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.
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?
Please share this post.
22 Responses to “BIZPAC’s Hit Piece on Karen Harrington Masks Hidden Agenda”
So the Shark claims the high moral ground over BizPac on the Harrington issue while jerking the rug from under Allen West?
Good thing most Republicans are intelligent enough to take BOTH bloggers with a measure of salt.
Jack ‘ASS’ Furnari??? This guy is know as a “MORON” in the political circles! LOL!!!
Rick Scott and Marco Rubio got a similar treatment from parts of the Repub “establishment” (for lack of a better word) who said they couldn’t win. The only difference here is that they did win and Karen didn’t. Yes, BizPac Review loses credibility as a conservative, free market voice by supporting liberals who are likely to win and then possibly give their business supporters some crumbs from the government table. I think they call it being pragmatic while we purists are dreamers for sticking to principle. Not that BizPac Review is the enemy for it does adhere to conservative/libertarian positions most of the time. Nothing is perfect –especially in politics.
If Ms. Harrington was trying to fleece her supporters, why did we see her at a meeting with the very poorest of her potential constituent. She not only didn’t ask us for contributions, but she stayed over an hour after the meeting to speak with whomever wished to speak to her personally. She was absolutely delightful and a genuine conservative. If the person criticizing her is really a conservative or a Republican, I will eat a hat.
This proves that Jack is a Jackass !
lets see how much harrington pays herself at the end of the campaign with this misleading poll. I’m sure she keeps paying this blogger
Jack is a hypocrite. How about how he fleeced his readers by “reporting” that margi helshein was given the honor of being named as president of a “conservative action network” group. Like it was some big deal. It turns out that it was a company set up by jack only a week before. This sham was to give his girlfriend someplace to go when she quit the REC before she was kicked off. Or when jack supported the fake candidate Geoff sommers who had a PAC that supported his would be opponent abruzzo. Or when jack supported abruzzo from the board of the REC while Sid let him do it. Or all of the hit mailers he sent out with Lisa marks. The list of jack “fleecing” people goes on and on and Harrington making herself look better using slanted polls, as all politicians do, is minor compared to jacks slimy actions.
Well since Mr Furnari puts himself up as a conservative lets take a look at some of his hidden agendas an air the truth for all to see:
1. It seems Mr Furnari is a writer for the CONSERVATIVE SUN SENTINEL AN A MEMBER OF THERE STAFF:
Talk Back South Florida
Category: Jack Furnari (61)
Lynch hung up by his own hypocrisy
By Staff Writer December 6, 2010 10:57 AM
By Jack Furnari
Jack Furnari’
Conservative brawler Furnari resigns from county GOP for Internet venture with BIZPAC’s Smith
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 by George Bennett
JACK FURNARI
Sharp-elbowed Boca Raton conservative operative Jack Furnari has resigned from the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee to join with Business Political Action Committee Chairman John R. Smith in launching a for-profit conservative news website called BizPacReview.com.with Mr Smith is also stepping down from his non-voting role on the county GOP’s board of directors.
The pair say they are severing their formal GOP ties so they’ll have the editorial independence to criticize Republicans who fall short of their conservative standards. That is according to them as they are co-owner of the web site…….
an then we have this issue:
Talk Back South Florida
Category: Jack Furnari (61)
Lynch hung up by his own hypocrisy
By Staff Writer December 6, 2010 10:57 AM
By Jack Furnari
So it seems that the conservative Mr Furnari is nothing more than an ex hit man for the Broward Sun Sentinel or did he get fired from there blog called TALK BACK SOUTH FLORIDA………
Clean up your act you phony an take your phoney web site with you and your partner. If you are inteested where this info was found its called GOOGLE btw My Furnari why did you leave Hoboken New Jersey???????
BTW did you notice it is a “FOR PROFIT WEB SITE”
so basically Javier and Patrick ran a story about positive poll numbers for Karen, even though it was incorrect big time, in order to get more donations in. Real nice.. What a failed campaign.
Javier and Patrick? Where does Patrick fit into this? Umm, pollster released his poll on the race, we went by those numbers. If you are such an expert at deciphering poll results, then maybe you can make a career out of it?
Once again when it comes to Ms. Harrington, where was the beloved Republican Party in helping her to win this election? More back room deals like they made with Corrine Brown over 12 years ago.
This guy can blow all he wants to – the only people who are going to believe what he says is those that voted for Wasserman “blabber-mouth” Schultz.
The Republican Party is playing both sides against the middle and “we the people” are the middle! They failed to stand behind the republican candidates in the most important races across the country. Give them up and go for -
AMERICANS FOR GOD! WHO NEEDS PARTIES?
They are currently doing it again in DC and seem to be either afraid of the Dictator in DC or they agree with him in our ruination – I believe the latter!
Once again we got scammed by the liberals. Bottom line ? This country is in big trouble at least for the next 4 years. Until we get a presidential candidate that can communicate constitutional ideals effectively it will be difficult to have people like Karen win, even though she did run a good and honest campaign. It was national in scope, but difficult to run on the coat tails of Mitt Romney who even though had his fatihful was not successful in convincing the so called independents or converting many democrats like Reagen did.
