{"id":7999,"date":"2010-02-07T11:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-07T11:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/major-florida-county-now-has-libertarian-republicans-as-chair-of-local-gop-and-pres-of-gop-club\/"},"modified":"2010-02-07T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-07T11:47:00","slug":"major-florida-county-now-has-libertarian-republicans-as-chair-of-local-gop-and-pres-of-gop-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/libertarian\/major-florida-county-now-has-libertarian-republicans-as-chair-of-local-gop-and-pres-of-gop-club.php","title":{"rendered":"Major Florida County now has Libertarian Republicans as Chair of local GOP, and Pres. of GOP Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>by Eric Dondero<\/p>

Naples is a city of about 80,000 on the southwest Florida Coast. It is most certainly an upscale community, mainly of wealthy retirees from New York, and other northeastern states. There's a golf course on every corner, literally.<\/p>

In the early 1990s, during the first years of the Republican Liberty Caucus, Naples was a hub of sorts for Libertarian Republicans. 1976 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate and RLC National Chairman Roger MacBride lived there in a posh condo overlooking the water. He would host many early RLC meetings and weekend get-togethers. <\/p>

I was living in Tallahassee at the time, and running the national RLC from there. Though, in its first couple years, the RLC was a very Florida-focused organization. No accident that today, the Florida RLC is without doubt the most organized and active of all RLC affiliates nationwide. <\/p>

A Refugee from the Ross Perot Movement<\/strong><\/p>

A local real estate agent in Naples named Scott LePore got active with us in the RLC. He came from the Ross Perot and Term Limits movements; not quite a libertarian, but a reformer \"fiscally conservative\/socially moderate\" sort. Scott soon became very active with us movement libertarians, and even served on the Florida RLC board. He also became friends with Roger MacBride. <\/p>

I eventually lost touch with Scott, but it appears he stayed active all these years, and stuck with the GOP. So much so, in fact, that he's now got a promotion.<\/p>

<\/a>For Youth, Social Networking the key to growing the GOP<\/strong><\/p>

From NaplesNew.com<\/a>, \"Collier’s new GOP leadership sees exciting future for Republican Party\" Feb. 6:<\/p>

Schwerin and Collier County Republican Club President Scott Lepore, 43, hope to breathe new life into the local party, an effort under way in every town around the nation.<\/p>

[Frank] Schwerin, a cardiologist, and Lepore, a Realtor, may have different styles but believe they will work well together.<\/p>

“It’s going to be a hand-in-hand partnership,” Lepore said. “It’s two different formats for two different purposes (but) when I met Frank, I felt here (we) are two people who think the same. Now, I’m a member of the Collier County Republican Executive Committee, and, as far as I’m concerned, everybody’s on the same page.”<\/p>

Lepore took over as club president in January 2009. Since then, membership has increased and the club has banked twice its previous take.<\/p>

Lepore brings verbal energy and new ideas for socializing to the mix.<\/p>

He moved club meetings to the Bellasera Hotel in downtown Naples, reduced admission from $20 to $10, and kept the socials going through the summer. He brought in exciting young speakers, such as U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio.<\/p><\/blockquote>

It's a little ironic that my old friend Scott is now helping to run the Collier County Republican Committee. Back in the old days, he was a bit of an outcast, barely let inside the door of the local GOP. He was seen as brash, and a bit too over-energetic for the staid establishment oldtimers. <\/p>

Republicans now a \"Scott Brown\/Marco Rubio Party\"<\/strong><\/p>

“These are very exciting times,” Lepore said, noting that 161 people came out to hear Rubio speak.<\/p>

Rejuvenation of the party is the key, Lepore said. One of the reasons the Republicans took such a beating in the 2008 presidential election was because the party didn’t inspire the youth of the nation, Lepore said.<\/p>

That is changing with the recent election of Scott Brown, a young Massachusetts Republican who won the U.S. Senate seat traditionally held by a Democrat; and the energy of Rubio, who is capturing national attention, Lepore said.<\/p><\/blockquote>

<\/a>Pro-Military Libertarian now Chairs Collier County GOP<\/strong><\/p>

But it gets even better. Seems that the newly appointed Chairman of the Collier County Republican Executive Committee is also a Libertarian Republican. Continuing:<\/p>

Both Lepore and Schwerin stress the necessity for involvement of youth, coupled with traditional conservative Republican values.<\/p>

“I have a passion about America and freedom,” Schwerin said. “I’m pretty Libertarian except that I’m pro-life and believe in a strong military.”<\/p>

“My skill set is that I don’t pull punches,” Schwerin said.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Schwering goes on to account that he's been active with the GOP ever since the days of Nixon. And was even taken to the White House as a young child to meet President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He also ran against current GOP Congressman Connie Mack in 2004. <\/p>

Photo - Collier County GOP Exec. Comm., Chairman Schwerin far leftside.<\/em><\/p>

\"\"<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Eric DonderoNaples is a city of about 80,000 on the southwest Florida Coast. It is most certainly an upscale community, mainly of wealthy retirees from New York, and other northeastern states. There's a golf course on every corner, literally.In … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-libertarian"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}