• 2005 Liberty Award
• Social Security Blanket
• John Stossel Event
• National ID Coalition
• RLC Southeast
  Florida, Georgia, North Carolina
• Sanford for President
• Future Liberty Watch Reports
  Central & Pacific

    The RLC has a singular purpose: "promoting the ideals of individual rights, limited government and free enterprise within the Republican Party." Our Bylaws identify three methods: promoting these ideals among Party officials, supporting sympathetic candidates and promoting Caucus membership.
    We are not policy wonks nor a think tank, but activists engaged in changing the course of the GOP. We have explicit Principles and Positions which govern our advocacy as an organization. While we do take positions on current issues, our primary task is advocacy: promoting our ideals within the party.
    Our new Vice Chairman, Philip Blumel, has done an excellent job at that task, winning the Chairman's Liberty Award for 2005. Phil has been a member and officer since the RLC founding in 1991. Few members have contributed so much to our success. This edition takes note of many of his accomplishments this year. He  also contributed to the FSP PorcFest, noted in our last edition, as both a speaker and an advocate. We look forward to his continued contributions to the RLC.
    We hope you'll join him in the effort.

William Westmiller
National Chairman

    If the President deserves credit for anything, it's surely his consistent, if unsuccessful, pursuit of Social Security reform. RLCers support any move away from this unconstitutional entitlement program. VP Phil Blumel arranged for RLCer John Hallman, Florida Director of Freedom Works, to address Republicans in West Palm Beach on efforts to add personal retirement accounts to Social Security and addressed a half-dozen other GOP events with RLC help.
    Freedom Works sponsored a trip to Washington, DC with Hallman, Blumel, and RLCer Jerry Cameron to lobby Florida legislators for two days on Social Security and death tax repeal. Among those receiving the group was Congressman John Feeney, who said he is "very aware of the RLC ... an excellent organization."
    RLC Advisors Sen. Sam Johnson and Rep. Jeff Flake offered a privatization proposal developed by the Cato Institute, but Republican advocates ended up negotiating with themselves over dozens of variations, with little progress. The topic has apparently been put "on the back burner" until 2007.
     Chairman Westmiller offered a perspective on the "Social Security Blanket" for The New Libertarian.

John Hallman

Jeff Flake

    Emmy Award-wining ABC host John Stossel addressed a packed house at Florida Atlantic University in March, under the sponsorship of Freedom Works. VC Blumel and RLCer John Hallman made the arrangements in cooperation with FAU College Republicans in Boca Raton. 

Mike Ostrolenk

    The Caucus has supported the efforts of the Liberty Coalition to oppose various national ID plans and Patriot Act provisions. Public letters to federal legislators are signed by the ACU, GOA, IJ, and ACLU organizational members and are frequently published, gaining broad media attention for the RLC.
    Special thanks to RLC member and Coalition Chairman Mike Ostrolenk for his assistance. These opportunities gain the Caucus a great deal of exposure from other member organizations and frequently influence legislative action.

Andy Anderson

Bob Burg

Bob Poole

     Members have been very active around the state in response to the Kelo property takings. RLCer Bob White organized a Townhall meeting with Bob McClure, President of the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee; Aaron O'Brien has spoken to city councils in Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, and Fort Myers; Andy Anderson, Deputy Mayor of Palm Bay, proposed a Charter Amendment that would outlaw the use of eminent domain for private development.

Term Limits
    The Chairman of Stop the Politicians, RLCer Bob Burg, is mobilizing across the state to defend the current eight-year term limits on legislators. The group opposes a constitutional amendment to weaken Florida’s term limits law on legislators. RLCer George Blumel worked on the original Eight Is Enough term limits campaign.

Tackling Traffic
    In what State Sen. Jeff Atwater called “the best presentation I have ever seen at a regular Republican club meeting,” RLCer Bob Poole shared his ideas on tackling Florida highway congestion with the Republican Club of Central Palm Beach County. Poole has been a national leader in traffic innovation.

Chairman
    We regret that Florida RLC Chairman Al Gutierrez of Titusville has announced his resignation.
    Gutierrez served as Florida Coordinator since 2002 and Chairman of one of the fastest growing state RLC affiliates in the nation. "We very much appreciate the contributions that Al Gutierrez has made to developing the RLC over many years and wish him well in his future plans," said National Chair Westmiller.

RLC Florida Website

Find your state contact here, or email Chapter Director Tim Condon for information!

   The Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, has enjoyed RLC support in all of his electoral campaigns and many had hoped that he might be a candidate for President in 2008. Sanford now says that won't happen.
    If re-elected as Governor, “I absolutely am serving all four years, because we just have some huge issues here in South Carolina that are just an immense challenge.” Sanford has amassed a $3.7 million campaign war chest for his 2006 gubernatorial campaign. The RLC has endorsed him for that office and looks forward to 2012 .

State Lookup of 2004 Liberty Index scores.