Who Is The Western Sussex Republican Club?

questionI am sure there are quite a few people running around Sussex County, Delaware, who think they know exactly who, and what the Western Sussex Republican Club is, but do they really?  I am also sure, many of these same people have donated money to the WSRC, thinking they knew what they were supporting, and where the money would be going, but do they?

In due course I will tell you exactly who the WSRC is, and give a short view of what it is, but for now I want to focus on something that I feel is far more important, that being, the possible defrauding of good Republicans, both on an individual level, and an organizational level. There is also the very real possibility, that laws have been broken.

Back in January of this year, on the second Monday of the month, which would have been the 12th of January, the Sussex County GOP Executive Committee held its elections for all of its seats, including the county-wide officers. There was a changing of the guard at the Chairman’s level. John Rieley had announced his resignation, and Vincent Calabro was successful in his challenge of Mary Spicer.

Shortly after this meeting, and the elections, it was announced, by Mr. Calabro, vince1  that he would be heading up a fund-raiser, this later turned into a combination fund-raiser, and an honoring of former Chairman Rieley. It was advertised as such, and people buying tickets were instructed to make checks payable to? That’s right, the Western Sussex Republican Club. In almost every announcement, or mention of this event Mr. Calabro was named as the organizer, and or the president of the club.

The event was also posted on the official website of the Sussex GOP, here is the announcement and a price list for purchasing ads in the program for the event.

 

First State Unity Dinner Honoring John Rieley

Date: February 28, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Location: Marvel Museum Georgetown

 

 

A Dinner will be held at the rustic Marvel Carriage Museum home of the Georgetown Historical Society
Come down & join the fun as we pay tribute to former GOP Chairman John Rieley. Please consider taking a Journal Ad to support the program. Thank you!

FIRST STATE UNITY DINNER
As we enter into the year 2015-2016 election cycles, it is critical that we do everything in our power to raise funds to support candidates who will reflect our views and values. In order to help these candidates of substance get elected, we need resources to subsidize effective campaigns.
In an effort to accomplish this goal in an atmosphere of camaraderie and teamwork, I propose to hold a series of events where we can all get together and spend a few hours conversing, socializing and dining. We can share ideas and discuss our goals in a relaxed venue.
I invite you to join us for the first in what we hope to be a regularly held event. To encourage participation we have kept the ticket price to a nominal amount. I look forward to seeing you on Saturday,February 28, 2015.
FIRST STATE UNITY DINNER
Honoring Immediate Past Chairman
 John Rieley 
Date: SaturdayFebruary 28, 2015
Time: 6:00 pm -10:00 pm
Location: Marvel Carriage Museum
Georgetown Historical Society
Georgetown, Delaware
Cost: $15.00 per person = ($25.00 Couple)
**Please make checks payable to “Western Sussex Republican Club
Please RSVP by­­­­­­­­­­ Friday, February 20, 2015
Call (631) 897-1738 and/or (302) 841-8716
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you there!
Vincent P. Calabro,
Chairman

SOUVENIER JOURNAL AD CONTRACT

First State Unity Dinner

Immediate Past Chairman of SCREC

-Honoring-

John Rieley

Saturday February 28, 2015

6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Marvel Carriage Museum/Georgetown Historical Society

510 South Bedford Street, Georgetown, Delaware 19947

Rates

Outside Back Cover – $100.00

Inside Back Cover – $75.00

Gold Page – $50.00

Silver Page – $35.00

Full Page – $25.00

Half Page – $15.00

Booster – $10.00

I agree to take a ________page space in the above referenced journal

and to pay the sum of $________

Date:_____________________________________

Name:____________________________________

Phone:____________________________________

Solicited By:________________________________

**Please attach business card or ad copy to bill**

**Please make checks payable to “Western Sussex Republican Club”

Notice that the WSRC is mentioned twice in reference to making “checks payable to”, clearly the intention was to raise funds under the name of Western Sussex Republican Club.

Also notice that Mr. Calabro is the only person named in this announcement, though he does use the royal we quite a bit. He also signs off as Vincent Calabro, “Chairman”.  Now this is a little convoluted, is this in reference to him being the Chairman of the Sussex GOP on whose website this was posted, or is it in reference to his being the Chairman of the WSRC, or both?

In any case it is clear that Mr. Calabro was instrumental in organizing this event, and advertising it as well, all in order to as he says above, “it is critical that we do everything in our power to raise funds to support candidates who will reflect our views and values.”

It would be easy for some to become confused as to who was raising the funds, and how they were to be used, the blurring of the lines might lead some to believe that the money raised would be coming back to the Sussex GOP at some point.

