Reviews 1996 Elections, Nominates 1997 Officers
By Cheryl Palmer, Secretary CCBC
VIERA (Dec. 5, 1996) – A general meeting was held at the Brevard County School Board Building at Viera. The purpose of the meeting was to review the November 1996 elections and to nominate officers for 1997.
Jerry Lostutter reported on educational efforts in the north part of the county. Jerry informed the members of the letter sent to local pastors from the national liberal organization, “Citizens United for Separation of Church and State.” This letter cautioned the pastors not to distribute Christain Coalition voter guides, and threatened the loss of the churches’ tax-exempt status. Jerry wrote to the pastors and presented them with an opinion from an attorney that they had no need to fear penalties. The pastors responded and voter guides were distributed in the churches.
Jerry Lostutter presented Glenn and Sherry DeJong with award certificates to recognize their contributions to CCBC during their time as officers. Ken Hageman recognized the people who helped to distribute 14,508 voter guides in South Brevard.
Cheryl Palmer reported on the November election results giving an overview of who won and a brief discussion of some of the obstacles the candidates had to overcome. Glenn DeJong pointed out that the results proved the maxim that incumbents usually win where the voters are conservative.
Glenn DeJong announced his resignation as Chairman and his willingness to stay on in some other capacity and to assist the new Chairman with the transition. Glenn reported on what worked and what didn’t during his term and gave suggestions for the future. In 1996, the paid membership doubled. However, church liason input needs to improve. According to our member survey, there is a need for voter education on the issue of “property rights vs. environmentalism.” Glenn noted that we should do candidate forums with a question and answer format. These are more informative. We need to sponsor more voter registration drives.
The picnic this year will be a forum for pro-family elected officials. Jim Doyle suggested that we give all active members our church list, including the names and telephone numbers of the pastors. He suggested we should hand deliver voter guides to identified “pro-family” homes and increase use of Christian radio as a promotional tool.
Bill Tolley said that our mission for the future should be to broaden the organization: to identify pro-family voters, target these people for our informational activities, and to get more Christians registered to vote. He noted that we should focus on these voters rather than liberal and moderate Republicans, especially those who may be pro-abortion.
