Key GOP Activist Quits Over New Rightwing Chair’s Social Issues Litmus Test

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

Longtime moderate Republican activist Alvin Entin has resigned his committee post with the Broward Republican Party in the wake of the election of a new chair backed by the Tea Party.

In an open letter printed in TheWoodlandsTamarac.com, Entin wrote to the new GOP Chair Christine Butler: 

“In your speech you made clear that you expect adherence to the National Party Platform which appeared to me to be a new requirement which excludes socially moderate Republicans from a role in the Party as envisioned by your leadership team. As a Pro-Choice Republican who also believes strongly in equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, color, creed, place of National Origin or Sexual Preference, I am now quite uncomfortable in a BREC led by you.”

The rest of his letter can be found here. 

Entin is not the average activist, but a veteran South Florida Republican who has held leadership positions for years.  He ran a losing race as the Republican nominee for the U. S. House against U. S. Rep. William “Bill” Lehman, D-Miami, in 1980.

He was the Broward party’s legal counsel under three previous chairs and the Miami-Dade’s GOP legal counsel under three chairs.  He also attended two GOP national conventions as a delegate or alternate delegate.

Butler was elected on Monday as chair of the local GOP from a field of three.  Previous Chair Tom Truex did not run for re-election.



25 Responses to “Key GOP Activist Quits Over New Rightwing Chair’s Social Issues Litmus Test”

  1. Count LF Chodkiewicz Chudzikiewicz says:

    What the Hell is wrong with the Republican Party? They are the party of LIMITED GOVERNMENT, but they want to regulate peoples’ private lives! They talk about low taxes, but support every tax dodge for the wealthiest Americans you can think of. They say they are “protecting American values”, but over-development, an increasing improverished middle class, and the ending in most cases of centuries’ old indirect benefits to the less affluent are killing the middle class that was the basis of America’s rise in the world since the 18th century.

    Theodore Roosevelt was the founder of our National Parks system and an early environmentalist, Senator Sherman wrote the Sherman anti-Trust Act to protect consumers from monopolies, President Eisenhower established the basis of our great highway system that owes its origins to Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and, YES, PRESIDENT REAGAN SIGNED AN AMNESTY LAW, YES, no pussy footing around, HE SAID AMNESTY LAW!

    I think Governor Jeb Bush was right, neither Reagan or Bush, but probably not Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, William Howard Taft, Theordore Roosevelt or William McKinley, and certainly not ABRAHAM LINCOLN could get nominated by this Republican Party and is revolting Platform! The Tea Party types are either on the border line of nuts or out and out lunatics. THERE IS NOTHING CONSERVATIVE or “AMERICAN” about the nutjob Fascism of this group. I don’t know how they can ever get a majority of American voters to vote for them. Gerrymandering is the only reason they have the House, and the Senate loss was pushed frankly but less than stellar international performance by the White House

  2. Layne Walls says:

    I left BREC a while ago for the same reasons.

  3. BREC Member says:

    I won’t miss him. It’s time for a new BREC.

  4. Chaz Stevens, Genius says:

    Papers, please.

    – Hermann Göring

  5. Michell Rubinstein says:

    Alvin Entin is absolutely correct in his assessment of the BCRP. It would appear they have taken many steps back into the dark ages. I left the Dem Party for the Rep Party many years ago as a Pembroke Pines City Commissioner, but left the BCRP because of the inflexibility and far right direction the leadership was taken. I became an NPI (Independent) where I supported the best candidate. After a gallant effort by the BCRP to garner enough votes to help Gov Scott get re-elected, it now appears they will shoot themselves in their collective feet again. There’s probably more “NPI” electors in BC and the BCRP should be recruiting them with honey rather than viniger.

  6. Richard J Kaplan says:

    Chudzikiewicz,

    Your observations concerning Republican Presidents are is very true. I am in the process of researching and writing a book which includes this as one of the chapters. Specifically, that many republican presidents, like Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, the two Republicans on Mt. Rushmore, would never be elected
    today as Republicans. In fact, Roosevelt encountered so many issues with his own party, he left it.

    It’s a book about the history of both political parties and how they have evolved into the parties of today. It follows from a paper I wrote years ago in college about the beginning of the Republican Party in Michigan, and eventually explains why moderates (centralists) find it so hard today to have any political power.

    It is fascinating how both parties have changed and why they are tearing themselves apart. I expect it to take a few more years to complete.

