Manatee County REC; We The People -vs- The Establishment

Healing Begins from the Emotional Blackmail

Emotional blackmail is a dysfunctional form of manipulation that people use to place demands and threaten victims to get what they want.

The undertone of emotional blackmail is if you don’t do what I want when I want it, you will suffer.

She describes how emotional blackmail tactics are used by abusers to threaten in order to get what they want. In placing demands and threats, they create feelings of fear, guilt, and anger to solicit compliance from their victims. In doing so, they divert blame and responsibility to the victim for their own negative actions. –Karen Doll, Psy.D., L.P. in Positive Psychology

Monday’s Manatee County Republican Executive Committee MCREC meeting was a powerful organic galvanization of We the People.  For those who aren’t familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, the Chair has some basic responsibilities.  First, she needs to be impartial during debates, and she needs to recognize members to give them the floor to speak. This meeting started much like the December meeting, with the Chair, April Culbreath, taking the microphone, chiding the crowd, and lecturing on how the meeting would go.  From there, Garin Hoover stood up, raised his hand, and asked to be recognized. The Chair, April Culbreath, very conspicuously and incorrectly ignored him.  He persisted in requesting to be recognized.  And she persisted in ignoring him.  Remarkably, no one else spoke or made any other comments.

April said she would not respond to “those kinds” of comments or people.  At this point, Garin criticized April’s performance as chair, which had brought about so much disunity and dysfunction. Then, the crowd erupted in approval of Garin’s comments.  At this point, April began to pack her things.  Kevin Van Ostenbridge then walked up to April and looked like he gave her counsel, and she walked around, gathered some things, and left with County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, candidate Keith Green, and Steve Vernon.  It was the Anthony Pedicini gang.  There may have been a few others as well.

But the vast majority stayed. Somebody that April had asked to lead the prayer in December got up to lead the group in prayer as is customary at our meetings.  But instead of praying, she continued to lecture on how disrespectful and improper the members were. She even said that God is ashamed of them/us.  I heard a comment from the crowd, “So if we disagree with you, then God is ashamed of us?!?!?” It was a poignant moment of clarity for many of us.

Shortly after this comment, the crowd spontaneously prayed the Lord’s Prayer.  It was a loud, defiant, and powerful statement that we can pray ourselves and don’t need the condescending lecture from a presumed moral superior. After the prayer, and without being directed, the group gave the pledge of allegiance, and then we all sang the national anthem with a renewed sense of patriotism and unity.

After a few minutes of trying to ascertain what had happened, did April quit, or did she walk out of the meeting, the group, led by our newly elected secretary, Sandra Freese, and Treasurer, Jacqueline Heisse, looked to Nathan Knight as the vice chair to call the meeting to order. He did, and together, the REC modified the agenda and went through the meeting. There were plenty of disagreements, but everybody’s voice was heard.  Vigorous debate on various issues took place in an orderly and respectful fashion. Difficult decisions were made as a group.  One of those decisions was a vote of no-confidence in Chair April Culbreath. This vote was unanimous, from what I could tell.  Continuing the success of January’s special meeting, we finished all the items on the agenda and ended early. Everybody I could see left the meeting satisfied that business was taken care of professionally and productively, just like the special meeting that took place in January without the Chair.

One event that happened during the meeting would be easy to overlook, but I believe its implications are powerful and far-reaching.  A member felt the need to apologize to an old friend and everybody in general because she didn’t believe what other members had warned about April and the division she, and that small group, had caused. She was quickly forgiven and appreciated by the individual and the group as a whole.  The courage it took to speak those words in such a public setting was remarkable.  Most people walk away after having been burned.  This person didn’t.  She persisted and now leads by her example and gives others a path back to unity and healing. This is another first step in the healing process.

But what are we even healing from?  We are healing from the divisive effects of Emotional Blackmail.  It is a manipulative attitude that states, “If you disagree with us, then God is ashamed of you.”  “If you don’t like what we are doing, then you are causing disruption.” And “If you don’t agree with me, then you are helping the democrats, and all of the problems in the country are because you can’t get along with us.”

Healing is happening around the shared values that we, as Americans, all hold dear.  It was this healing that I had referred to in my campaign kickoff meeting back in October.

Those American values of a love for freedom and a defiance of tyranny.  Tyranny in all different shapes and sizes, from political manipulations, lawfare through rules, and intimidation and emotional blackmail.  The current chair has lost the consent of the governed, and her small group has been desperately seeking some legal loophole to discredit the majority.  The 90+ members wanted to have their voices heard and to participate in the political process.  They held firm to ensure that the voice of, We the People, was not silenced.

To find out other ways you can join the campaign or to join us for my first-ever Zoom Townhall Meeting on 3/5 at 6:30pm please visit:

Eddie Speir For Congress