So, what do we know so far? We know that shortly after becoming  the chairman of the Sussex GOP, Mr. Vincent Calabro organized and advertised this event to raise funds for political purposes. But it was not this one case of his using the GOP website to do this, here is his February Chairman’s letter,

WSRC

As you can see he again has used the GOP website to advertise this event,

  “We have already begun by planning a dinner in February which should be an enjoyable event. By now many of you should have received paper invitations in the mail, and others will have received e-mail notifications. We have also posted it on our website. I encourage all to participate so that we may share some leisurely quality time with each other.”

This event was also promoted by Lacey Lafferty who has announced her intention to run for the office of Governor of Delaware in 2016 on her Facebook page, it is worth noting that Mr. Calabro is also closely involved in what amounts to Ms. Lafferty’s campaign.

WSRC 1

Again in this Facebook post from Ms. Lafferty, we see the name of the organization as Western Sussex Republican Club, and Mr. Calabro’s name at the bottom. This was posted on Feb 13th, a Friday. Ironic?

So the event was held on the 28th of February as announced, here is a photo of the program for the event,

WSRC 2     notice again at the bottom, “Hosted by Western Sussex Republican Club”

Now let us return once again to the Sussex GOP website for the March message from Chairman Calabro,

WSRC 3

I am pleased to report that our First State Unity Dinner was a tremendous success!”

So we can only assume that a tremendous success means they raised lots of money. But how are we to know? I’ll get to that later.

Ms. Lafferty also announce the success of the event and gave us photos.

WSRC 4

Again Mr. Calabro is given full credit for the success of this fund-raising event for the “Western Sussex Republican Club”.

From reports, I have heard, there were approximately fifty or so people at the event, then factor in any ads they sold for their program, and one would have to believe that they raised at least $500.00, remember this amount, it will become important very soon.

Also during the event Ms. Lafferty put out this comment on her Facebook page as well.

WSRC 6   Take note of this mention of a raffle as well, this is also very important.

Now we don’t have any official report of how much money was taken in, though we came close this past Monday night at the monthly meeting of the Sussex GOP, yes that monthly meeting, the one where they attempted to have this blogger removed by the police, unsuccessfully I might add, for not signing in. You see it was listed on the official committee agenda that Vincent Calabro would give a report of the Western Sussex Republican Club, along with the representatives of other republican clubs in the county.

 

 

 

  WSRC 5Item IX of the agenda included an update of the WSRC by Vincent Calabro, only one problem, he never gave the update. Could that be because they were unsuccessful in having me removed from the room? Maybe it was just a coincidence, if you believe in those sort of things.

So you see, as late as March 9th, Mr. Calabro was promoting himself as the official spokesperson for the WSRC, and using the Sussex GOP infrastructure to do so.

So, by now many of you have to be asking yourself, so what Frank? Why all this time showing that Vincent Calabro was the head of this Western Sussex Republican Club?

Because he isn’t. Whaaaaaaaaaaa? You say. After all of the examples I have shown you, I now tell you with certainty that Vincent Calabro has no affiliation with the one and only, and this is the important part, “REGISTERED”, and  “OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED”, with and by the State of Delaware Election Commission, Western Sussex Republican Club.

You see there is this funny little thing called the law, and if you are going to raise funds for political purposes, then there are a few laws you have to follow, yes even if you are new to the area and have lots of experience in politics in other states. It seems however that either Mr. Calabro and his friends think the law does not apply to them, or they simply are clueless about politics in general.

But let me help educate Mr. Calabro, you see there is this pesky little thing in Delaware called Title 15, Chapter 80, sec. 8005 Duties of a Political Committee, which clearly states,

“A political committee shall:

(1) File a statement of organization with the Commissioner no later than 24 hours after it receives any contribution or makes any expenditure that causes the aggregate amount of contributions by or expenditures to such committee to exceed $500 during an election period. The statement of organization shall be filed under penalty of perjury, and shall include the following information:”  

   See? I told you that $500.00 amount was important.  You might also want to look up the part that prohibits holding raffles to raise political funds, not even fifty-fifties.

   Here’s a link to Title 15 for this section,  http://delcode.delaware.gov/title15/c080/sc01/index.shtml

    Now the bad news for Mr. Calabro and his friends, is that not only is it way past the deadline for filing the WSRC with the State of Delaware Election Commission, but there seems to already be a WSRC filed with the State of Delaware Elections Commission, and as I said above, Mr. Calabro has nothing to do with this group.

  If you click on this link   https://cfrs.elections.delaware.gov/Home/Logout   then click on “view committees” on the left side, enter “Western Sussex Republican Club” in the search engine,  you will see that this legitimate club was organized on January 1st 2015, even before Mr. Calabro was elected as the Chairman of the Sussex GOP.

