Florida Election Supervisor Doesn’t Know Meaning of “Canvass”

Florida Broward County Election Official Brenda Snipes is zero for two today, as a Florida judge sided with the Florida GOP and has ordered for the election supervisor to change her ways in how she handles vote-by-mail absentee ballots. Through a declaratory injunction ordered Friday, Supervisor Snipes is prevented from “opening the mail-in ballots in secret or before the county’s three-member Canvassing Board meets to determine the ballot’s validity.”

The Republican Party of Florida declared: “the Court’s ruling helps protect the integrity of this year’s election process, not just for Republicans but for all voters in Broward County.”

In the 17-page ruling, the judge repeatedly stated it was an issue that Snipes did not know what the meaning of the word “canvass” and she could state why the court shouldn’t side with the Florida GOP. The judge stated:

“Defendant has failed to rebut Plaintiff’s entitlement to relief … and has even admitted to misunderstanding the meaning of the word ‘canvass.’”

It is concerning that in the second largest county with voter participation in Florida, the county Election Supervisor, who has held the position since 2003, does not know what “canvass” means and believed that her office was operating according to state and local laws.

This is not the first sign of incompetence or corruption shown by Snipes. In 2016, she broke the law by destroying ballots cast in the congressional primary between Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Tim Canova, prior to the required waiting period.

As Florida prepares for their primary elections and the midterm general elections in November, it is concerning that there continues to be fraud and blatant incompetence in election administration. The people should have the confidence their election officials are ensuring that elections are fair, open, and honest -- not that these entrusted officials are acting lawlessly, unjustly, and ineptly.

Desperate Bill Nelson Claims Russians Have Penetrated Florida Elections

Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) is arguably the least accomplished Senators in the U.S. Senate and he is currently losing in his re-election bid to the successful Governor Rick Scott of Florida.   The desperate Nelson has turned on his friends in an appeal to the far left.  Now he is making wild accusations: 

Russian operatives have "penetrated" some of Florida's voter registration systems ahead of the 2018 midterms, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Wednesday, adding new urgency to concerns about hacking.

However, Nelson offers no proof.

"They have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about," Nelson told the Tampa Bay Times before a campaign event in Tampa. He said something similar a day earlier in Tallahassee but declined to elaborate.

"That's classified," the Democrat said Tuesday.

He is facing a re-election challenge in November from Gov. Rick Scott, whose administration said it has no knowledge of the allegations made by Nelson.

Nelson’s reason is simple:

Trailing in most polls and being significantly outspent in a U.S. Senate race that could top $200 million in campaign spending, three-term incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson strayed momentarily from hammering challenger Gov. Rick Scott on his personal finances this week to suggest Florida’s 2018 elections have already been "penetrated" by Russian hackers.

Nelson made the vague claim during a Tallahassee campaign stop Tuesday and repeated it Wednesday during an interview with the Tampa Bay Times.

As Secretary of State Ken Detzner elaborated on the latter (emphasis added):

Detzner’s office Wednesday said it did not have any new information regarding threats to the state’s electoral systems from DHS, adding in a statement that it has “received zero information from Sen. Nelson or his staff that supports his claims. If Sen. Nelson has specific information about threats to our elections, he should share it with election officials in Florida.”

Either way, this does not look good for Nelson.  He is either wrong and fabricating the allegations for political gain.  Or he is hiding information from Florida election officials they could use right now to combat Russian meddling or hacking. 

There is a reason why Desperate Bill Nelson is losing in the polls. 

RNLA to Host Florida Election Law CLE Training Amidst Key State Races

Maybe never in American history has the integrity of the electoral process and upholding the rule of law been more important than in 2018. Just in the past few months there has been significant evidence of voter fraud and allegations of corruption plaguing high level polling officials.

On June 28th, the Republican National Lawyers Association will be hosting an election law CLE presentation in Kissimmee, Florida. A major goal of the RNLA event will be to restore the high standard of honesty, integrity, and transparency in American elections. Panelists at the event will include some of the most respected and high-profile attorneys and officials in the state of Florida. Topics for the esteemed panelists will range from legal ethics, First Amendment issues on college campuses, and election law in general.

In addition to the electoral related discussion, the RNLA’s CLE presentation at the ‘Sunshine Summit’ will break down two key races in the state. First, the two major candidates for the Republican nominee for Attorney General will be speaking and sharing their vision for the position that is the most powerful attorney in the state. Speaking first will be Judge Ashley Moody who will then be followed by Representative Frank White. Judge Moody was the youngest judge in the history of Florida when she was appointed to the Circuit Court at the age of 31 in 2006. Representative White is an attorney who has represented the 2nd district in the state house since 2016.

