that all 67 SoE’s believe the machines are flawless, is the epitome of feckless. This res will never, ever, have any effect on the machines, or paper ballots. It won’t accomplish any legislation which secures our votes. It is the resolution equivalent of a ‘Limited Hangout’.
The same with the unpublished Border Security and History Book Res’s.
The Power of Resolutions
I have written several articles about the power of Resolutions. In the larger abstract sense, resolutions played a large part in ‘How to take back your Republican Party in 42 Easy Steps’.
In ‘The Power of Resolutions’, I talked more about how resolutions apply political pressure on elected public servants, while lending cover for them to do the right thing. The proverbial carrot and the stick both being applied, simultaneously.
But, after the Lee Chair began putting out videos that, among other egregious actions, asked for anyone to “Name one resolution that has ever done anything”, I felt compelled to write ‘Why are Resolutions so Important in Politics’, and answer him. Clearly, he had never heard of The Lee Resolution, AKA The Declaration of Independence.
So, now his attacks on resolutions have put him in a precarious position. It is now nearly October, and his first year as chair is nearly behind us, and he has not penned one resolution that he can “Slimer-Climber” his way to personal glory on. He tried plagiarism, but got caught. So, now he has to get one under his belt, and eliminate (or replace) the one that he got caught trying to plagiarize… the “Election Vote Accuracy” resolution, which was passed with over 90% support in Lee County’s March Meeting. Yes, the same resolution that the chair and vice chair expended over an hour, attempting to keep it off the agenda.
Why Paper Ballots vs. Machines
For the 2.6% of the population that still believes that the machines rock, there’s a ton of evidence available to dispell that myth. But, just look at the level of corruption surrounding the machines.
County and state governments have routinely ignored existing laws, created new laws, or used the courts to circumvent the law, when they can’t pass them in the legislatures. They make it illegal to look at the machines or the software/code. SoE’s lie and create subterfuge around the data. Even FL’s SupeRINOrity legislature changed the laws this past session, to make machines mandatory, and asking questions illegal. They say “Just trust us”.
Then, in response to the majority of voters in any/all parties, who say they do not trust the machines, the Republican National Committee (RNC) passed a resolution, which when examined closely… does NOTHING. It calls for paper ballots in areas where allowed by law. When, what it should do is call for Republicans to change those laws, demanding hand-counted paper ballots. It’s just a bait-and-switch or limited-hangout.
The Great Lee Co. Toilet Paper Ballot Resolution of 2023
A resolution that replaces the current language of returning to hand-counted paper ballots across the state of Florida, with language that hangs its hat on “if county commissioners and SoE’s agree”. If the County BOCC’s or SoE’s agreed, we wouldn’t need a resolution. They would never had allowed the machines to be used in 2020; machines which violated the certification requirement by being connected to the internet.
Even if Lee County somehow agreed to this, Lee County doesn’t seem to have democrat cheating going on. So, let’s pretend for a minute that Tommy Doyle agreed to it, but Hillsborough, Pinellas, Miami-Dade, and every other blue county didn’t go to hand counted paper ballots, what do you think the election outcome would be? It would be like wearing boxing gloves to an MMA event, which allowed brass knuckles. Isn’t this exactly what happened in the 2020 elections? The blue states played by a different standard. They cheated… while we followed the rules. This sets up that same standard, county by county, in Florida.
Imagine spending all of last year contacting every SoE in all 67 FL counties, and each of them telling you that the machines were great. Imagine further that you want to get rid of machines. Would you put that language in your political-pressure resolution? Neither would I. We don’t need this resolution. We already have a stronger-worded version. This resolution does nothing. And, it intentionally does nothing, but two things:
Amend the existing resolution and remove all of its teeth, without tipping off members that this is the affect it will have.
Change ownership from a true Election Integrity proponent, and hand it over to a grifter.
Follow Nancy Reagan's advice, and just say "NO". Say no in Lee County. And, say no across Florida, in every county that tries to pass this red herring, Trojan Horse.
I'm going to assume that MT and TJ are in Florida, since it was mentioned in the third from the last paragraph of the article.
I was told that the wording at the state level needed to be changed from stating “machines must be used”. to “machines may be used”. The wording was voted on and passed after the “hanging chads” after that election...
Terry