May 11, 2009

Advancing Liberty in Florida

Dear Friend of Liberty,

The Florida Campaign for Liberty has had many successes this month. Each of us should be very proud of the accomplishments we have realized in such a short period of time. Here are a few updates of events happening throughout our great state of Florida.

Federal Issues

HR 1207 The Federal Reserve Transparency Act (Audit the Fed!)

This is a fantastic piece of legislation that has taken Congress by a storm. Auditing the Fed is the first step toward ending the Fed. C4L members have been instrumental in bringing the number of cosponsors to 143 as of this writing. So far, Florida has 10 cosponsors. Our Florida goal has been 50% plus 1 so we need to have 3 more representatives come on board. As of this writing, here is the current list for Florida at a glance. You can always obtain up-to-date results on our Florida Page along with current addresses and phone numbers of our Florida representatives at the bottom of the page. Keep the pressure on! http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/4625617: ... D73AC99547

CD01---Jeff Miller (R) Co-sponsor

CD02---Alan Boyd (D)

CD03---Corrine Brown (D)

CD04---Ander Crenshaw (R) Co-sponsor

CD05---Ginny Brown-Waite (R)

CD06---Cliff Stearns (R) Co-sponsor

CD07---John Mica (R)

CD08---Alan Grayson* (D) Co-sponsor

CD09---Gus Bilirakis (R) Co-sponsor

CD10---Bill Young (R)

CD11---Kathy Castor (D)

CD12---Adam Putnam* (R) Co-sponsor

CD13---Vern Buchanan (R) Co-sponsor

CD14---Connie Mack (R)

CD15---Bill Posey* (R) Co-sponsor

CD16---Tom Rooney (R) Co-sponsor

CD17---Kendrick Meek (D)

CD18---Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) Co-sponsor

CD19---Robert Wexler (D)

CD20---Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)

CD21---Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R)

CD22--- Ron Klein (D)

CD23---Alcee Hastings (D)

CD24---Suzanne Kosmas* (D)

CD25---Mario Diaz-Balart (R)

*Financial Services Committee

Mass Action Day

Two weeks ago, the staff at Campaign for Liberty requested that all of the members in all of the states prepare their petitions for delivery to the local offices of each representative across the nation while 47,000 online petitions were delivered in DC. Florida did a fantastic job. Many, many petitions were delivered and many, many calls were made.

Over in the Tampa, St. Pete, and Clearwater areas, C4L Regional Coordinator Dan Tucker, Hillsborough Coordinator Lee Nash, Barclay Bean, and Mark Ferguson along with local C4L members have been responsible for 4 of their 6 representatives becoming cosponsors.

In Congressional District 5, C4L Regional Coordinator John Baeza, Pasco County Coordinator James Moore, Hernando County Coordinators Dan Prentice and Debi Longarello, and many more C4L members dropped off 150 petitions to representative Ginny Brown-Waite’s office. Check out this blog and video. http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/4625618: ... D73AC99547

In Orange County, C4L Regional Coordinator Scott Olver and Orange County Coordinator Audra Montgomery delivered over 500 petitions. That’s right! They delivered over 500 petitions to 3 Congressional offices. Regional Coordinator Christina Gomez is a resident of CD24. She has an appointment to speak to representative Suzanne Kosmas and has been invited to bring along another 5 to 7 residents of the District. This Orange County group is on fire!

In Congressional District 4, Jim Robinson delivered petitions to representative Ander Crenshaw. Representative Crenshaw is now a cosponsor. C4L Regional Coordinator Heath Whiteaker has been lobbying Representative Adam Putnam, who is on the Financial Services Committee. Representative Putnam is now a cosponsor.

Please continue to gather signatures. It is very important that we continue to keep the pressure on the 15 Florida representatives who have not yet agreed to cosponsor HR 1207. There are several more representatives who say they will sign, but have not done so at this time.

Thanks to everyone who made Mass Action Day a success here in Florida. I know there are many more Florida success stories out there. Please email me your details.

State Issues

The 2009 Florida legislature adjourned Sine Die. The next session will begin in March 2010.

C4L members celebrated a great victory in the defeat of the Florida Elections Bill. This bill would have effectively closed political parties to grassroots activism and entrenched the status quo. It also would have made it more difficult for grassroots organizations to successfully place amendments on the ballot. We were on top of this bill and defeated it every step of the way. This bill will be readdressed in September when the legislative committees meet in Tallahassee, so we must be ever vigilant.

In Central Florida, local C4L members teamed up with Ax the Tax, Inc. and effectively killed the SunRail boondoggle commuter rail program. They were up against 200 highly paid lobbyists. The taxpayers won. The Florida Senate voted against it 23-16. Senator Paula Dockery (R) and Senator Gary Siplin (D) led the charge.

Everyone who participated did a fantastic job. This summer we will be picking out several issues to work on when the legislature convenes next March.

Membership/Coordinator Positions & Recruiting

Our membership continues to grow at a steady pace, thanks to the dedication of the many patriots among us who are working extremely hard to spread our message. We now have 9,126 members, 1,801 members with user accounts, and 121 local coordinators. Welcome to all of the new members!

We have been able to fill many coordinator positions, but there are still many more positions that need filled. We have filled 5 coordinator positions this week, but we still have a few Regional positions and many County positions to fill. If you are interested in helping out in a larger capacity, let me know so that I can give you the guidelines and we can talk about your duties.

We need to continue to grow our organization in order to win back the freedom and liberty that has been eroded away. Our short term goal is 10,000 members and 600 local coordinators. We will be setting up a statewide recruiting contest. You can get a head start by going to My Dashboard on www.CampaignforLiberty.com, clicking on recruiting, and inviting a friend. This recruiting tool will automatically keep track of how many people you invite and how many new members you recruit.

Until next time, keep up the good work!

In Liberty,

Mark Cross

received by e-mail from
Florida Campaign for Liberty State Coordinator
markcrossea@prodigy.net
Mon, 11 May 2009 5:27 pm