The presentation will also include Jessica Furst Johnson hosting a discussion breaking down the key senate race in the Sunshine State. Governor Rick Scott looks to build on the success he has had as governor and unseat incumbent Democrat Senator Bill Nelson. Not only will attendees hear about the candidates and the races, they will also learn how they can get involved.  The event will take place at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Florida starting at 10 am on Thursday, June 28. For more information on the event, visit the RNLA event page or RSVP here.

America’s “Worst“ Election Official is Finally Starting to Pay for Her Fraud and/or Incompetence

Broward County Election Official Brenda Snipes is finally starting to face the music for her years of admitted vote fraud and incompetence.  Ironically, it was for her efforts regarding a Democrat Primary for then DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman that she is beginning to face the music:

Broward Circuit Judge Raag Singhal issued an order Friday determining that Supervisor Brenda Snipes' office improperly discarded thousands of ballots cast two years ago in the Democratic primary race between Tim Canova and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. In a ruling first reported by Politico, Singhal sided with Canova, who filed a lawsuit last year after he said Snipes ignored and then illegally obstructed his request to copy and inspect ballots.

Snipes was not only slapped down by a judge in a summary judgment, because of her fighting even after she admitted she broke the law, but the plaintiff will now receive attorneys’ fees.  

Snipes action in this case may or may not have helped the former Hillary-backing DNC Chair survive a strong challenge from a Sanders-supported challenger. 

What can be said is no one should trust Snipes to run an election.  In the 2016 general election alone Snipes had the following problems:

• She admitted that “non-citizens and felons have voted despite not being eligible — especially right before major elections when groups are actively registering new voters.”

• She alleged “engaged in ongoing violations of Florida law governing the canvassing of vote-by-mail ballots [absentee ballots]. [T]ens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in Broward County are being opened by your staff: (1) before they have been canvassed by the county canvassing board; and (2) without providing the public the opportunity to review or file a protest against the canvass of a ballot believed to be legally deficient.”

Under Snipes, voters are being disenfranchised by non-citizen and felons on the one hand.  On the other hand, she is destroying ballots and making it more difficult to review her actions.

Florida’s Secretary of State is sending an election expert to ensure all laws are followed.  It is about time; for who knows how many Ms. Snipes has disenfranchised through fraud or incompetence.   

ICYMI: America’s Most Incompetent or Corrupt Election Official?

A very famous election lawyer once told me: in elections it is “sometimes hard to tell where the incompetence ends and the fraud begins.”  In Florida, Broward County Election Official Brenda Snipes may be the poster child for this saying.  Earlier this year, Brenda Snipes confirmed the fact that non-citizens and ineligible felons were voting in Broward County.  Last year, Snipes “engaged in ongoing violations of Florida law governing the canvassing of vote-by-mail ballots [absentee ballots]. [T]ens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in Broward County are being opened by your staff: (1) before they have been canvassed by the county canvassing board; and (2) without providing the public the opportunity to review or file a protest against the canvass of a ballot believed to be legally deficient.”

Of course, Snipes also made several serious errors last year:

Before the election last year, her office mistakenly sent out some absentee ballots to voters that failed to list a popular medical marijuana measure that ultimately passed by wide margins, but not before the office was sued by the Florida chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. In another case during the election, the office mailed out about 1,700 ballots that had the word “no” in Creole where it should have said “wi” for “yes.”

And now, Snipes is at it again:

The election supervisor in Florida’s second-most populous county broke the law by destroying ballots cast in last year’s congressional primary involving Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to election-law experts across the political spectrum. The congresswoman's opponent has sued to get access to the ballots.

Snipes’ office, however, destroyed the paper ballots in question in October — in the middle of Canova’s lawsuit — but says it’s lawful because the office made high-quality electronic copies. Canova’s legal team found out after the fact last month.

Federal law is clear that such records have to be maintained for 22 months.  Snipes is using a legally dubious (at best) argument that Florida law supersedes federal law, but as another Florida election official states:

Of the state’s 67 county elections officials, Bay County Elections Supervisor Mark Andersen is recognized as one of the most high-tech. He said he relies on state law allowing him to destroy paper ballots after making high-quality images of the records. But, he says, there’s “no way” he would destroy ballots that are the subject of a lawsuit. Other elections supervisors said they, too, would never destroy the hard copy of ballots in a lawsuit.  [emphasis added].

Snipes is seemingly incompetent, trying to hide something, or both.  Regardless, she shows the need for poll watchers and transparency to oversee the voting process.   