While Romney did poorly in getting Democratic cross-over votes, Reagan garnered 25% of the Democratic vote in ’80 and ’84….winning 93 of 1200 states in two landslides….
Including 40% of union households, 40% of Hispanics, 60% of Jewish people under 35; 40+ percent of Gays, 35% of voters making less than $20,000; nearly 60% of the under 30 vote…and 40% of Asian-Americans, according to New York Times exit polling.
He went into their neighborhoods, celebrated their ethnic holidays and parades, union halls, etc. — he never ever avoided them or pretended they would not vote.
Mitt garnered almost no Democratic cross-over…the Hispanic vote dropped to below 30, the Gay vote dropped below 25, and the Asian-American vote dropped to 24….compared to the Reaganesque numbers –in all these catagories — that were achieved not just by the Gipper, but also Geo H. W. Bush in ’88; the 1994 Gingrich Revolution that took the U.S, Senate, House, and 32 Governorships.
Geo H. W. Bush garnered nearly 60 percent of ’88 the Asian vote, 40+% of the Gay vote; and his son captured 44% of the Hispanic vote in ’04, according to the Times.
Even FOX NEWS is smart enough to hire several African-, Asian, Hispanic-Americans (most are females, too) as anchors and leading commentators — almost one-third of their anchors….more than any netwrok including ABC, NBC and CBS.
FOX as even created FOX NEWS LATINO, which will challenge El Mundo for U.S. Hispanic viewing audfience.
When we only focus on the white vote…we deserve to lose…
“winning 93 of 1200 states in two landslides” ???
Sorry folks meant to say “93 oout of 100 states”
Poor typist here !!!
@ The truth
Are you saying that Jack, a married man, has a girlfriend on the side??? Wow! Pretty strong accusation there. Of course nothing surprises me anymore, but I don’t think Jack’s wife would appreciate hearing this, especially if she doesn’t know anything about it.
This vilifying of Karen Harrington has all the signs of what continues today against Sarah Palin! The Democrats and their conspirators don’t ever want to see Karen run again….they do realize that DWS’s mouth will get her in hot water sooner or later, and unless DWS retires or resigns, her presence assures that she’ll ingratiate herself to the public. She can’t help it, she just lacks the charm and tact that usually comes with a woman being a “lady.”
She is just not likeable, whereas Karen Harrington is. She’s a “people” person and would be as capable or more capable than DWS, on the floor of the House of Reps.
We missed a good one in Karen Harrington, but she can try it again, by the next election the people are going to be hurting so much by Obama’s policies coming into being that they’ll be even more serious about electing a Representative who’ll represent the district and not the Democrat-Socialist Party.
TRUE !!!!
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. -Nuff Said…
Yes, these attacks on Ms. Harrnigton are all as sad as they are disgusting.
Why are conservatives better at effectively gunning down their own, as opposed to gunning down the liberal-Marxist opposition?
Reminds me of how Gingrich and Santorum waged a relentless “class warfare” campaign against Mitt in the GOP primaries…creating a carcicature that the OBAMA TEAM MAGNIFICENTLY EXPLOITED.
Newt and Santorum made Mitt spend all his campaign treasury to get the GOP nomination, leaving him unable to finance a counter-attack against Obama for 4 months as the White House portrayed Romney as a heartless profiteer.
These kind of conservatives should not be the future of our Party.
VOTE HARRINGTON FOR BREC CHAIR….
AND VOTE FOR HER SLATE WHICH INCLUDES VERY CAPABLE PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE FROM THE JEWISH, HISPANIC AND BLACK COMMUNITIES….3 voting blocs we desperately need to grow our ranks.
Mr Matt Tsein: I totally agree and add fuel to the fire. Exactly where and when did Mr’s Perry Santorium and Gingrich rally and the fool from Texas round the peoples choice of the GOP voters? Hidden from view an I was a supporter of Gingrich now I find what a 2 time looser he really is its all about him nothing else for the 4 of the, including Mr Constitutionality Ron Paul. Now that takes care of the National lack luster Presidential Campaign. Want to know why we did so poorly some personal revelations………..
Having watched Mz Bruscio and Joe Kaufman and Mr De Farina tell the entire audience they would be behind Mrs Harrington an it is Mrs Harrington she is a mom and entitled to her correct name. All swore they would with there teams come help her campaign as the winner of the primary but it seems they ave yet to be found anywhere in Broward County except Joe out looking for a corner to preach too……Maybe its time the RPOF had a sit down with the candidates for elected office and gave them the facts you support your party winners or go elsewhere…..Joe exactly where is your loyalty for karens campaign?????? Eileen still to busy to attend and sessions or knock on any doors????????
This is why we do not win elections our candidate looses so we dont vote at all when your great grand children have to pay for the mess he an other back-boneless GOP people are like in Washington.
Make sure you tell your friends and your kids that the reason that you a registered republican chose not to support a Republican in the final national election make sure you tell them ‘ “I fixed them I did not vote at all”………I am sorry that you have to pay for my lack of loyalty………VOTE HARRINGTON TEAM FOR BREC LEADERSHIP….
I read the hit piece and it made me sick!
Karen Harrington is the reason why we need to clean up the political World so good people can run for office, no one wants to run under these conditions.
BIZPAC shame on you!