   Now before the defenders show up and start saying that Mr. Calabro didn’t know about this other “LEGITIMATE” club, I can tell you upon a reliable source that Mr. Calabro contacted the treasurer of the “LEGITIMATE” WSRC following the creation of a Facebook page for the group, and prior to the March 9th GOP meeting at which the agenda still listed Mr. Calabro as the spokesperson for the “ILLEGITIMATE” WSRC, and was made aware that the  name “Western Sussex Republican Club” had been filed months prior.

   There was this communication from Linda Creasey   on March 2nd, who is also the Secretary of the Sussex GOP,  this was following the event and prior to the monthly meeting on the 9th,

    WSRC 7 it seems as though Ms. Creasey upon seeing the Facebook page created by the legitimate WSRC contacted them to take the page down. It would also seem as though Ms. Creasey was also instrumental in organizing this event, and being the Secretary of the Sussex GOP, creates another link between this false WSRC group and the Sussex GOP.

   And I would hope that no one would attempt to defend Mr. Calabro and his friends by saying that they just weren’t aware of the Title 15 laws governing campaign finance, after all, if you are going to run for the Chairmanship of a political party, it might be helpful if you have a passing relationship with the rules and laws governing that organization. After all, it’s not all fun and games, this is real life.

   Mr. Calabro and the people who worked with him on this event, many of whom are also members of the Sussex GOP Executive Committee, appear to have broken these laws.  By the way, the Vice-Chair Fred Silva seems to have been playing bar tender at the event, this photo was also from Ms. Lafferty’s Facebook post.  WSRC 8      They organized a political group in order to raise funds for a political purpose, they held the event, and took money for tickets and ads in the program, they have tied the Sussex GOP to the hip of this false WSRC by using the official website to promote it, as well as blurring the lines of where Mr. Calabro’s role as Chairman of the Sussex GOP, and that as the organizer of this event are drawn, if at all. And they did this under false pretense since they have no connection to the only official WSRC, and had no officially recognized organization under which to operate.

   This runs deeper than just the possible crimes that may have been committed. By selling tickets to elected officials and other Republican groups, they have drawn these people and groups into this serious malfeasance.  The pure arrogance of these people astounds me. They truly think that the laws don’t apply to them, or else they must admit they are complete fools when it comes to politics, and should resign immediately, before the charges are filed.

  I believe the actions of Mr. Calabro, and those who worked on this event rise to the level of being worthy of an investigation by the Commissioner of Election, Elaine Manlove.

   I don’t care who you are, or who you think you are, I don’t care about your party affiliation, we are a society governed by law, and if you break those laws, then there are consequences for your actions. I believe that Commissioner Manlove would be justified in investigating Mr. Calabro and anyone who helped promote, and or organize this event to illegally raise political funds.

   If anyone else feels this way, then I encourage you to contact Ms. Manlove

   Elaine Manlove
905 S. Governors Ave,
Suite 170, Dover DE 19904
Telephone: (302) 739-4277
Email: coe_vote@state.de.us

59 Comments on "Who Is The Western Sussex Republican Club?"

  1. Sanity Check says:

    Hopefully the Sussex spokesperson can clear this up, such as in the way he cleared up the rules of the cheer center. a couple of observations. The phone numbers to call. I’m assuming the 631-area code is Vince. It is New York state. The 302-841-8716 is none other than the “First announced Republican Gubernatorial Candidate” Lacey “I-walk-the-state-even-though-I’m-on-a-taxpayer-funded-disability-from-the-State-Police” Lafferty. Who also has Duke Brooks as a spokesperson.

    Oh, what a tangled web we weave…

    I wonder who bought the ads in that book, and if they really knew (or were misled) as to who was running the show???

  2. Sunshine says:

    Uh oh. Why would anyone want to be associated with these frauds? It’s time Elaine Manlove earns her keep. This is straight up WRONG!

  3. question says:

    Why is the Chairman of the SCGOP funneling money into a regional PAC instead of into the SCGOP bank accounr?

  4. Sanity Check says:

    And I just noticed Creasy’s comments that she reported it to facebook as falsely representing someone else. Ironic, since their group was the very one falsely using a name. Wow… the hypocrisy of the bunch is amazing.

    Any comment yet Duke? Vinnie? Fred?

  5. question says:

    Do the Republicans at that Unity Dinner understand that when they donate to something like the Western Sussex Republican Club that the SCGOP Executive Committee does NOT have the ability to distribute that money to GOP candidates they endorse, but instead the WSRC, and whoever Vince Calabro chooses get to distribute the money to the candidates they choose?

    Does everyone who attended the “Unity” Dinner understand that the entire event was a slimy, shady way to get Republicans from all over Sussex County to donate money that will go to Lacey Lafferty and Jeff Christopher, regardless of who the SCGOP votes to endorse in 2016????????

