Grassroots Corner - February 14, 2020

Finding a replacement for a retiring co-sponsor may not sound as exciting as finding a new co-sponsor in a hitherto un-FAIRtax-ed district.  But the accomplishment is just as valuable.  So how did our Florida Team convince a replacement candidate to sign on?

4-term Representative and 4-time co-sponsor, Ted Yoho (FL-03), announced he will not seek re-election to the House of Representatives in 2020.  It appears up to 9 Republicans and 4 Democrats will be vying for Yoho’s seat.



Pictured left to right, Ron Maiellaro - Florida FAIRtax State Director , Congressional Candidate Gavin Rollins holding The FAIRtax pledge, Randy Fischer - FAIRtax Marketing Team Leader

One of the contenders is Gavin Rollins of Keystone Heights, Florida.  Gavin Rollins seems to have the right stuff to win: he is a Captain in the Florida National Guard and previously served as a senior intelligence officer in a combat zone in East Africa.  Gavin teaches American History in the Clay County, Florida Public School System.  Gavin has been a member of the Clay County Board of County Commissioners since 2014.  Prior to that service, Gavin was a member of the Keystone Heights, Florida, City Council.

Could we bring Gavin Rollins around to signing The FAIRtax pledge?  Of course.  Here's the rest of the story.

On 1/8/2020, Florida-and-AFFT FAIRtax Board Member Randy Fischer saw a post on Facebook from a high level Florida state Republican Committeeman, Ralph Smith.  Randy follows Ralph and knows him from Leesburg, Florida.  Ralph and another state politician were at a "rollout" event for the Republican Party of Florida, and Ralph said he was backing Gavin Rollins for FL-03.  Randy looked up Gavin, and Gavin had just posted his campaign page that day.  Randy sent Gavin a friend request on Facebook based on mutual friendships, including Rep. Ted Yoho.

Gavin accepted, and by 1/12/2020 he and Randy were exchanging comments.  On 1/13/2020, Rep. Ted Yoho, the current incumbent, put out a post congratulating Gavin for entering the race.  On the same day, Randy saw a post from Gavin on his new page.  Randy mentioned FAIRtax, and Gavin reached out to let Randy know he supported it.  By 1/15/2020, the two exchanged phone numbers, and Gavin said he would sign the pledge.

As we all know, having a candidate say he will sign the pledge isn’t the same thing as having the signed pledge in hand.  So, Randy involved Florida State Director, Ron Maiellaro, and the two set up a meeting to video Gavin signing the pledge.  A close friend of Gavin’s, a recent law school graduate, had connections to the law school and she arranged a "signing ceremony" in a large lecture hall doubling as a mock appellate courtroom..  The signing party recorded the video on 1/20/2020.



Here is the signed pledge from FL-03 Congressional  Candidate Gavin Rollins:


The form, by the way, Gavin Rollins signed is available to all Grassroots Volunteers

By Clicking Here To Download

so you can take it to your next Congressional Candidate’s town hall.
   

 

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To paraphrase Christina and Tarek El Moussa on their popular HGTV show Flip or Flop: “Time to get another candidate pledge!”

The Florida Team is busy doing just that.  Randy has sent Candidate Pledges to 4 other FL-03 Republican Candidates and heard back from 2.  When this piece goes to press, Randy will have met with Republican Congressional Candidate Kat Cammack on 2/5/2020.

Kat is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Ted Yoho and is considered to be 1 of 3 "frontrunners" for the FL-03 Republican nomination.  She is hesitating to sign our pledge and wants to stand on her "record" of having supported The FAIRtax in the past.
 
You set the example for Grassroots Volunteers everywhere in the Country.  Does anyone else have activity to report?  Don’t worry whether or not you have been successful, or whether your activity is a “work in process”.  Please drop me a few lines.

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