Roger Stone Forges Unity In Local GOP
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Can’t we all get along?
It wasn’t Rodney King pleading this, but the Prince of Darkness himself Roger Stone.
Stone is the outspoken GOP consultant who’s win at-any-cost style is nationally renowned. He hosted a luncheon on Friday for two Broward Republican activists who have been sniping at each other.
If he wanted it to be a quiet get together, he shouldn’t have broken bread at Bova’s Prime on Las Olas. Bova’s is the current watering hole for political power lunches.
Stone’s goal was to make sure Broward GOP Chairman Chip LaMarca and fiery GOP activist Javier Manjarres would support whoever wins the Republican U. S. Senate primary.
Manjarraes was on the Rudy Giuliani team in the last election. He has founded the Conservative Republican Alliance.
Manjarres is a supporter of former House Speaker Marco Rubio. LaMarca likes Gov. Charlie Crist.
Word was that LaMarca wanted to hold a straw ballot to show Crist had overwhelming support among the Broward party organization.
Rubio supporters cried foul, according to several sources.
Enter Stone.
He called the two and asked for a sit down.
Stone joked that he checked behind toilet boxes in Bova’s to make sure no gun was concealed, a la the “Godfather.
In the end, a deal was hammered out.
Rubio and Crist will be invited to speak to the Broward Republican party organization. No vote will be taken before the speeches, if ever.
LaMarca vowed to support Rubio if he was nominated. Manjarres said he would “vote for Crist if the governor got the nomination.
“Peace is at hand, Stone said. “I feel like Kissinger.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:14 am
OK Broward, the Chairman and the street fighter worked things out. Great move for party unity. This is how it is supposed to be done.
Now, let’s get on to the real work at hand:
McCollum for Gov,
Atwater for CFO,
Putnam for Agr,
Kottkamp (or?) for AG,
etc…
Stone got ‘er done again!
August 31st, 2009 at 8:18 am
Chip is doing such a better job than the last three chairmen. They would have done their master’s work, even if it caused irreparable harm to the party. Chip sees that this Javier guy is a supporter of republicans, so he he listens instead of fighting.
I may actually return to the party that forced me away after the Crist endorsement!
August 31st, 2009 at 8:21 am
Stone is given way too much credit for a lot. If this is accurate, he did accomplish something valuable for the party and for Republican candidates. We need every activist we can get in this socialist, Democratic county working for less government and more freedom.
August 31st, 2009 at 11:13 am
Great! Finally there is hope for the local Republican Party. I have seen how the have ripped the county apart over the years. This Javier guy is one force to be reckoned with. He writes for REDCOUNTY and is hands down the most popular writer they have.
Hopefully the GOP is sincere, and will join forces with the Conservative Republican Alliance because this group will probably be the deciding factor in next year’s election.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Steve,
All Republicans should work together, but the minute these folks start talking about an endorsement or vote for one Republican over the other, I and many others will do the same that we did in 2006 and walk out. It’s just not heathy!
Red County is a tad fringe, but they have some interesting characters on their interviews! Entertaining at best 🙂 Not real world, IMHO.
The Conservative Republican Alliance is a PAC and cannot join with the Executive Committee, by federal law.
They can support the Republican candidates and work for a common goal, like we all did in the past. 2010 will be a make or break year for the GOP. I am happy to be back.
August 31st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I am strong supporter of Chairman Chip LaMarcha and a freind of Javier Manjarres. Both pledged to lower the rhetoric level and work together next fall for a GOP victory.
The food at Bova was excellent.
Roger Stone
August 31st, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Roger,
Please go away. Your time has come and it is now gone. We don’t need you to “broker peace” in the Broward GOP.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Roger. You ROCK. I love you. Tou are smart, successful. powerful and a total turn on. Keep it up.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Roger Stone is a cross between Jason Bourne, Karl Rove and Paul Revere.
Though, I have never met him I am told that he is smart and dangerous.
I am glad that he is a patriot and is on our side.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:55 pm
BREC Member,
The CRA is a 501c4-social welfare organization.
The CRA does has a PAC attached to it that is used to help candidates and their campaigns.
The CRA promotes issues and principles. In other words, The BREC can work with the CRA, just not have anything to do with actual PAC endeavors.
FYI
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:31 am
I like Chairman LaMarca, who I do think is much better than the previous chairmen, but why anyone pays attention to this Javier guy is beyond me…all he seems to do is start trouble and attack other Republicans.
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Not sure if the writer of this article was actually there, but this part is totally false: “Word was that LaMarca wanted to hold a straw ballot to show Crist had overwhelming support among the Broward party organization. Rubio supporters cried foul, according to several sources.” Not sure who your “sources” are, but it was an outspoken Rubio supporter, Patrick Castronovo, that asked for a straw poll. Everyone knows that it’s the Rubio supporters, seeing Rubio’s victories in some REC straw polls, that are asking for these straw ballots.
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Buddy has it the way I heard it. It was originally planed to hand Charlie a victory. I also heard that Chip found out that Rubio had more strength than he thought, so the straw vote was stopped.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 am
Dear BREC Member:
Sorry to say, but you’ve got it wrong. Both the Herald and Sentinel have it differently, and they were actually in the room. It was planned in advance by Rubio supporters, who asked for the straw poll. These conspiracy theories about Chairman LaMarca advocating for a straw poll must stop. Committeeman Castronovo, a Rubio supporter, interrupted the meeting first, and then made a motion for the straw poll at the end of the meeting. He even said that LaMarca was in bed with Crist. There was a lot of yelling, a Committeeman named DeNapoli spoke against the straw poll and handed out a memo speaking against it, and then some Rubio supporters actually spoke against a straw poll. Just because the straw poll didn’t happen yet, and there seemed to be overwhelming support against one that night, now the people advocating for it want to blame LaMarca. Everyone needs to get their facts straight. LaMarca is not a bad guy, and does a lot of work for the party. In any case, it’s good to have you back, BREC Member, and I hope you attend the next meeting.