Democrats Ignoring Voter Protections for Fraudulent Votes

In what seems like a daily attack on the Vice Chair of Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity Kris Kobach, election integrity opponent Jason Kander made an alarming admission of liberal policies (emphasis ours):

Jason Kander, the former Democratic secretary of state in neighboring Missouri, says it's "not at all true" that poll workers in Kansas hand out provisional ballots to voters who would've been turned away in other states. He argues most election officials are aggressive about handing out regular ballots whenever possible.

Actually this is illegal, ignores the law and disenfranchises voters by taking away the safeguard of provisional ballots and allowing fraudulent votes to be counted.  Provisional ballots were the idea of former DNC Chair and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd who sponsored them as part of the Help America Vote Act.  As he proudly described this civil rights protection at a 2007 NAACP forum (emphasis ours):

Q: What would you do to ensure that all Americans are able to cast a free and unfettered vote and that that vote be counted?

A [Senator Dodd]: The right to vote and to have your vote counted is the right upon which all of the rights that we have depends. Nothing is more fundamental than this. I’m very proud to have stood with John Conyers when about four or five people stood with us several years ago to introduce the “Help America Vote Act.” It’s not a perfect piece of legislation, but we were able to pass the first voting improvement legislation in this country since the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s. It’s very important that we do what we can here to expand that right and expand that opportunity. We need to go back and do more to make this right. I’m proud that we stood together to make sure that people have provisional ballots, that we have the right to have statewide voter registration and bring courts of civil rights actions against those who would deprive us of those rights.

Kansas has the right approach, which is to give out provisional ballots to those who would be turned away in other states, and all should be concerned by Kander's statement.  A good example of why is another time the story lets the cat of the bag on liberals' plans.  

The story cites the fact that Florida had fewer provisional ballots than Kansas to seemingly condemn Kansas.   Actually, this again exposes problems in Florida; some of which have surfaced in the last few months.  A prime example is in the Democrat Stronghold of Broward County where the Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, an elected Democrat, admitted under oath:

Snipes acknowledged the processes her office have been using aren’t perfect and that some non-citizens and felons have voted despite not being eligible — especially right before major elections when groups are actively registering new voters.

One of those processes is likely not using provisional ballots correctly.  Sounds like Kobach and Kansas' “more aggressive [approach] than other states at getting [provisional] ballots in the hands of would-be voters” is better than Kander's, which even a former DNC Chair would disagree with.  

Legendary Partisan Democrat Election Official Brenda Snipes Confirms Vote Fraud

Democrat Broward County, Florida, Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes made a startling confession in a suit brought by the American Civil Rights Union:

Snipes acknowledged the processes her office have been using aren’t perfect and that some non-citizens and felons have voted despite not being eligible — especially right before major elections when groups are actively registering new voters.

This statement should help put to bed the argument that vote fraud is a myth.  A number of important things to note from this:

1. Despite her statement that “non-citizens and felons have voted” there have been zero prosecutions.  It is important to note again that prosecutions are not the proper way to judge vote fraud.  It also calls attention to the fact that a major election official knew that fraud had occurred but made no effort to report it.
2. Democrat and liberal groups do massive voter registration drives to make vote fraud easier.  As Snipes says, fraud happens “especially right before major elections when groups are actively registering new voters.”  This shows that the efforts of registration groups are in part aimed at flooding election officials with registrations to make it easier for fraudulent registrations to be entered.
3. “Major Elections.”  Often when we do hear stories on vote fraud, it is in local elections or Democrat primaries. The latter is often because bitter Democrat election losers are willing to expose the antics of fellow Democrats in these situations.  Snipes' statement makes clear this fraud is happen before major elections such as Presidential elections and that Democrats or their liberal allies are participating in an organized effort for illegal votes. 
4. Non-citizens and felons, as a group, vote overwhelmingly Democrat.  These illegal votes benefit Democrats and disenfranchise other voters, be they Green, Libertarian or Republican. 

Kudos to the American Civil Rights Union for bringing this serious matter to the public's attention.  

Florida Vote Fraud: A Case Study of the Need for Open, Fair and Honest Elections

The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) fights for open, fair and honest elections. 

A prime example of the need for this is what is going on right now in Florida. Let us explain.

Open Elections

The Broward County Supervisor of Elections “engaged in ongoing violations of Florida law governing the canvassing of vote-by-mail ballots [absentee ballots]. [T]ens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in Broward County are being opened by your staff: (1) before they have been canvassed by the county canvassing board; and (2) without providing the public the opportunity to review or file a protest against the canvass of a ballot believed to be legally deficient. These illegal actions must stop immediately.”  [Letter from the Republican Party of Florida to the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, Nov. 2, 2016.]