  7. WestDavieResident says:

    As a true Regan Republican (I switched parties in the early 1980’s because of him), I am saddened to read that a stellar, loyal, and true benefactor (with his time ) to BREC has left the organizatione. I quietly left BREC several years ago because of a former Chair who lost control of the organization to similar social conservative nonsense.

    I have even seriously considered becoming an Independent because Republican leaders on the national, state, and local levels are big government enablers who talk otherwise but vote for continued growth of government.

    Only the far worse priorities of the Democratic party keep me voting Republican.

    Our federal government will continue to grow with unchecked borrowing and printing money until the voters elect legislators to truly balance the budget. Unfortunately today’s Republican Party is too focused on wanting to be liked than biting the bullet to again put our country on the right track to economic prosperity rather than worrying about social issues.

    Too bad Alvin and others like me have thrown in the towel with our hopes for the party. Hopefully a new generation of millennial Republicans will take up the charge.

  8. zygy 28 says:

    I too left the party a few years ago, I fear any intrusion of any religion or sect in our political domain…. Jefferson was so right

  9. Too funny says:

    Gotta love guys like Entin and the rest who show up to meetings once a year and then grandstand.

  10. John says:

    Seems that the stories from a number of former Republicans turn Democrats over the last few years from those running and some even elected after the switch is showing to be true.

    Especially from those here in Broward that had a membership in BREC (Broward Republican Executive Committee).

  11. Alvin Entin says:

    Yes, my attendance this year was quite spotty, but what isn’t mentioned is the major surgery I had in May at the Sylvester Center in Miami. My attendance was excused during my recuperation. It sure is easy to attack the messenger, than deal with the message. There is no grandstanding going on here, also missed by my critic is that in my capacity as a Republican Committeeman I headed up the bi-partisan Committee To ReCall Patti Atkins-Grad which was a lot more time consuming ( and worthwhile )than going to meetings and being ignored. I quit because I couldn’t be a part of an organization driven by social issues which I disagree with as a matter of conscience. I joined and have been part of a political party, not a Church. What has been a big tent is becoming a small bunker, and I will not be a part of that. That said, I will not switch my Party affiliation nor will I seek to run for any office as a Democrat. I am not madly in love with their fringe either.

  12. westdavieresident says:

    @too funny. And where you in 2000 when Alvin was involved in the Bush v Gore fiasco?

    I was a Republican observer as the punchcards were being analyzed and recounted. I hope you were involved too?

    And so-called grandstanders like Alvin, me, and many others who have left BREC now volunteer directly with candidates or causes while the newly involved BREC committee members are busy infighting over social issues.

    I personally am not a supporter of convenience abortions and I prefer gay civil unions over gay marriage but I believe there are vastly more important economic and domestic issues to battle with the left and the mainstream media than such social issues.

    As Alvin said, without a big tent the Republican Party has a short lifespan ahead of it despite November’s overwhelming victories as the reality of demographic trends continue.

  13. Same with Democrats says:

    To #1 and #6: Don’t overlook the same thing happening with the Democrats. Imagine a Democrat today saying: “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Yeah right. Kennedy would never make it through a Democrat primary with talk that.

    For what it’s worth, I agree with Mr. Entin’s view about BREC. When the “Tea Party” movement started, it was strictly about fiscally conservative views. Within a short time, it turned into the socially conservative, moral majority party who didn’t want to call themselves “Republicans” after 8 years of George Bush. Enough time has passed that the Republican party has reclaimed that platform.

  14. #12 says:

    Is that a threat or a promise?

    What candidates would the former BREC-ites work with now? There is no structure of any kind to get Republicans to run for anything.

  15. westdavieresident says:

    @#14, you answered your own question. There is no longer any useful county wide structure to help get any Republicans elected to state or federal offices because BREC has become an organization mired with infighting instead of recruiting candidates, training them, and helping to finance them. The local Republican clubs now do all of the heavy lifting.

    With regards to “threat or promise” it is not my opinion that matters. It is the reality of the demographic trends and the Dems (with complicit Reps) success at enabling so many groups to be beholden to government handouts.

    Do the Reps have any future? The next two years in Congress may be their last chance to prove to the voters they can pass needed legislation and then get the American public to get the lame duck liberal in the White House to compromise and sign their bills.

  16. Ana Gomez-Mallada says:

    Judt because the deaf – bling – and dumb in Broward chose an extremist Chair with even more extremist supporters to lead the Republicans in Broward County, don’t count the Grand Old Party. Broward GOP will simply ignore the boobs at BREC and work for, donate and support candidates and the National Party As for Alvin Entin, it is indeed a sad day when a good, loyal member who has carried water for the GOP for so long resigns rather than being associated with the Chairmanship of one who has barely been a member of the Executive Committee a couple of years.