  6. question says:

    HELLO? Sussex County Republicans??? Do you realize what your Chairman and your former Chairman have taken your money under false pretenses?

  7. Frank Knotts says:

    To answer “Question’s” question, no. That is the problem with the way they blurred the line between the Sussex GOP and this bogus version of the WSRC.

  8. jack says:

    Look like someone forgot to make their X with
    the state..Oh wait no comment…..

  9. Republican says:

    Good work. Now, if only you’d work half as hard sticking it to the Democrats as you do fellow Republicans, we might start to actually start “moving Delaware forward”. When was the last time you did even a little bit of investigation into the goings on of the opposition party?

  10. Frank Knotts says:

    Republican the only way you get the stink out of your dirty laundry is to air it .

  11. Sunshine says:

    Vince? Creeper? Duke?

  12. side show circus says:

    Lafferty knows the laws about political committees she’s the treasurer for her Liberty PAC.
    Vincent F. Calabro is a Notary, he is also Treasurer for Lacey Lafferty for Governor 2106. He’s also listed as an officer for Lacey Lafferty’s Liberty PAC according to the official document that HE notarized which was submitted and recorded with the Delaware Elections Commission.

  13. mouse says:

    The single party control dems need it stuck to them. They have become corrupt and unresponsive to the voters due to a monopoly of power. That given, the Republicans need to be a viable party to shake loose some democrats and they are not. Until they can run candidates who have real issues and not the crazed ebola, gays, abortion, birth control and immigrant obsession they will continue to lose state wide elections.

  14. question says:

    Has anyone called the police on these campaign finance criminals yet?

  15. Sunshine says:

    Rieley and Duke were awful mouthy earlier in the week, where’s all their shit talking now?

  16. Republican says:

    I’m curious, Mouse, what you might consider “real” issues?

    Also, it’s noteworthy that it is the Democrats and their allies who are obsessed with “gays, abortion, birth control, and immigration,” and have been for nearly 50 years.

    The culture wars were instigated and from the left — not the right — and the progressive left continues to play the aggressor on each of these issues. Note that the biggest (and best funded) voices harping on those issues continue to be from the left. See: Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, NOW, Southern Poverty Law Center, the current sitting President of the United States, etc.

    At any rate, if working to conserve traditional morality and Constitutional rule of law against leftist and progressive assaults isn’t conservative, I’m not sure what is.

  17. Frank Knotts says:

    During an interview with WGMD’s John Budler yesterday, Mr. Budler related that he had made contact with “Chairman” Vincent Calabro and had offered him time to give his side of the story. It seems as though Mr. Calabro declined and directed John Budler to contact “FORMER” GOP Chairman John Rieley for comments.
    Really? Now why would the current Chair refuse to answer questions, and also why would he direct him to the former chair, who did not organize the event?
    Especially since the Sussex GOP “SPOKESPERSON” Sherwood “Duke” Brooks actually is working at WGMD now reading the news?
    Is it possible that the Sussex GOP has lost faith in Mr. Brooks’ ability to handle a crisis, considering his handling of “sign-in gate”? The fact that he had to first admit that he had spread what was shown to be a lie, and then resorted to the classic “no comment”?
    The fact that instead of the usual name calling that shows up here following my posting of the hypocrisy of the Sussex GOP, and the appearance of them having “gone dark” on this, may show that the little light bulb in the corner of the dark dank world they call their collective minds, may be flickering on. And when it comes on, they will realize that they are standing in a room full of crap, and don’t know which way to step.

  18. Rick says:

    Frank had better be sure that all of his t’s are crossed and that all of his i’s are dotted, because if they are not he will be wide-open to a libel suit. These are serious criminal accusations, posted on his own blog, under his own name…which, in this case, isn’t X.

  19. Frank Knotts says:

    Rick, thank you for your concern. If you go back and read you will see that I have merely related what was made public by those involved. This is why I used the actual screen shots of websites and Facebook so that I could not be accused of making things up.
    Whether or not these actions on the part of Me. Calabro and others actually rise to the level of criminality or not will depend on Commissioner Manlove, as I wrote.

  20. Dave says:

    “conserve traditional morality”
    The problem you have is conflating tradition with morality. Just because traditions change, doesn’t not make them immoral. In fact there are many traditions that were very immoral. Now if “traditional morality” is code for how people live their lives, it really should be no one else’s business. Your concept of “traditional morality” usually involves snooping around people’s bedrooms and their bodies, which really is kind of perverted, but whatever gets you going I guess.

  21. Rick says:

    Rick, thank you for your concern. If you go back and read you will see that I have merely related what was made public by those involved.