Under pressure and possible legal action, Snipes is now opening the processing a little bit but not enough.  An RNLA member was key to shining sunlight on this process.  

How can there be confidence in the system when one election official is counting ballots illegally behind closed doors? 

Fair Elections

Election officials in Florida have already been caught committing vote fraud. 

Gladys Coego, 74, a temporary Election Support Specialist for the Miami-Dade Elections Department tasked with opening mail-in ballots and scanning them into the machine, is accused of marking ballot choices that were originally left blank, according to CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald. . . . In a second arrest, police said Tomika Curgil, 33, filled out voter-registration forms for five citizens without their consent and submitted at least 17 forms for people believed to not exist, including several who are dead.  

Honest Elections

Vote Fraud has already disenfranchised Florida voters. 

By mid-October, Susan Halperin became concerned that she and her husband hadn't received their absentee ballots in the mail.  So Lawrence Halperin called the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Office to find out what was going on. He was stunned to learn their ballots had already been cast. Someone had stolen the Halperins' ballots, faked their signatures and voted. . . .Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel said they were among five voters in three homes in Spring Valley whose absentee ballots were stolen and then fraudulently submitted with votes cast by someone else. 

No one thinks these are the only cases; just the only ones who got caught.  Why does this matter?  Every fraudulent vote overrides a legitimate, real vote and disenfranchises an honest, eligible voter. 

Florida is just one state but it shows the need for open, fair and honest elections.  The RNLA seeks to promote open, fair and honest elections at all levels of American society in a non-discriminatory manner and to provide access to the polls to all qualified and eligible voters. Through its efforts, the RNLA strives to strengthen the faith and confidence of all citizens of the United States in their government and the electoral process.

Election Fraud at All Levels Poses Risk to Election Integrity

RNLA Advisory Council member Tom Spencer, who has been on the front lines of election law and administration for years in Florida, published an op-ed today outlining the disturbing ways fraud can damage the integrity of our elections: 

Every day, we learn of new and frightening attacks on the heartbeat of American democracy. Voting machines switching votes from Trump to Hillary Clinton. Voters long since dead being resurrected to vote. Phony registrations being submitted in the names of unsuspecting or fictitious people. Voters requesting mail ballots and then attempting to also vote by machine. People voting in multiple states. Voter rolls intentionally left with millions of ineligible voters or voters who have moved. States permitting voters access to ballots with no photo or skimpy ID. States permitting registration with no actual proof of the citizenship of the voter. 

In my own state of Florida, police officials just arrested a temporary employee of the Miami-Dade Department of Elections who was caught changing votes inside the Elections Department. Project Veritas uncovered horrifying activities of wholesale and retail vote fraud, the buying of votes, and organized theft by election judges at the precincts. 

Indeed, so widespread is this nightmare that many Americans now easily use the phrase, “Vote early and often.” Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia are notorious bastions of vote brokers and vote fixers. Election consultants in those cities know whom they have to buy and what the price is to deliver a winning election. Cash is passed around this underground marketplace to buy phony registrations and produce busloads of voters and buckets of mailed-in ballots. The schemes seem endless. 

To make things even worse, liberals uniformly oppose the requirement of voter ID. Politically correct “progressives,” some in high office and many in the media, deny that these proven cases of fraud even exist. They are brushed off with the importance of parking tickets.

Tom rightly recognizes that Donald Trump is the only presidential candidate who has taken this threat seriously and calls on our next President to "lead our nation's recovery by organizing a task force of governors, mayors, election officials, and law enforcement to stop this deadly disease before it destroys the very essence of our Constitution."

Day 1: Vote Fraud Already in Florida?

Intentionally or not, according to this post by Lawyers Democracy Fund, election officials in Miami-Dade County in Florida are “increasing the election's vulnerability” to vote fraud:

Sources tell LDF that the poll workers, on orders from the Supervisor’s office, are now erroneously informing early voters to keep the mail ballot instead of returning it to the possession of the Elections Office.  This procedure is in direction violation of Florida Election Code Section 101.69, and there is already canvass evidence that that some voters who early voted have also attempted to vote twice by mail balloting.

The attachment linked above also includes more troubling information.  Eight absentee ballots (called vote by mail in Florida) were rejected because the voter is deceased.  While much like winning Powerball, it is technically possible that the person received the vote by mail ballot, voted, mailed it, died, and the county received and processed the death record, it seems unlikely.  What seems more likely is eight dead people's ballots were “voted” by someone else.  It is great that the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections caught these but how many others were missed?  Especially in light of the increasing vulnerability in Florida by such actions as returning mail in ballots to those who vote in person.

