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Wednesday night, the RINO Establishment wing of the Hillsborough County Republic party attempted an in-house "palace coup" to take control of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, but were overcome and defeated by Party Chairman Col Jim Waurishuk, USAF (Ret.), a staunch MAGA populist Constitutional Conservative.
They used a “weaponized” grievance process to replace the Republican Party of Florida’s Constitution, rules & procedures to serve as a means to strip Waurishuk of his authority as the county party chairman. They suspended his nationally recognized orientation and training program for bringing on new precinct committeemen and committeewomen in an attempt to stack the membership deck against his conservative Executive Committee.
In just over a 90-minute period, using a series of four motions from the floor brought forth by his conservative base in the county Party, Waurishuk eliminated the “Astro-turfed” effort to stack the RINO opposition’s numbers in the Executive Committee to take control of the Party from the Conservative-led America First leadership. The illegal and unconstitutionally process of “member harvesting” was killed by motions brought by the floor. Chairman Jim Waurishuk used those key motions, along with statements presented by the angry conservative base to expose the RINOs, forcing them to reveal their motives and intentions.
His maneuvering demonstrated the strength of both the Chairman’s leadership and the principles and the voice of conservatives in the Hillsborough Republican Executive Committee. In the end, Waurishuk shut down the coup attempt that had by design, manipulated, marginalized, and “used” the people they recruited as “political pawns” to serve their agenda. Sadly, the RPOF leadership not only allowed this effort, but sanctioned and orchestrated it by “weaponizing” the grievance process against Chairman Waurishuk.
The RPOF denied Chairman Waurishuk “due process” under the Constitution. To date, the Chairman has yet to be officially notified of any grievances, nor allow him the right to refute, the right to a hearing, the right to retain counsel, and the right to present witnesses. With that said, the Grievance Committee held secret deliberations to recommend punitive action against Chairman Waurishuk. Those actions translated into the orchestrated “palace coup” and denial of his Constitutional authorities as a county chairman. The RPOF Grievance Committee Chairman admitted the official grievance process was intentionally broken to deny Chairman Waurishuk his Constitutional rights. This was a truly Stalinistic method to destroy conservative leadership as it is view as a threat.
The RPOF used their clandestine edicts as cover to allow the State Party Chairman and Grievance Committee Chairman to issue the unconstitutional directives and mandates, while constantly moving the goal posts to create havoc, chaos within the Hillsborough REC. Short notice suspenses resulted in unnecessary and wasted time, work and resources. Worse, the effort was intended to force the Hillsborough REC staff to take valuable time away from the REAL PRIORITY at hand of ‘Getting the Out the Vote and assisting Republican candidates in the final three weeks of the nation’s most critical election.
Nevertheless, the end result was a critical WIN for party conservatives and leadership. While the attempted coup and the ensuing debate that followed was ugly, its impact was critically important because it exposed what was actually at play. Conservatives voices and key motions brought to the floor countered the ploy and stopped the attempt by the RINO Establishment to get a strong foothold in the party specifically for the December 2022 Hillsborough County Republican Party Board Election.
The party now goes back to its regular process of bringing in new precinct committeemen to represent their respective precincts, and working to support and defend true Republican Party principles, platform, and Constitution.
In the end, a critically important message must be spread far and wide -- MAGA-led conservative county Republican Executive Committees across the country need to be aware of such efforts in their states as Establishment RINOs take on Democrat-style tactics in attempts to take back control of the party at the county level. The illicit practice of “member harvesting” RINOs" to take back power needs to be recognized and stopped in its tracks.
Excellent article. I’m a Tampa native living in California. I loved how you characterized these RINO efforts as “clandestine”. The stuff has happened in California to minimize the MAGA movement.
Because HC is a !00% DEM Commissionered County !
This Control at all Costs tactic is used in every county. Once we get past reelection of our Governor, reorganization of the RPOF IS NECESSARY.
MY COUNTY HAS MASSIVE ISSUES.
I would like to know what is meant by the term "member harvesting".
Our local REC Chairman tells us that we CAN'T deny membership to potential members as long as they meet the new 365 day rule and have a pulse! I fail to believe that there are no other ways to DQ these applicants from becoming committee members.
