by Javier Manjarres
We’ve written before about BIZPAC and BIZPAC Review, a Palm Beach County based blog that claims that is the “conservative alternative” to the dominant liberal media in the area.
But with so-called “conservative” allies like this, who needs political adversaries?
BIZPAC’s journey towards irrelevancy continues uninterrupted with its latest misadventure- a completely scurrilous hit piece on congressional candidate Karen Harrington just three weeks after her general election loss to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
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The writer of the article is Jack Furnari, a Palm Beach County political operative who along with his ‘PAC’ makes the claim that BIZPAC Review “brings together the finest conservative media in one place.” In what can only be described as an agenda-laden hit piece, Furnari let fly a series of unsubstantiated charges that directly attacked Harrington’s integrity- an established, successful small businesswoman and across the board conservative without offering any actual proof that would lend credence to his allegations.
Stating that Harrington “fleeced” her “working class” donors, Furnari leveled the type of completely baseless allegations that you would expect from a biased liberal blogger rather than a self proclaimed “conservative” who was concerned with maintaining his journalistic integrity.
The question begs- why does Funari feel the need to go out of his way to completely mischaracterize Harrington’s actual fundraising efforts, but also to cast aspersion on her motives for running for Congress as well? It’s truly way out of bounds for Furnari to allege that Harrington “treated the working class like a bunch of chumps, like sheep to be sheared of their money by any means necessary.”Talk about pushing the limits of libel- Furnari should know better than to make such reckless allegations without providing any evidence that Harrington ran a “sham” of a campaign or that anyone was actually “sheared” of their money.
As a supporter of Harrington’s who closely followed the race, no one was under any illusions about how difficult it would be to defeat one of the most well-known politicians in the country, but Harrington made the decision to fight the good fight and wage a credible campaign that gained substantial national attention- was Mark Levin “scammed” by Harrington too, Jack?
Furnari also took issue with Gravis Marketing’s poll of the race which Harrington referenced in her campaign solicitations. Gravis Marketing enjoyed a national reputation and did polling for candidates across the country- how exactly is Harrington responsible for their erroneous polling, let alone the misleading polling that came from nearly every Republican pollster? Again, why would Funari open up such an empty line of post-election criticism against a conservative candidate? Merely citing favorable polls to your supporters is hardly evidence that you’ve ‘swindled’ people by promoting the poll in question.
These types of unsubstantiated, over-the-top criticisms are the trademark of political hacks, and most in Palm Beach County know that Furnari fits that description. But Furnari’s attack against Harrington is representative of a bigger problem that infects the Republican Party that must be marginalized if we are to enjoy future electoral success.
Furnari and BIZPAC are not interested in doing the heavy lifting that the Party needs to be doing because they would rather collude and collaborate with those in power so long as it advances their own parochial interests- even as it sacrifices conservative principles and candidates. Furthermore, many in the Republican Party agree with Furnari’s cynical outlook which immediately writes off voters in Democrat strongholds and maligns any efforts to contest for those votes as a waste of time and resources.Far too many people in the Republican establishment would prefer that Republicans immediately raise the white flag in stronger Democrat districts without attempting to engage their voters or offer them a clear alternative- it’s that type of thinking which has resulted in Broward County becoming even more strongly Democratic than it previously was.
How can BIZPAC claim to be a “conservative alternative” while endorsing and supporting liberal Democrats like Joe Abruzzo, Dave Aronberg, Maria Sachs (she was supported in prior election cycles), as well as other Democrat state legislators that have curried favor with their narrowest of interests?
Furnari’s post-election sour grapes are even harder to take seriously when you consider the fact that during the Republican primary election in the 23rd congressional district, BIZPAC Review quietly supported Republican Ozzie deFaria over Harrington. But if the district was supposedly unwinnable as Furnari implies it is, why should BIZPAC bother supporting any candidate in the first place? Was Ozzie deFaria also “fleecing” working class voters when he solicited campaign contributions and was BIZPAC accomplice to treating deFaria’s primary supporters as a “bunch of chumps?”
BIZPAC reporter Michelle Kirk once told me that BIZPAC would not write stories about deFaria’s short-comings because of her close ties with deFaria campaign staffer Starla Brown. Kirk also reiterated that Furnari and Brown had a very good relationship and that Furnari was ultimately in charge of all the content that BIZPAC publishes.
The likely reason for the hit piece against Harrington is this- Furnari has a relationship with the current Broward Republican chairman Richard DeNapoli, and with Harrington now waging an insurgent campaign for the BREC Chairman’s position against Rico Petrocelli, the BREC establishment’s anointed candidate, Furnari is doing his buddies’ dirty work.For a so-called “conservative” media outlet such as BIZPAC to baselessly slime a conservative small business owner who sacrificed a lot to challenge Debbie Wasserman Schultz, it speaks volumes as to what they’re really about. BIZPAC is not conservative, nor is it a group that talks the talk and walks the walk- BIZPAC’s cronyism will always take priority over whatever principles that it claims to espouse.
Perhaps it’s time that Jack puts down his adult beverage?
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