Most importantly, who is trying to vote in the name of the dead?    

Democrats Fighting for Zombies, While Republicans Try to Protect the Living

There are problems with the dead registering in Virginia and voting in Colorado and California.  The most common way that the dead are fraudulently "voting" is via absentee ballot.  It is hard for zombies to actually get the polls.  The respective parties could not take a more radically different approach. 

Republicans like those in Virginia have proposed making absentee ballots less susceptible to fraud by measures such as 2015’s HB1318, which stated:

Applications for absentee ballots; photo identification required. Requires that any voter submitting his application for an absentee ballot by mail or by electronic or telephonic transmission to a facsimile device shall submit with his application a copy of one of the forms of identification acceptable under current law. The bill exempts from this requirement military and overseas voters and persons with a disability. Currently, only a voter who completes his application for an absentee ballot in person is required to show a form of identification.

This was vetoed by former DNC Chair and friend of the Clinton’s, Governor Terry McAuliffe. 

Democrats on other side continue in their efforts to bring chaos and discord to the election process regarding absentee ballots.  As the nonpartisan Lawyers Democracy Fund describes it:

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against Florida on equal protection grounds to remove a key integrity check of Florida’s mail voting process. The signature review requires a comparison of the mail ballot signature and the registration signature on file by the Florida Supervisor of Elections. If the signatures do not match, the ballot is rejected. The plaintiffs seek a last minute judicially created cure period for only some of these non-signature match voters because the truly absent voters or military overseas voters would not have an opportunity to update their signature. The lawsuit comes less than 35 days prior to the November 8 Presidential Election with millions of ballots already being mailed to voters. The current mail ballot rules have been in place for years, and mail ballots have already been sent to tens of thousands of overseas and military voters.  Absentee or mail balloting is already vulnerable to fraud and abuse without an ID requirement. Removing one of the key integrity measures increases the likelihood of potential fraud.  

So in a nutshell, the Democrats are supporting efforts to disenfranchise legal voters through vote fraud; Democrats are trying to take away even the few safeguards there are for absentee ballots.  Zombies or the dead are not a protected class under the Constitution and should not have their votes counted. 

More Potential Vote Fraud in Florida

This past week, three courts rolled back common sense voter ID requirements while allegations of vote fraud continue to surface in advance of November’s Presidential Election. The most recent example is occurring in the battleground state of Florida.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is reviewing allegations that fraudulent mail-in ballot requests have been submitted in Palm Beach County for the upcoming primaries, agency spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said Friday.

County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor, who is running for re-election, is accusing her opponent, former State Rep. Mack Bernard, of submitting false requests for mail-in ballots. In Florida, voters can ask to submit their ballots by mail, rather than voting in person.

Unfortunately Florida has a long history of such problems.  

Ballot brokering has been an ongoing issue in Miami-Dade County. For a fee, operatives known in Spanish as "boleteros," canvass neighborhoods to collect absentee ballots. Some have crossed the line by filling out the ballots for voters.

Fraud issues have plagued the primaries and many other elections this year, and yet, the left and media continues to willfully ignore it.  Fraudsters continue to get more creative in their methods which makes the case not only for Voter ID laws but also indicates a need for an updated process for absentee balloting. In the greatest democracy in the world, election integrity should never be in question or left to chance. 

The RNLA's Florida RNC Meeting Reception Is Rapidly Approaching. RSVP Today!

The RNLA Florida RNC Meeting Reception for RNLA Sponsors, RNLA Members and RNC Meeting Attendees will take place on April 20, 2016, on the patio (weather permitting) of the Rivals Waterfront Sports Bar located inside of the Diplomat Resort & Spa.

Special leaders and invited guests will be in attendance including RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, RNC General Counsel John Ryder, RNC Debate Committee Member and Georgia Committeeman Randy Evans, and Kasich for President's General Counsel Mark Braden.

Pictured: (Left to Right) RNC General Counsel John Ryder,
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus & RNLA Chair Randy Evans

To attend this reception you must be an RNLA Member or Sponsor this event.  Sponsors will receive additional perks.  Contact Brittany Walker at walker@republicanlawyer.net or Michael Thielen at thielen@republicanlawyer.net for details on membership or sponsorship.

Thank you to Manny Iglesias for graciously sponsoring this event.

To RSVP for this event, click here.  