    Like here? Your own words;

    “They organized a political group in order to raise funds for a political purpose, they held the event, and took money for tickets and ads in the program, they have tied the Sussex GOP to the hip of this false WSRC by using the official website to promote it, as well as blurring the lines of where Mr. Calabro’s role as Chairman of the Sussex GOP, and that as the organizer of this event are drawn, if at all. And they did this under false pretense since they have no connection to the only official WSRC, and had no officially recognized organization.”

    Now, since I don’t care that much about local politics, I follow this for entertainment purposes only, and it is entertaining. After all, Deaver, Schwartzkopf and Brady are the only Democrats holding office in Sussex, so I don’t quite see the impending disaster for the GOP.

    But, other people- including people willing to hire attorneys- might not have such a detached perspective. They might not find it to be entertaining at all.

  22. Frank Knotts says:

    Rick, in your copy and paste, there is nothing false there as the screen shots demonstrate.
    As for the claim you continue to make about the success of the GOP in Sussex based on the election of Republicans, let me be clear, mine is not a condemnation of the GOP in general. It is of the Sussex GOP Committee. A committee that since 2010 have contributed $0.00 to Republican candidates
    So Rick, just how is this committee responsible for the success of the Republicans elected?

  23. Frank Knotts says:

    Rick, I know you to be an intelligent man, I know that you see yourself as an honest man, I ask you to now be intellectually honest, and instead of looking at what I have presented through the prism of your feelings for me personally, look at it for what it is only.

  24. Sunshine says:

    The committee is being run and has become a country club of transplant angry patriots that have no intention of helping any of our current republican elected officials do anything. They have demonstrated this since Urkel, COD, and Christopher have left them high and dry. It’s time for rational republicans to take back over that committee.

    The Sussex Republican committee has no credibility, no fundraising ability, and will be broke by September. When they do hold a fundraiser, it’s an illegal fundraiser. Irrelevant in my book and the State Republican Committee should revoke their charter over this stunt!

    Can we start attacking democrats yet? SMH

  25. Pat Fish says:

    Well I’m going to step up and make some comments here. I’ve been thinking about this a lot so let me be sincere here….

    Yes I think Frank’s delineation of events and proffered “proof” of his conclusions is perfectly done; I don’t know how anybody can complain about it. For example, I did not know that discussing that fundraiser event was on the agenda the night Frank almost got arrested for signing with an X. and I was there! But there it is, a scan of the agenda as handed out. So anybody complaining about how this post handled and supplied “proof” is just not being fair.

    I mean come on, somebody, we assume it was Vince, the Sussex chair, all of a sudden out of nowhere decides to hold a fundraiser and boom, it goes nice. Only right from the start it was to make checks payable to the Western Sussex Republican Club….why?

    It’s a simple thing people! Have the fundraiser, such as it is, collect the money, deposit it into the Sussex GOP banking account, pay the expenses out of the same account, and be done with it! Why all this second organization, pay this vendor….no wait we’re celebrating John Rielly’s leaving….no wait, we’re collecting ads.

    I’ve never seen anything more confusing in my life and why? How hard is it for God’s sakes?

    Or seriously, could it be more sinister? Is this a way to divert funds raised by the Sussex GOP to a separate organization that would allow distribution of contributions more close to the vest? Cause I can think of no other reason why this has become such a nonsensical quagmire silly sack of crap.

    and the silence from the Sussex GOP, since the infamous life of Duke Brooks, is very telling. Why the hell don’t they just get on the air, on their own damn Blog for God sakes….and explain the confusion.

    Want me to write it for them? As follows:

    “The Sussex GOP would like to apologize to the Republicans in Sussex county for the recent confusion over a fundraiser held by our organization. We in now way meant to deceive anyone. Since we had a change over in Chairs we were unable to use the Sussex GOP accounts for this particular event held so early in a new Chair’s term. Because of, as we regret, bad planning we were unable to obtain the documentation in time to open up an account to deposit the ticket and ad revenue and as it would turn out things were a mess.

    We also apologize for the recent uproar over a Republican being turned in to the police for problems at sign in and also the confusion that followed, aided by one of our own executive committee people, about the need and procedures for such signatures.”

    I MEAN WHY CAN’T THEY JUST COME OUT AND TELL THE TRUTH???

    Or maybe they don’t want to?

    There is no sweeter person in the world than Linda Creasy and I refuse to believe she is involved in some scheme to divert monies away from where they should be. I feel the same about John Rieley and Duke Brooks, all folks I consider friends or at the least, friendly acquaintances.

    SO TELL US WHAT HAPPENED SUSSEX GOP…..

    Yeah….that’s the ticket.

