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Guest post by Deanna Brinkley [Edited by Eduardo Vidal]
Palmetto, Florida - Hallelujah, the Republican primary elections held on Tuesday, August 20 are over! Who would have imagined Republicans attacking each other in such a ruthless and unethical manner? Politics is a dirty business, but we've never witnessed anything like it - - particularly when one of the candidates was the Chairwoman of the Republican Executive Committee of Manatee County. We, as Republicans, definitely have some damage control to do on account of what that primary contest did to the Republican brand.
Nevertheless, contested primaries are healthy for the Republican party. The alternative is not only un-, but also anti-democratic, as has happened in the formerly Democratic party. The party primaries are the place to settle political differences, and Florida should follow the example of Texas, and return to requiring that primary elections be won with a majority, as was the case here until some 20 years ago.
Did you know that in super red Manatee County, 70% of Republicans did not participate in the primary elections? Our citizens often complain that our County Commissioners disregard the public, are influenced by developers, destroy our wetlands and overdevelop the area. Yet, these citizens consistently miss the opportunity to hold County Commissioners and other office-holders accountable when it truly matters - - during the primary elections. How did you rate? Did you vote in the primary elections?
Let's take a look at the strategies on both sides, the players involved, and what was at stake. Now that the smoke has cleared, let's assess what we just witnessed in our presumptive Free State of Florida with the “gold standard” of elections.
• What strategies were implemented on both sides?
• Who were the players involved?
• What was at stake?
“Study the past if you want to define the future.” - - Confucius.
The Puppeteers
The main “wizards behind the curtain” pitting Republicans against each other in Manatee County during this primary season were political consultants Anthony Pedacini and Jennings Depriest, the "Digital Assassin." . They were richly compensated by their developer clients to purposefully confuse the uneducated voter, and destroy the opposing Republican candidates, in line with their “hired gun” brand.
Mr. Pedicini’s best work is when he can destroy another Republican, and we saw that in this election. He used all methods available: television, texts, a fake Trump rally, and, of course, his signature propaganda piece: endless glossy mailers.
But instead of promoting the positive in their candidates, which would have differentiated Republicans based on our conservative principles, he stayed in the gutter and defamed fellow Republicans. Of course, many studies find that unlikely voters are more likely to show up at the polls when they are upset and disgusted, than when they are happy and satisfied.
Ask yourself: with so many lies that were spread in the primary, how do we expect the average voter to now rally around Republicans who were defamed with labels, such as “Democrats,” “liberals,” “George Soros,” “Clinton” and “Stolen Valor”? Of course, in the general election, a RINO is always better than a Donkey, but sometimes the animosity of the primary election spills over into the general election.
Why do we tolerate candidates who hire campaign managers and political consultants who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to publicly disparage fellow Republicans? No longer. This time we chose not to look the other way and this became no ordinary election.
The People Have Awakened
Manatee County residents - -Republicans and Democrats - -were sick of County Commissioners who had ignored the interests of residents and who had voted in their own interests, at the direction of Mr. Pedicini and his developer clients. We have all felt the pain of overdevelopment, and we have been screaming about it for a long time, while Republican County Commissioners ignored us. The tipping point was the flooding that the County Commissioners easily referred to as the "100-year flood."
Republican voters have had enough and reached their breaking point. No longer were they going to sit and take the abuse. It was time to fight back. We rolled up our sleeves, put on our fatigues, and together devised a battle plan. And we found that we weren’t alone. Concerned citizens from all walks of life have the same concerns, regardless of whether they are Democrats, Moderates, Independents, Republicans—even a blue puppet. We had a common theme: end developer control of county government, and give county government back to the people.
The Plan
We needed a simple, repeatable message that captured the fight we were in. That message was: “Choose People, Not Puppets.” The focus was on the candidates who were willing to defame and destroy other Republicans by spreading lies, such as “this person is a D.C. Democrat who supports BLM” and "we can solve the immigration crisis.” The thing that connected these candidates in the Republican primary elections was their political consultant: Anthony Pedacini and his associates.
To combat this deliberate confusion, a Manatee Voter Guide was created, titled "Choose People, Not Puppets” which listed a preferred slate of grassroots conservative candidates who were not working with Mr. Pedacini. Additionally, a website named “Take Back Manatee” was launched, which focused on taking out the Pedicini puppets in four specific races. Grassroots conservative activists united to educate the uninformed voter.
The Opposition
But Pedacini & Depriest weren’t going down without a fight. They enjoyed generous campaign funding and flooded mailboxes with their glossy mailers, each promising something more outrageous than the last. We were told that the Manatee County Commissioner candidates could single-handedly resolve national issues like inflation and immigration. Furthermore, we were bombarded with images of candidates juxtaposed with Donald Trump and Governor DeSantis, some even exploiting the recent assassination attempt on Trump for their advantage.
The propaganda was relentless and unapologetic. Yet, the public refused to be deceived! Platforms like Nextdoor, Facebook and various media outlets erupted with comments from citizens outraged that candidates underestimated their intelligence. This sentiment became the prevailing message.
Citizens took to sharing past votes of incumbents and highlighting instances of candidates' bullying behavior, both past and present. It quickly became clear that voters were fed up with being intimidated by developers and political opportunists.
Double Down
Pedicini & DePriest recognized that they were losing the battle over the negative messaging campaign. They noted that the Manatee Voter Guide had gone viral, prompting them to devise their own guide filled with falsehoods and deceit.
They created their own "MAGA" Voter Guide to mislead voters by featuring images of Donald Trump and Governor DeSantis. It even included a MAGA hat! The guide listed all the candidates chosen by developers, and utilized, without apparent permission, the logos and websites of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee (MCREC). You have to ask yourself why the MCREC and the RPOF didn’t fight to protect their brand from this deliberate misuse? Probably because they approved of how their brands were used.