Earlier in the day on April 20, the RNLA is also hosting a State Party Executive Director EDO Training and an Election Law CLE and Ethics Training Seminar. 

Florida Governor Rick Scott to Speak at the RNLA Washington, D.C. Chapter Luncheon

The RNLA Is pleased to announce that Florida Governor Rick Scott will address our January D.C. Luncheon on January 27 at the Capitol Hill Club.

Governor Rick Scott is the 45th Governor of the great State of Florida.  As promised during his campaign, Scott is focused on creating jobs and turning Florida’s economy around.  After attending high school and community college, Gov. Scott enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served on active duty aboard the USS Glover as a radar man. The G.I. Bill enabled Gov. Scott to attend college and law school. While enrolled at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and working full-time at a local grocery store, Gov. Scott and Ann made their first significant foray into the business world by buying two Kansas City doughnut shops for Gov. Scott’s mother to manage. Following graduation from UMKC with a degree in business administration, Gov. Scott earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University.

Governor Scott is known as an innovator in business, health care, and politics.  His specialization was in health care mergers and acquisitions, and it was during his work on these transactions that he recognized how patients could be better served by improving hospital efficiency, lowering costs, and focusing on better outcomes.  Through his entrepreneurship, Gov. Scott developed a reputation in the health care industry for providing affordable, high quality care to patients.  As Governor, he brings a similar vision for quality and efficiency to benefit the people of Florida.

Governor Scott has been fighting for Florida by creating jobs and fighting to cut taxes. Since December 2010, Florida’s private sector has created more than 1 million jobs. 

[Last] November, the private sector added 35,600 jobs across Florida, resulting in 1,011,800 new private sector jobs created in the last five years. Florida’s unemployment rate also dropped to 5.0 percent, the lowest in seven years. Florida’s annual private sector job growth rate, now at 3.6 percent, has exceeded that of the nation since April 2012.

In his budget proposal, Governor Scott has included priorities including a $1 billion tax cut, $250 million for economic development, and a health care transparency proposal.

The Florida First budget cuts $1 billion in taxes including permanently eliminating the income tax on manufacturing and retail businesses, permanently eliminating the tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment, cutting the tax on commercial leases, extending the sales tax exemption on college textbooks, and implementing a 10-day back-to-school sales tax holiday and a 9-day disaster preparedness sales tax holiday.

For more information and to purchase tickets for our January D.C. luncheon, please click here. 

An Interview with RNLA Leader and National Security Expert Thomas Spencer

Florida attorney, former RNLA First Vice President and current RNLA Advisory Council Member Thomas Spencer recently shared his story with RNLA Florida Chapter Leader Pedro Allende. Read about why he became a lawyer, and other issues facing national security.  For links to other interviews and more details on our Florida Chapter, check out RNLA's Florida Facebook page.  

1. Aside from being a lawyer, please tell us a bit about your background in the area of intelligence and national security.

My interest began as an intern and aide to Florida Congressman Charlie Bennett (D. Jax Fla). I worked for him in Washington and then in Florida during his campaign for the Senate. He was the Vice-Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and assigned me to work on Military issues. He was also on the House Intel Committee and a WWII hero. When I started practicing law, I became counsel to and then Trustee of a Trust for Russian citizens. My job was to distribute money behind the Iron Curtain to these beneficiaries and insure that they, not the government, were getting the money. This went on for quite some time and I worked occasionally through the State Department and with the official state-owned Russian law firm to get them these periodic payments, which were substantial to them.  I was introduced to Ted Shackley, who was the Associate Director of Operations of the CIA and had been stationed in Miami, as head of the CIA operation known as "JM WAVE".  It was the largest operation outside of Langley HQ and employed over 1500 employees, many of whom were Cubans who worked undercover and many of whom are prominent citizens today--who have never revealed their covers.  The University of Miami was the cover for JM WAVE and the HQ was at the South Campus. Several adjunct professors were actually CIA Officers. Shackley became head of CIA in Laos and other locations and became quite famous. He is somewhat infamously depicted in an unauthorized book "The Blond Ghost" and in his own book, "Spy Master", published after his death.

Early in my law career, I was introduced to many notable "Spy Masters", became a Life Member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, received their highest award for contributions to the Intel Community, and was recruited by John Sears (former head of the RNC) to take on some cases at the request of Reagan DCI Casey. I was asked to represent General Richard Secord, CIA officer Thomas Clines, General John K. Singlaub, and members of the Nicaraguan Opposition Army (the "Contras") and others. I continued to take on cases and sensitive matters relating to intelligence officers. After 9/11, I was asked to volunteer for the Coast Guard to help organize a test program called "Operation On Guard" (like a waterway neighborhood watch). It was an intelligence program to train captains to watch for terrorism suspects.  The Coast Guard then took it nationwide and we received a Commendation from the Commandant. My law partners never knew what I was doing, but it was fun to make them salute me in uniform.  Intel officers in the Clandestine Service are generally left out in the cold when they retire and need help sometimes with the "afterglow" of their careers.  