  26. Republican says:

    Dave,

    Point taken, but as philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre argues in his book After Virtue, even our capacity to discuss morality is impoverished in the modern age, due to the fact that morality is increasingly subjectivized, save for emotive admonitions for “tolerance” and the like – which, by the way, is only given to those who occupy a narrow range of acceptable opinion (this is because they are grounded in emotive claims, and cannot be argued about, only accepted or dismissed). MacIntyre further demonstrates in his book Whose Justice? Which Rationality? that all normative claims are derived, in some sense, from a particular tradition — this does not mean that normative claims are relativized, only that they are unintelligible when separated from the language of some particular tradition.

    It is certainly the case that some traditions are immoral, but in order to know that, there must be some standard to which that claim appeals — some standard that is outside but still intelligible in terms of that given tradition. Thus. the jettisoning of some standard of intelligible and normative virtue in morality has resulted in a situation wherein no one is able to (or allowed to) make rational judgements about morality, and all becomes in flux, all is up for grabs, and can be captured by whoever exerts the most force, or power. Hence, MacIntyre ends his analysis in After Virtue with a stark choice between Aristotle or Nietzsche, which is another way of posing a choice between virtue and will to power.

    The modern left operates on the principle of Nietzscheian will to power (For an analysis of this, see Allan Bloom’s chapter entitled The Neischeization of the Left in his book The Closing of the American Mind). The Conservative right, properly understood in my estimation, stands with the rest of the Western tradition since Plato in asserting the capacity of reason and law over sheer assertion of power.

    Your impoverished and straw man view of tradition and morality notwithstanding, how other people live their lives is our business, at least to a degree, because we are by nature political animals (according, at least, to Aristotle and the Western tradition up to Thomas Hobbes), and as such, we all have a stake in how each other behave. In fact, morality *by definition* relates to how we act toward one another primarily, and ourselves secondarily. Your assumption of the autonomous individual in your formulation is one I am familiar with (Again, running through the philosophy of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and so forth), but one I ultimately reject as insufficient to account for the nature of human interaction and social obligation.

  27. Sunshine says:

    Pat,

    They can’t tell the truth, because the truth has serious consequences! It’s that simple.

  28. Pat Fish says:

    I think you might be right Sunshine.

    Because….well like I said….why not just get it out there? I hasten to add that my particular reasoning is not the truth, more than likely, but if there were an innocent explanation why not tell us for God’s sake?

    As for Elaine Manlove getting involved…..I don’t think that’s going to happen. I worked with Manlove a couple of times in the past, she’s an upstanding worker.

    But just because someone tells her that hey, lookit, over there, they’re having a fundraiser and I don’t think it’s legal….I just don’t think that’s how it works. She doesn’t have the time to question every suspicious activity, nor should she, frankly.

    She needs to check every candidate’s campaign finance report for contributions from the Western Sussex Republican Club. The ED’s and RD’s in the Sussex GOP should bring this issue up for goodness sake.

    Until I hear a genuine explanation from the Sussex OOP I shall conclude that the entire fundraiser in January 2015 is suspect.

  29. Sunshine says:

    Pat,

    The last General Assembly did not pass new campaign finance laws for them to be ignored and not enforced. It’s time she does something.

  30. waterpirate says:

    Being a hypocrite demands that you fail to see the truth, even in the face of a lie being laid in front of you. It has truly become a case of ” the emperors new clothes “.

  31. Harry Whittington says:

    When a Republican club like the ESRC or the SCRWC hold an event, Calabro should attend, speak if asked, and the Sussex County GOP website should publicize it.

    However, as the Chairman of the SCGOP, Vince Calabro is responsible for organizing and holding fundraisers to fund the SCGOP. The money the SCGOP raising doesn’t just keep the headquarters open, it also pays for the SCGOP to participate in events like parades and fairs, registering new Republicans, Get Out The Vote efforts on election day, and yes, even funding candidates endorsed by the SCGOP.

    If the SCGOP fails to raise funds for the above activities, don’t expect continued electoral success.

  32. Harry Whittington says:

    *raises

  33. Frank Knotts says:

    Harry is correct. But within the program printed for this event, Mr. Calabro is listed as the chairman of this false group.

  34. Clowns On The Right says:

    Western Sussex Republican Club
    Officers (as per the Program Book from the questionable event)

    Vincent P. Calabro, Chairman
    Fred Silva, Co-Chairman
    Kim Gibson, Treasurer
    Laurene Purdy, Secretary
    Miquel Pirez-Fabar

    What is that age old question, Who died and made you King? All five of these people were involved in Linda Creasy’s ‘Intellectual Property’, so who should she be directing her questions to?

    Many more questions of who they were accountable to that hopefully the Sussex Director of Elections might ask the State Commissioner?

