RLCFL Member Candidates
If you are a current RLCFL'er running for office--or you know of someone who is--please let us know!
Candidates DO NOT need to be in the RLCFL to be endorsed. Click here to recommend your favorite candidate.

Partisan

Dean Santoro (R) State Senate, District 35

Sarah Lovett (R) State House of Representatives, District 14


*endorsement requested *endorsed 

Non-Partisan

Robert Nelson - Walton County School Board, District 1

Nick Kellen - Lee County San Carlos Fire District, Seat 2

H. Alan Burton - Volusia County Soil and Water Conservation District 4

Mark Cross - Osceola County Soil and Water Conservation District, Seat 1

Karl Dickey - Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, Seat 5

Jason Fischer - Duval County Soil and Water Conservation Board, Group 4

Jeff Hunt - Duval County Soil and Water Conservation Board, Group 2

Tyson Richmond - Hillsborough Soil & Water Conservation Board, Seat 4

Victor "Vic" Wilhelm Jr. - Duval County Soil and Water Conservation Board, Group 3

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Upcoming Events

    Candidate News & Endorsements

    RLC ENDORSES RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!

    altThe RLC rarely endorses a presidential candidate. In order to preserve the integrity of the organization, an endorsement requires near unanimity among all its active state affiliates. In fact, the last time the RLC has endorsed a presidential candidate was Steve Forbes in 1996.

    But the national RLC announced on the eve of the Iowa primary, after the required consultation with the state RLCs including Florida, that the RLC is officially endorsing Ron Paul for president of the United States.

    “Paul has often been a lone vote against big government and big spending in the wilderness of the House of Representatives, but as president that lone vote would become a veto and stop government abuses dead in their tracks,” observed Earl Bandy, Chairman of the RLC of Colorado. “That alone is a great reason to put Ron Paul in the White House and give him that power.” 

    To get involved with the Ron Paul campaign in Florida, join your local Meetup group. You can find a list of Meetups and links to other resources here.

     

    McClintock, Rooney winners amidst GOP losses

    After a near-decade of national leadership from big government Republicans, the voters sent our party packing on Nov. 4, handing the presidency and additional Congressional seats to the Democrats. Republicans of all stripes were caught up in the rout.

    Still, there were victories both in Florida and the nation for libertarian Republicans.

    A major victory was won in California where long-time friend of the RLC Tom McClintock - for whom Rep. Ron Paul actively campaigned this year - won a seat in the U.S. Congress. Here in Florida, term limits advocate Tom Rooney picked up a Congressional seat (CD16), replacing incumbent Tim Mahoney in a district still referred to as "Mark Foley's old seat." Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Feeney of Orlando (CD24) lost his Congressional seat.

    In the Florida legislature, two of the five RLC-endorsed candidates won their seats - Rich Workman (D30) and Lake Ray (D17). Thanks to Sarah Lovett, Dean Santoro and Matt Caldwell for flying the limited government flag in their first, but hopefully not last, electoral efforts.

    RLCer Bruce Reichert and Alan Burton won non-partisan seats on the Collier County and Volusia County Soil & Water Boards, respectively, as did Jeff Hunt in Duval County. Hunt is not an RLCer, but is the right-hand man for RLCer Adam Guillette, the Florida director of Americans for Prosperity.

    For a full recap of RLC results, see the national RLC blog at http://www.rlc.org/blog.

     

    Primary Election Results

    Win or lose, congratulations to all our candidates! The entire membership of the RLC applauds your dedication to liberty.

    Public Offices

    Office

    RLCFL Candidate

    Votes

    Percent

    Win

    U.S. House D-24, Republican Primary

    Tom Feeney

    5,304

    70.98%

    Yes

    State House, D-17, Republican Primary

    Lake Ray

    5,135

    52.20%

    Yes

    State House, D-30, Republican Primary

    Ritch Workman

    7,370

    62.10%

    Yes

    Sarasota County, Charter Review Board, D-2

    Stephen Aiken

    8,781

    35.80%

    No

    Walton County, School Board, D-1

    Robert Nelson

    3,567

    36.60%

    NA*

    *  For this type of race, Florida election rules allow that since no candidate received 50% + 1 or greater, a run-off will occur in the general election. Congratulations to Robert, and good luck in the general!

    Political Offices

    Office

    RLCFL Candidate

    Votes

    Percent

    Win

    Bay County State Committeeman

    Eric Wall

    5,897

    37.35%

    No

    Duval County State Committeeman

    Rick Hartley

    9,086

    26.73%

    Yes

    Duval County State Committeewoman

    Kimberly Abelon

    6,966

    20.34%

    No

    Hillsborough County State Committeeman

    Steven Burden

    10,040

    46.22%

    No

    Orange County State Committeeman

    Nick Egoroff

    3,867

    12.12%

    No

    Osceola County State Committeeman

    Mark Cross

    3,215

    53.30%

    Yes

    St John's County State Committeeman

    John Stevens

    5,468

    43.66%

    No

    St John's County State Committeewoman

    Wynona Mayer

    4,454

    35.85%

    No

     

    Statement From the RLC-FL Executive Committee

    It has come to the attention of the executive committee of the RLC of Florida that offensive messages were recently posted on one of the local RLC Meetup websites. We are embarrassed and apologize without qualification for this lapse.

