Are Non-Partisan Elections Really Non-Partisan? Sid Dinerstein takes the Cake

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Republicans target non-partisan elections.

And that's the bottom line of it. Politics has become more sleazy than what we ever could have imagined or what we have ever known. A prime example of sleaze came from some who appeared last night before our City Commission, but that's another story.

Tonight is the night for the Tom Ramiccio fund raiser sponsored by the Republican Party. How can anyone compete with a national party sponsoring a candidate and all of that money? How? Local politics has now taken a whole new turn. What used to be contributions from the local citizenry has now catapulted into big money from movers and shakers.

While I was asking Scott Maxwell about this situation last night, he asked the question, "And don't you think that the Democrats are doing the same thing?" Actually I have not heard that the DEC has involved itself in fundraisers for local candidates in elections that are non-partisan. Perhaps they do. My problem is that any national Party would do this.

It is also the phoniness of the top dogs involved. Politicians can always justify their actions, right or wrong. Sid did it 1.5 years ago when he involved himself personally as the Chair of the Palm Beach County Republican Party by endorsing a Democrat. You can NOT divorce yourself from your position and Sid took an oath of office to support Republicans. He can support one on a personal level, but dragging in the entire Republican Party? Sid has set precedents in politics to a whole new low.

Katie McGiveron, Chair of Save Our Neighborhood, Inc. and a registered Republican was so incensed that she wrote the Party. Here are her e-mails and her reply from Sid Dinerstein, Chair of the PB County Republican Party who didn't even have the courtesy of addressing her e-mail TO her but rather in a CC. That was his own personal put-down to a Party member, all done in typical "Sid style."

Latest one appears first.

From: kkss21
To: Sid Dinerstein
Cc: lynn Anderson
Re: FW: Palm Beach County GOP News Wire, June 16, 2011Mr Dinerstein, I doubt that you missed my point. In my opinion it is inappropriate for the Republican OR the Democratic clubs to try to influence non partisan races. When you did robocalls for Rene Varela, a DEMOCRAT in the last election, I hope that you did so as Mr. Dinerstein, private citizen and not as the head of my local Republican club. Get my point now, Mr. Dinerstein? Kathleen Mcgiveron


From: Sid Dinerstein
Subject: Re: FW: Palm Beach County GOP News Wire, June 16, 2011
To: "Greg Langowski"
Cc: kkss21@bellsouth.net
Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 12:27 PM

Kathleen: Thanks for your thoughts. I'm missing your point. Are you suggesting that Democrats should not help Sheriff Bradshaw get reelected because it's a non-partisan race? Or any school board member? Or the Supervisor of Elections? Most elections are non partisan. We, the Republican Party of Palm Beach County, are proud to have a candidate like Tom. Lake Worth needs hin desparately. If we're not going to help him raise money, who will? Sid --- On Tue, 6/21/11, Greg Langowski wrote: From: Greg Langowski Subject: FW: Palm Beach County GOP News Wire, June 16, 2011 To: "siddinerstein@yahoo.com" Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 9:40 AM kkss21 [mailto:kkss21@bellsouth.net] Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 9:39 AM To: Subject: Re: Palm Beach County GOP News Wire, June 16, 2011 I am a life long member of the Republican party. I find the fundraiser for Tom Ramiccio,who is running for Mayor of Lake Worth, highly offensive and inappropriate.This is a NONPARTISAN race in Lake Worth.Both Republican and Democrat clubs have no place in this.This is an embarrassing"special election"brought about because our former mayor,Rene Varela, left the office FOUR DAYS early. Because Mr. Varela could not wait to get out of town for FOUR DAYS, the citizens of Lake Worth are now going to be hit with a bill of over 25,000 to 30,000 dollars to pay for this farce..The "winner" of this race will only serve for about three months before the regular election in November. Meanwhile, Lake Worth is laying off city staff,like our librarians.Again ,partisan clubs should have no place in nonpartisan elections.Kathleen Mcgiveron --- On Thu, 6/16/11, Palm Beach County Republican Party <info@pbcgop.org> wrote: From: Palm Beach County Republican Party <info@pbcgop.org> Subject: Palm Beach County GOP News Wire, June 16, 2011 To: kkss21@bellsouth.net Date: Thursday, June 16, 2011, 7:29 AM