    Who’s on first, What’s on Second and I can’t remember where I don’t know is? but we know one thing for sure, The Sussex County Chairman, his spokesman Duke Brooks and the rest of my name sake’s are sticking to the famous ‘NO COMMENT’. But you know what the truth is, now knowing it, can you accept and deal with it.

  35. Sunshine says:

    67 Del. Laws, c. 449, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; 78 Del. Laws, c. 400, § 2.;

    § 8005 Duties of a political committee.

    A political committee shall:

    (1) File a statement of organization with the Commissioner no later than 24 hours after it receives any contribution or makes any expenditure that causes the aggregate amount of contributions by or expenditures to such committee to exceed $500 during an election period. The statement of organization shall be filed under penalty of perjury, and shall include the following information:

    a. The full name and mailing address of the committee;

    b. The full name and mailing address of each of the officers of the committee, one of whom shall be an individual named as its treasurer;

    c. A concise statement of the committee’s purposes or goals;

    d. The name, office sought, and party affiliation of any candidate whom the committee is supporting or opposing, to the extent such information is known as of the date of filing; and, if the committee is supporting the entire ticket of any party, the name of the party; and

    e. If the committee files reports with the Federal Elections Commission or any out-of-state agency, a statement to that effect including the name of the agency.

    (2) Report any change in its officers within 7 days after such change becomes effective.

    (3) Keep complete records of all contributions received and all expenditures made by or on behalf of the political committee, and shall retain such records for 3 full years following the election in connection with which the contributions and expenditures were made.

    (4) File with the Commissioner the reports required under this chapter.

    59 Del. Laws, c. 580, § 1; 67 Del. Laws, c. 449, § 1.;

    § 8043 Violations; penalties; jurisdiction in Superior Court.

    (a) Except as set forth in § 8044 of this title, any person who knowingly violates any provision of § 8003, § 8004 or § 8005 of this title shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

    (b) Any person who knowingly accepts or knowingly makes an unlawful contribution or expenditure in violation of any provision of subchapter II or III of this title shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

    (c) Any reporting party who knowingly files any report required under this chapter that is false in any material respect, or fails to file any such report, shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor. For purposes of this subchapter, “reporting party” means any candidate, treasurer or other person required to file reports under this chapter.

    (d) Any person who knowingly violates any provision of § 8006 of this title shall be guilty of a class G felony.

    (e) A reporting party who reasonably relies upon information provided by another person which is inaccurate, false or misleading and who has no reason to know that such information was inaccurate, false or misleading, shall not be liable for any report filed by such reporting party which is inaccurate, false or misleading as a result of such information, if such reporting party, within 30 days after learning that such information was inaccurate, false or misleading, files an amended report with the Commissioner that corrects the inaccurate, false or misleading aspects of the report. Where a reporting party files an amended report later than 30 days after learning that such information was inaccurate, false or misleading, the reporting party shall not be liable if the reporting party shows good cause for filing the amended report beyond the 30-day period.

    (f) The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction over all offenses under this chapter.

    (g) A reporting party shall report immediately to the Commissioner and the Attorney General any attempt to make a prohibited contribution, or to demand a prohibited expenditure, where such attempt is made with intent to violate this chapter.

    (h) A reporting party who receives a prohibited contribution or makes a prohibited expenditure without any intention to violate this chapter, but who returns the contribution or reimburses the political committee or other person making expenditure within 7 days after learning that the contribution or expenditure was prohibited, shall not be liable for any violation of this chapter. A reporting party may also donate a prohibited or suspected prohibited contribution to any charitable organization listed in subchapter IX, Chapter 11 of Title 30.

    (i) A reporting party who violates § 8021 of this title shall be assessed a fine by the Commissioner of $500 or 25% of the cost of the campaign advertisement subject thereto, whichever is greater.

  36. Clowns On The Right says:

    So, am I to believe from reading the new laws that the five officers and Linda Creasy, from the beginning, all fall under this provision?

    “(b) Any person who knowingly accepts or knowingly makes an unlawful contribution or expenditure in violation of any provision of subchapter II or III of this title shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.”

    and, still NO COMMENT from the Clowns in the GOP.

  37. Frank Knotts says:

    There is also a section within the rules of the Sussex GOP that states they may be removed for misappropriation of funds. But since so many within the committee were involved, it is unlikely they will vote themselves out.

  38. Dave Jones says:

    The Sussex GOP provides great entertainment! We in NCCO have dull, boring and uneventful activities.

  39. question says:

    Whoa. Stop the presses.

    Kim Gibson is the treasurer of the group that held the so called “Unity Dinner”? Isn’t she the oath keeper who has been posting all over Facebook that Mike Castle and Charlie Copeland have ties to Muslim terrorists?