Such was the case for Ted Shackley, when a left wing group called the Christic Institute launched a well-financed lawsuit aided by Hillary Clinton in Miami Federal Court. There were 23 defendants, almost all of whom were former CIA officers. We won the case and Cert. was denied in the Supreme Court. We won $1.2 Million in Sanctions and put the group out of business. I have since acted as private counsel, in with CIA on occasion, when officers need help. Currently I am handling Italy v. Robert Seldon Lady, an officer who retired after an extraordinary rendition in Italy of an Egyptian jihadist. He was convicted in absentia and I requested a pardon by the President of Italy. It is a widely reported matter on the internet and is an example of the tragedy that can follow an officer after a life of secret service to our nation.  It is fundamentally unfair and I have fought to have officers like Bob made whole in recognition of their contribution at the point of the spear. Sometimes I have actually been successful. But memories fade quickly as we move away from 9/11.

2.  What kinds of threats are the U.S. and U.S. companies currently facing?

Because our systems are so interrelated, and our grids so interdependent, huge attacks can put us back into the 4th Century.  The Intel Community believes that systems have been placed into our cybersystems by China, Russia and Iran which will lie in wait for tactical time to strike. It is not a secret that these fears are a high priority and an effort is underway to seek them out. The USA is being attacked hourly by various groups of hackers, some state-sponsored-- who are retrieving identities, social security numbers, credit card data, etc. at a furious pace. USA companies are therefore facing exposure from our enemies, gangs of hackers, lawyers suing them for negligence in the maintenance of defensive systems, and the US government which is increasingly aggressive as voters scream outrage at the plundering of their property. It is an ugly scene. It is causing fear and trepidation, loss of confidence in the commercial and monetary systems—precisely what our enemies want.

3. We have seen an uptick in state-sponsored cyber incidents in recent years in both the private and public arenas. How do should we be dealing with this problem? 

I think that we are doing all we can. The Obama Administration has been aggressive in pushing the business and public sectors to get on top of the daily variations of attack mechanisms.  This is a case, in my view where more and more is better.  It is also a question of Science and we have the best and brightest at work. Unfortunately, I suspect that working in the Labs are agents of foreign governments stealing our innovations. We are educating some of them. We cannot do anything about that as an open and somewhat free society.  In our book, I have placed an appendix of the programs launched by the Obama Administration to get industry and government sharing data and innovations.  We just need to innovate faster and better—and we will.

4. Do you see this more as an attempt to acquire our IP or as a search for information to exploit people for the benefit of foreign governments?

We have been stealing secrets and exploiting agents in Russia and China and elsewhere for decades.  They are doing it to us.  They feel morally justified in engaging in theft and it also happens to be profitable. We simply do not have enough FBI agents or enough bold CIA officers to compete with what the Russians and Chinese are doing to us.  We are swamped. Think about the numbers of Chinese and Russian students, etc. in the USA. These are highly disciplined people and it takes an army of FBI agents to track them down. Moreover, we have the Snowdens of our own country to deal with.  So we are in a State of undeclared War and we do not have the resources to do anything but pick at it. President Obama's "agreement" with the Chinese to lay down cyber weapons was a plea for mercy. The Chinese and Russians want every discovery and innovation we have. And, in addition, they want anything they can steal to exploit intelligence officers, cover companies, etc.

5. Given the recent controversy about Hilary Clinton's private server, how serious is that breach from a legal perspective and a national security perspective?

It is huge.  Given what I have said above, the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, Cubans, WIKI LEAKS, must be feasting on the juicy info in those emails. Being occasionally cynical and having litigated with her (American Physicians vs. Clinton), I wonder whether this excuse covers an intentional act. Did she leave the Safe Open on purpose? None of us will probably have the evidence unless the next Administration launches a full inquiry. But who knows what was in the emails?  For example, does she opine where President Obama was on the night of Benghazi when he disappeared and could not be reached? From both a legal perspective and a national security perspective, this is a huge case. If you or I or anyone else in the government had done this, we would be ( or should be ) lawyered up, wearing the Fifth Amendment.