    It is difficult for the RLC of Florida to monitor the various local sites that permit public postings. If you ever see any postings under our banner that are offensive or contrary to the principles and positions of the RLC & RLC-FL, please let us know immediately and we will see that the situation is corrected.

    Our official Statement of Principles and Positions can be found here.

    For the future, the board adopted a new policy on linking:

    We recognize that in a political context, linking to another site may be construed to be an endorsement of that site and possibly other material contained on that site despite disclaimers to the contrary. Due diligence should be exercised by members in placing links in official forums or pages operating under or associated with the RLC-FL. This includes verifying the material linked as well as other material on the linked site, is credible and worthy and that the overall pattern of links be supportive of and not detrimental to the interests and principles of the RLC of Florida.

    The RLC-FL thanks the several individuals who brought this matter to our  attention and the prompt efforts of the RLC of North Florida in correcting it.

     
    More Articles...

    Candidate Blogs

    Sandy Springs, GA: Privatization of Government Services
    Sunday, April 17, 2011 00:31
    A few days ago I posted a new Reason video on the city of Sandy Springs, GA. I have been following Sandy Springs since about 2008. If you don’t know the story, Sandy Springs was newly incorporated in 2005, and the committee chose to outsource the majority of services to private enterprises. If you .. .. read more..

    Rick Scott: Bad poll numbers, Oh no!
    Thursday, April 7, 2011 02:29
    This going to be more of a statement than an article, so don't expect any links. I figure you can find all the backup you want or need by simply going to the local 'news' reporting. Today, the Florida press was gleefully reporting that their propaganda campaign against Rick Scott is finally support.. .. read more..

    The Politicization of Civility
    Friday, March 11, 2011 04:07
    In the immediate aftermath of the Representative Gabrielle Giffords' shooting in Tucson, Arizona, the left predictably began pointing fingers at their normal targets on the right—Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin—claiming that they inspired the primary suspect, Jared Loughner, to attempt t.. .. read more..

    Updated: Justice Stephen Breyer's View of the 2nd Amendment
    Tuesday, February 22, 2011 03:46
      Here is a 13-minute, Fox News Sunday interview with US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Justice Breyer is promoting his latest book. Such interviews are rare and Breyer discusses his view of the proper method of Constitution interpretation. Breyer's defense of his dissent from Heller is clas.. .. read more..

    Florida's High Speed Rail: The case of California
    Thursday, February 10, 2011 20:26
        California's High Speed Rail (HSR) is in trouble. Since we are about to embark on our own HSR project here in Florida, a good question for Floridians to ask is 'are there any lessons that can be drawn for the proposed Tampa-Orlando HSR?' Several recent studies seem to indicate that there are.  .. .. read more..

    Signs: alBraradei and the National Association for Change
    Thursday, February 3, 2011 07:08
    This is post two in my effort to trace the roots of all those professionally produced signs in the 'spontaneous' US demonstrations supporting ‘true democracy' and 'social justice' in Egypt. If you haven't seen the original post, go here (it's short.) To sum up the story so far, I was able.. .. read more..

    Demonstrations in US supporting democracy in Egypt organized by ‘extremist’ grou..
    Sunday, January 30, 2011 03:33
    While reading up on the events in Egypt, my wife and I noticed that the signs used in a number of US demonstrations were very professional looking. Normally, spontaneous events—such as the tea party—have almost exclusively used hand-made signage. Not so in the demonstrations in Washington , San Fra.. .. read more..

    Video: Balance the Budget? Impossible!
    Saturday, January 29, 2011 03:30
    This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video shows just how easy it can be to balance the budget. Pay particular attention to the CATO Institute's Dan Mitchell and his explanation of  how Washington defines a 'Cut'. .. read more..

    Bondi's Bath Salts Brouhaha
    Thursday, January 27, 2011 05:34
        After reading about our new Attorney General Pam Bondi declaring a state emergency--and outlawing--bath salts here in Florida as a containing a 'dangerous substance,' I wrote the following letter to our new Governor Rick Scott and my two State Representatives. If you aren't aware of the is.. .. read more..

    Who Governs in America?
    Wednesday, January 26, 2011 05:39
    After watching the State of the Union and all the responses, I find that I am sick and tired of hearing about 'governing'. Every News show, every soundbite in the media talks about ''We were elected, and now we just have to govern.' Or some such nonsense. When exactly did this change occur in all t.. .. read more..