    Put the entire program up, I think people have a right to know who’s funding this group.

  40. Frank Knotts says:

    Please click on this link to Delaware Right’s Facebook page, there are photos of the event’s program listing the people who may have been drawn into an illegal act, also it list the officers of the event. There are 47 photos in two separate post. https://www.facebook.com/DelawareRight

  41. Holy Crap says:

    HOLY CRAP did all these contributors believe this was real committee group or were they duped?

  42. Frank Knotts says:

    I believe both. Many of the donors were actually involved in the planning of the event, others are close enough to the planners to have picked up on problems. Others, like businesses and elected officials may have thought they were donating to the GOP due to the blurring of the lines of definition between the two groups.

  43. Say it Ain't So says:

    OK, read your story, but the real story is: Where’s the money? And what are they going to do with the ill gotten gains?

  44. Frank Knotts says:

    All questions Elaine Manlove should be asking this morning.

  45. JS says:

    That breeze that you feel is all of those people frantically leafing through their copies of the bible and constitution saying “Title 15 must be in here somewhere.I was told that this is all I needed to govern”.

  46. question says:

    Unbelievable. Does everyone who advertised in that program know they are funding a group that thinks Mike Castle and Charlie Copeland are aiding Muslim terrorists?

    Let me be clear. I will not patronize any business that advertised in that program and I will not support any candidate who bought advertising space in that program unless they denounce the group who hosted the event.

    Every elected official who advertised in that program needs to be asked directly if they also believe that Mike Castle and Charlie Copeland are aiding Muslim terror groups.

    The stench from this event is overpowering.

  47. Dave Jones says:

    I’m curious as to how much was raised and what group has it?

  48. mouse says:

    Real issues include:

    Living wages jobs, affordable education, infrastructure, outsourcing of jobs, sustainable renewable energy, environmental sustainabiliy, tax breaks for the 1% class, access to quality medical care, social security solvency, medicade and medicare solvency and regulations of banking to name a few. The Republican party is stuck in selfish talk radio theatre having only devisive visceral issues that appeal to people who are largely uneducated and fearful

  49. mouse says:

    I’m thinking a new reality show called The Talk Radio Republicans may do real well lol

  50. mouse says:

    In the first episode, the Talk Radio Republican leader reads Green Eggs and Ham to his party chapter. They then accuse the Hispanics working at the chicken plants of causing all the chickens to lay green eggs..

  51. Frank Knotts says:

    Well Dave J. That is a question we would all like answered. As I wrote Mr. Calabro was scheduled to give an update last Monday, but did not.
    Also, I have placed a call to Elaine Manlove, Commissioner of Elections for comment. My info was taken for a call back. Will keep all informed.

  52. Dave Jones says:

    You never have questions about money. Just look at the mess O’Donnell continues to be in……

  53. Bill Christy says:

    Question wrote: “Unbelievable. Does everyone who advertised in that program know they are funding a group that thinks Mike Castle and Charlie Copeland are aiding Muslim terrorists?
    Let me be clear. I will not patronize any business that advertised in that program and I will not support any candidate who bought advertising space in that program unless they denounce the group who hosted the event. Every elected official who advertised in that program needs to be asked directly if they also believe that Mike Castle and Charlie Copeland are aiding Muslim terror groups.The stench from this event is overpowering.”

    Kim Gibson made numerous posts yesterday in a group on face book, she made the following claims;
    a. Charlie Copeland was aware this group was not registered.
    b. Charlie Copeland gave his approval for the event.
    c. She was aware no Western Sussex Republican Club was registered when the event was planned and held.
    d, Someone at DEC suggested to Vincent Calabro that he could back date the documents necessary to register the committee he, and the aforementioned person were officers for.
    e. The OFFICIAL Western Sussex Republican Club back dated the documents submitted to to DEC.

    It’s my understanding that screen shots were done to preserve the serious allegations made by Kim Gibson (who is District 40 ED 7 ) about our state Chairman and the employees at the Delaware Elections Commission.

  54. Dave Jones says:

    O’Donnell style accounting lives on it appears.

  55. mouse says:

    Stay tuned for our heroes Rocky and Bullwinkle’s next adventure:: The accountant was wrong or Squirrel away the money lol

  56. Dave Jones says:

    People up here are asking is this is drama or comedy. We are howling: a made up group, no accountability. One potential statewide has backed off of running because of this. Their reply, “this smells”.

  57. mouse says:

    Real issues might be assuring funding of social security and medicare, living wage jobs, outsourcing/ tax breaks, tax cuts for the super rich and the impact on the budget, sustainable energy, safe air and water, sustainable development, regulation of banks that crazed the economy. It’s you people who pander to single issue voters who obsess on sexual issues and resentments.

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