  17. BREC Member says:

    Some points to consider…
    Alvin Entin wrote back in 2010 on his blog that he wouldn’t support Marco Rubio or Rick Scott, so he kinda left the party awhile ago.
    Also, after not regularly attending meetings, he came back out of the woodwork to run against Christine Butler for Vice Chair in 2012, and knowing that he was going to lose big, dropped out along with Karen Harrington and her slate of candidates on the night of the election. So you might want to know this when he decides to write an “open letter.”
    Ana Gomez Mallada hasn’t attended a meeting since probably 2011, and moved to St. Lucie. She openly supported Karin Hoffman against Christine…and Karin has only been a Precinct Committeewoman since 2011. Kinda funny how Mallada references Christine having only been a member a couple of years when Mallada backed a member who had only been involved a couple of years.
    Christine has been a member since 2010.

  18. Political Watchman says:

    It is surprising to me that those who call for a big tent in the Republican party are quick to depart the party when they think they don’t get what they want. Members of the Tea Party were integrated into the Broward GOP and seem to still be there, despite their obvious (and loudly voiced) objections to many of the opinions and actions of the board over the past few years. Many of them never missing a meeting.

    When the same dedication and endurance is asked of those more “socially liberal” members, they bail rather than actively work to keep their own views represented (thereby helping to keep a “big tent”). Having renounced their membership, they then complain about how unaccepting the GOP is of their viewpoints. Their attitude is that of a spoiled child finally told “no”.

    It is high time that the Broward Republicans, regardless of social ideology, refused to be baited into social arguments, and focus on the economic and fiscal issues. That goes for both Tea Party Republicans and Socially Liberal Republicans. Stop picking at each other and stand together on the things that you can agree on.

  19. Ana Gomez-Mallada says:

    If “BREC Member” had the … intestinal fortitude to sign his/her name, maybe we would know where he/she was during toe Recount. I was at the Supervisor of Elections Office, then at the Emergency management Center, supporting out Party. So was Al Entin. He of course being heavily involved for many years before (ND after) that in many ways. Sadly, pseudonyms provide all sorts of cover for the lesser and unworthy.

  20. Ana Gomez-Mallada says:

    Repetition does not improve on cowardice or mendacity. A lot of Republicans did not support Sen. Rubio from the beginning. I did, but not all. A lot of good Republicans supported Attorney General McCollum over Governor Scott in the Primary. Again, not me, but some good, valuable members who, unlike you, use THEIR NAMES.

  21. casual obaerver says:

    When those who are against the new leadership of brec cite their high time of their involvement as actions take during the Presidential election of 2000 and little thereafter, losing them doesn’t seem like a big loss.

  22. BREC Member says:

    Entin did not support Marco Rubio or Rick Scott in the GENERAL election in 2010, according to what he wrote on his blog.

  23. West Davie Resident says:

    @#21 Since you asked …. in 2004, 2008, and 2012 I was a poll watcher on behalf of Bush, McCain, and Romney stationed in some of the largest Democratic precincts in heavily minority neighborhoods. I was there until late night making sure Obama’s lawyers didn’t stuff more voters into the voting line after closing time. In 2012 I ignored BREC and worked directly with the Romney campaign. Were you as involved regardless on which side you may be aligned?

    In 2002, I proudly worked on behalf of the Jeb Bush campaign but sat out in 2006 because I knew that Chain Gang Charlie was a phony even then but I held my nose and voted for him. Ditto in 2010 and 2014 for Scott whose HCA hospital majorly defrauded the government and I did not think he was worthy of being Governor. So funny how those two stinkpots ended up running against each other this year.

    All that said, it will the Republicans loss if more people like me with my proven previous loyalty sit on our hands in the future if Republicans in Washington continue to do stupid things like vote for a 9 month Omnibus budget bill which basically lessens the authority of the new Republican Congress (House and Senate) for 2/3rds of their first of two guaranteed years in control.

  24. Giving due consideration says:

    Considering all of the successes of the Republican candidates you listed above, I don’t know how the party will sustain the loss of your participation. Working the second term elections for the Bush brothers those were some real barn burners. For sure it appears you did nothing in any local races.

  25. Broward Voter says:

    Mike Rubenstein is a putz and what he knows about politics would fit loosely into a thimble.