POLITICS - Florida, Seeing the Blackhole?

"South Florida Tea Party chief slams GOP Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare plan" by George Bennett, Palm Beach Post 6/19/2011

Few issues unite Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, billionaire part-time Palm Beacher Donald Trump and South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson.

But all three are now on record slamming Republican House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan. Wilkinson broke with much of the tea party movement last week when he sent an email that calls the Ryan plan a "public policy nightmare" that could lead to "huge Democratic wins in 2012."

Such tea party favorites as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-­Plantation, and presidency-­seeking House Tea Party Caucus Chairwoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., have voted for the Ryan plan.

But Wilkinson, in a Thursday night "Dear Patriots" email, says that in the upcoming fight over raising the national debt ceiling, "Republicans will lose if they support the Ryan Medicare plan. Americans do not support the Ryan plan." If Democrats make big gains in 2012, Wilkinson's email says, "Expect the GOP to then blame the Tea Party for losses."

Wilkinson says Republicans should go after welfare fraud to find budget savings and "touch Medicare last."

It sounds as if Wilkinson is taking a page from Trump, the keynote speaker for the South Florida Tea Party's April 16 rally. Trump recently predicted the 2012 elections "are going to be, in my opinion, a Republican disaster because of this plan."

Wilkinson didn't return a call Friday, but longtime Trump friend and adviser Roger Stone said Wilkinson and Trump "kind of bonded" at the April rally and have talked since.

• A raft of Palm Beach County Republican leaders are helping Lake Worth mayoral candidate Tom Ramiccio raise money for the city's nonpartisan June 28 special election. Ramiccio is the only registered Republican among the four candidates.
  
  The host committee for a Wednesday night fundraiser for Ramiccio includes county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein and Vice Chairwoman Margi Helschien, Republican State Committeeman Peter Feaman, conservative activist Jack Furnari, Palm Beach Councilman and big-time GOP money-raiser Bill Diamond, Lake Worth City Commissioner Scott Maxwell, Boynton Beach Mayor Jose Rodriguez and Boca Raton Councilwoman Susan Haynie.
  
  Only 22.5 percent of Lake Worth voters are Republicans, with 49.5 percent of the city registered as Democrats and 28 percent with no party or other parties. But in a low-participation special election, the ability to target and turn out a specific group of voters can have a big impact.
  
  Dinerstein helped Democrat Rene Varela get elected mayor of Lake Worth in November 2009 by recording phone calls that went to GOP voters in the city. No Republicans were running in that race.


• U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-­Tequesta, last week endorsed GOP front-runner Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential primary. Romney headlined a fundraiser for Rooney in 2008 and endorsed his reelection bid last year.