Taking a cue from the Obama administration, Brevard Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian T. Binggeli and the Brevard County School Board have been doing their best to scare local teachers, aids, and parents with their proposed cuts to the 2013-14 budget. 

From the beginning of the meeting at 6:30pm, on February 21 in the Hoover Middle School Media Center, Dr. Binggeli showed many slides illustrating the steady decline in “revenues” to the District since 2009.  Of course, at no point did the good doctor point out the main cause of the drop in funding, plummeting property values.  The superintendent continued on with the scare tactics by PowerPoint.  While asking for community input, he proceeded to go down line by line on the proposed cuts.  Most of those in attendance were media specialists, music teachers, and concerned parents ready with objections to each cut.

More than 130 people turned out Thursday night at the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors to attend an organizational meeting of the Brevard Tea Party. The meeting was focused on returning the Tea Party to its core message of fiscal responsibility and creating the organizational structure that will allow the group to be more effective at the county level. Organizer Matt Nye said he was thrilled with the turnout.

"Attendance was incredible, especially when you consider the fact it was the same night as the local Republican Party Executive Committee meeting," Nye said. "The best part was we had a ton of new faces - I know many pundits and commentators are trying to say the Tea Party is dead, but I can assure you based on the turnout and enthusiasm in that room that is simply not the case."

Editor's Note: I have received several complaints from sitting BREC members about the organizational Tea Party meeting being scheduled the same night as the BREC meeting. Below is a response to an email sent by a BREC member "disappointed" with my scheduling decision.

Dear Disappointed,

I’ve been working within the Brevard Republican Executive Committee (BREC) for the last five years, and last month I was finally forced to draw the conclusion I am wasting my time there. In spite of a clear lack of vision or leadership, the members voted for two more years of the “same old - same old”, and I simply can’t be a part of it any longer.

The Brevard Republican Executive Committee (BREC), the local governing arm of the Republican Party, held it's elections last Thursday night, December 13th, and things did not go smoothly, to say the least.

The meeting was closed to only those members who submitted their precinct committeeman/woman paperwork with the Supervisor of Elections back in June. This meant there were 170 eligible voters, including the Brevard state delegation, who are all automatic members by virtue of their being state elected officials.

Before I explain what happened at the meeting, a disclaimer and a little context: I was a candidate for Chair, and was running against the incumbent Chairwoman Barbara Davis, whom I think is a wonderful lady. I have been involved with BREC since becoming politically active in 2007, and ran for Chair once previously in 2010.