Also, the Republican State Chairman is Joe Gruters, but I can't recall who the Grievance Committee Chairman is...might he be Broward County's State Committeeman, Richard DiNapoli?
Aren't they BOTH RINO's? Might that be the reason that the Hillsborough REC Chairman didn't receive a fair hearing from the committee?? Hmmm...🤔
Dear Staff Writer, I was one of the "so-called RINO's". How shameful to not interview any of us 150+ rejected volunteers that only were there to help strengthen our candidates chances to get elected and help fundraise. I have been a supporter, volunteer, and donator to President Trump and the Republican Party all my life. This article is not representative of the true happenings within this meeting or in our county. Until Republicans can come together and learn inclusiveness within our party we will never be as effective at the grass root level to win local elections or gain new members.
I have no idea what really happened at that meeting and so I will no comment on any of this article. I will say this...it has become very clear that the Republican party has not always been about America First. The America first movement or the movement created by many that adhere to the ideology of President Trump is solely focused on putting America and American First. Thus, the traditional Republicans (or the party that has been called that for the past 75 years) is not actually in line with the America First ideology. Yes, Trump ran on that ticket but he did not follow the blueprint that many Republicans wanted him to follow. Just think about how many establishment Republicans fought against the changes that Trump was trying to make and to this day still don't fully support him. That is not an accident. This is really not about if a person is a Republican. That title does not mean that you support Americans or America first as many party members are not for putting America first they are for putting war, big business, big tech, big industry, and slow reduction of rights first. Right now the Republicans are saying what they need to say to get the vote but if you look back before mid-term season, they were not saying the things they're saying right now. Heck, some if the Republicans are still openly doing things against the grass roots movement and those running for office that are America First or pro Trump or even just conservative in ideology. The reality is....many people in the Republican party are going to need to make a choice. The two ideologies are not harmonious. Only one will come out victorious as nothing can serve two masters. We are in a new situation. The days of R vs D ie this clique vs that clique are coming to an end as people get back into reading their constitution and learning their rights as the creators of the government. The government that is actually owned and operated by the PEOPLE not the career politicians that represent big pharma or tech or industry. We the people are suppose to have the control not just 2 teams that flip flop every few years pretending to be different but in many ways are the same. Now before you get upset at me, let me be clear. The Democrat party has really pushed the limits of crazy this time but as you probably already know they were setting the stage for these actions when Obama was in office and losing with Hillary just set them back 4 years so they are playing catch up at a very fast pace. If we are going to be honest, hindsight is can be 20/20 and looking at the Bush/McCain years ought to show you how NON American Republicans can be and how they also lie and manipulate the people. I do not write any of this to upset you in any way. I write all of this because we can't be clear about the direction we want to move in unless we look at where we are coming from and be honest with ourselves. Many of us have been lied to and fooled. Many of us have been asleep behind the wheel and lacking to even vote at all. Others of us have not understood that the Government has stepped outside of the rules We the People set out to allow, nor do they understand that We the People have the power to change what we don't like and create what we do. In the end, you desire for the "Republicans can (to) come together and learn inclusiveness" is not going to happen because whether you like it or not the ideology within the party is not singular. The America First movement does not harmonize with the old ideology (sad but true) so you have those Republicans that do not like America First trying to push against those that do because they don't want to change and be America First. The only question you will need to ask yourself is....Am I America First or Am I Not? If you are not, well those folks are called RINO's today...because the American First Movement is taking over the name Republican. It is a war within the party. It isn't pretty but it is true.
I wholeheartedly agree with "Nobody Special." The old Republican way of doing business has not served vital American interests.
The Horry County Republican Party in South Carolina is dealing with this exact same issue. The establishment has placed their coup, who ignored all bylaws and state rules, and elected leadership. The establishment has caused confusion, spreading lies, even reciting bylaws which don’t apply to appear as if they are following them. It’s nothing but fighting at meetings when they come and blame us for it. It’s obnoxious! The good thing is that we are not afraid nor stupid! We will not fall for their dirty tactics. We have the charter and the bank account. Let’s see what their next move is! We don’t call them RINOs though because that word has been overplayed here. We call them Soft Republicans!
This article has nothing whatsoever to do with what happened at the shameful meeting. Totally embarrassing. Projection, just like the Democrats.
I see that the author is a great fan of gratuitous scare quotes for commonplace words.