If you investigated the “MAGA PC” that put the guide out, it would not lead you to Donald Trump or his Make America Great Again team. No, the MAGA PC is another PAC run by Eric Robinson and, … you guessed it, Anthony Pedicini. This voter guide surfaced in various counties across Florida, alerting citizens all over the state which candidates where backed by developers and the preferred establishment candidates of the RPOF. In effect, the RPOF was supporting the fake voter guides and their developer-supported candidates, and RPOF officers were often acting as funding sources and political consultants for establishment candidates.
April Culbreath, Chairwoman of the Manatee Republican Party, was one of the candidates featured on this misleading and fraudulent voter guide. A candidate with integrity would have denounced it; however, she not only refused to do so, but instead had copies printed to distribute at Republican Headquarters! (It was also texted to voters by the volunteers who answered the phone at such headquarters.)
Principled board members and candidates issued an urgent warning to Republicans, advising them to beware of the guide that was designed to make it look like a slate of Republican-endorsed candidates. Grassroots conservative activists alerted the media, launched emails, made phone calls, sent text messages, posted on social media, and created flyers and signs alerting voters to the truth about the guides. Additionally, candidates sent out marketing text messages to inform citizens and counter this deceptive fake voter guide.
Grassroots Conservative Advance
These consultants for developers and the establishment realized that voters were waking up. They were spending nearly a million dollars on surveys and marketing to strategically influence voters. As the grassroots conservative movement became more effective, they made one more fatal error: they exploited the faith of the voter.
Each year, the Christian Family Coalition assesses Republican candidates based on their religious values. This year, when the guide was released, the establishment candidates were conspicuously absent from the list. The consultants knew this was unacceptable, as a significant part of a candidate's appeal lies in branding them as “Christians.” In response, they fabricated a fake organization to create the illusion that these candidates were “endorsed” by the Christian community.
On August 14, 2024, a Political Action Committee launched a faux foundation called “Founding Fathers Christian Foundation.” The faux organization was registered in Florida under the “Keep Florida Winning PAC.” Jennings DePriest serves as its chairman, while Eric Robinson is listed as the treasurer. This initiative was another ploy aimed to influence voters' perceptions, by using a made-up organization to “endorse” candidates. Just like the fake voter guide.
Final Outcome of Battle
It was an extraordinary fight, with dozens of people putting their personal lives on hold in order to get in the trenches in the heat of summer to go door to door, and the relentless hours of manning a table for early voting. But the grassroots prevailed!
We fought hard against Mailers, Fake Voter Guides, a fraudulent religious foundation, and even the closing down of the Republican headquarters by Chairwoman Culbreath, who in a conflict of interest was running for a County Commissioner position, which she ultimately lost.
Why was it such a bloody fight in the primary elections between Republicans?
Politics has undergone a transformation. It's no longer the most qualified or talented individual who emerges victorious; instead, the selection process is devised well in advance. Candidates are selected by politicians at the State level, and chosen for their willingness to submit to the goals of the establishment, rather than the voice of the people.
Manatee, Hillsborough, Sarasota, St. Lucie, Brevard, Lake and St. Johns Counties all have active MAGA & America First grassroots conservative activists who are tired of the Republican establishment selecting our candidates. They are tired of top-down government - - and they were able to build a movement in these counties.
So it’s not surprising that it was these seven counties that received these fake MAGA voter guides that communicated a perceived endorsement from the RPOF. Why was the PAC allowed to use the logo and website of the RPOF and the MCREC? Because the RPOF was influencing elections. The guides came from PACs that are run by the officers of the RPOF.
As the citizens became aware of these unscrupulous acts, they contacted the RPOF. Receiving NO response on their grievances, they knew something was not passing the smell test.
The grassroots conservatives were harassed on social media and at the polling locations. They were called liberals, commies, satanists and Democrats by election workers for Republican candidates selected by the establishment, developers and their unethical campaign consultants. These scofflaws even misused law enforcement resources to intimidate the grassroots conservative volunteers:
"In Manatee County, MAGA & America First conservative poll watchers had the police called on them several times during early voting , for explaining the fake voter guides to interested voters, from well outside the “solicitation zone” where such discussion is allowed. They were accosted with very globalist words like, “harassment, intimidation, et. al,” and called “left wing”, while their attackers asked people to report them to the law."
We won, but the battle isn’t over, because there is a lot at stake.
Why was there so much vitriol against citizens who wanted to get their preferred Republicans in office? It’s all about development.
The seven counties that got the fake voter guides are not only the counties where conservative, MAGA & America First grassroots conservative Republicans are active; they are also prime for more dense development. They each lie in close proximity to highway and rail corridors, with enough open land to make development attractive. And, developers are big business for politicians, especially in a state whose Chamber of Commerce is all about United Nations Agenda 21.
I understand that I might burst some of your bubbles, and I recognize that the truth can often be difficult to accept and even painful. However, when Republicans are attacking one another, it highlights a deeper issue.
The RPOF has succumbed to the influence of globalism. We can see that in the “Live Local Act,” the land grabs of the “conservation” incentives, and the centralization to the state instead of to county government. This is a fight for our future - and the developers know it - the leaders in the Republican Party know it - the politicians know it – and the Governor knows it. Do you?
It’s time for change! Be that change!! We have an upcoming general election—arguably the most significant election of our time—that will shape the future for your children and grandchildren. Join your local Republican Clubs and get to work! Become part of a movement aimed at replicating the success of Manatee County in the last primary election by empowering hardworking grassroots conservative citizens to implement effective strategies that will bring the right candidates to victory.
The Florida Republican Assembly is a great organization making things happen. Find a chapter in your local area.