6. With the U.S. government's foray into cyber war like the Stuxnet virus that took down centrifuges in Iran, have we opened Pandora's box?

It was already opened.  This has been going on a long time between governments, but it has been at a low level. The attacks on USA companies and government are just opening salvos and a type of "grey mail".  Unless we devise a different, more aggressive approach, we are in for lots of pain. But maybe we will innovate out of the mess. We developed Stealth technology and lots of other miracles—we need another big one.

7. How does this end? Are there parallels to be drawn to America's entrance into WWII (are we being drawn into this by hostile acts) or to the space race (are we competing and trying to develop a competitive advantage)?

I am not nearly smart or experienced enough to suggest "an end."  My guess is that we continue to spar. Unless a nutcase like North Korea sparks a nuclear war that we are not prepared for.  A destroyed USA destroys the world economy.  Without WalMart, China is toast.  Our global economy is so interdependent, an economic flu in a major country might bring a heart attack somewhere else.  But our beloved America is right up against a wall. Massive debt, huge unemployment, social upheaval--- we all know the parameters are ugly and getting massively uglier by the day.  We have abandoned the manned "space race".  We now have to ride on Russian rockets at whatever price they want to charge. Obama closed the Moon project and China is about to launch a massive program to land on and mine the Moon for Helium 3 and other important minerals. The European Space Agency and the Russians have just announced a joint extensive Moon Base project. We have no similar program. There is no definitive Moon Treaty. We will de-orbit the space station probably by 2021.  We gave the manned space program to friends of President Obama—SpaceX—and the first launch exploded—costing millions of lost precious tax dollars. It is another fine mess. And it will take 20 years (if we start today) to straighten it out.

Q and A with Florida Representative Carlos Trujillo

1. Tell us something about yourself that isn't readily apparent from your FL House profile.

Rep. Trujillo: I'm the managing partner of a 15 person law firm.  

2. Why did you decide to become an attorney?

. Rep. Trujillo:  I've always been interested in the law. Since an early age, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. 

3. What is the most interesting case you've worked on? 

Rep. Trujillo:  As a prosecutor I tried a case against a pro se defendant facing 40 years.  He was found guilty and held in contempt twice throughout the course of the trial. 

4. Who is the most interesting lawyer you've worked with?

Rep. Trujillo:  Andrew Vargas, my law partner.  No two days are the same.  

5. If you could have dinner with 3 people, alive or deceased, who would the 3 be and why?

Rep. Trujillo:  

     Jesus Christ

     Abraham Lincoln

     Martin Luther king

Three men displayed immense courage through challenging times. 

6. What are your legislative priorities right now? What are you working on?

Rep. Trujillo:  I'm working on some parent choice education bills. 

7. How has being a lawyer helped you in your work as a legislator?

Rep. Trujillo: Understanding the constitution and being able to interpret statutes is a big advantage for a lawyer/ legislator.

8. What can Florida Republican lawyers 

Rep. Trujillo:  Defend the constitution.  Push back on judicial activism.  

Q and A with Florida Representative Charles McBurney

1.         Tell us something about yourself that isn't readily apparent from your FL House profile.

Rep. McBurney: Since I originally did my profile, I have become a grandfather.

2.         Why did you decide to become an attorney?

Rep. McBurney: I saw the movie "Inherit the Wind" as a child with Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow and decided that being a lawyer would be better than working for a living. 

 3.        Who is the most interesting lawyer you've worked with?

Rep. McBurney: There are so many, but I'll choose my former boss at the State Attorney's Office in Jacksonville, Ed Austin.  He was the very model of integrity and courage, a true "John Wayne" figure.  All of us at that office looked up to him not only as a lawyer we'd like to be, but a person we'd like to become. 

4.         How has being a lawyer helped you in your work as a legislator?

Rep. McBurney: Being a lawyer is tremendously helpful as a legislator and being a legislator has been very helpful as a lawyer.  As a lawyer who is a legislator, you focus on the details of legislation and the ramifications of how even a single word can make the difference between a good bill or a bad one, much more than a non-lawyer.  A lawyer is also trained to spot issues that many non-lawyer colleagues just don't have the background to do.  As a legislator, you see the larger picture of how a bill becomes law and that can be very helpful in the practice. 

5.         What can Florida Republican lawyers  do to help the legislature in the future?

Rep. McBurney: Probably the biggest contribution, particularly to me as Chair of Judiciary, would be for the Florida Republican Lawyer's Association to serve as a resource on legislation or for ideas regarding possible legislation.  Florida Republican lawyers are some of the best and brightest in our state and their input and expertise would be extremely valuable to the process.