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Dear Mr.

O'Donoghue:

People who know me know that one of my "rules of life" is to try not to get drawn into fist fights with
midgets. But, in your case, I'm going to make an exception.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Fred O'Neal. I, not Alan Grayson, founded the Tea Party political
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party. I did so because in my opinion and as Polk County Commissioner and 1Z District Congressional
candidate Randy Wilkinson puts it, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are just two wings of
the same bird of prey.

You obviously like the Republican Party. I don't. Why I don't like the Republican Party is primarily
because I know that the $350,000 you're so proud of raising probably came with a price. In my
experience, most Republican politicians have to sell their souls to the devil to raise the kind of money
they raise. In my experience, big business and special interests have traditionally bought and sold
Republican politiciar,s like commodities. As a consequence, Republican politicians, in my experience,
tend to vote the way their "masters" tell them to vote, rather than in the best interest of the people.

But that's okay. If you think "trickle down economics" and representing special interests is best for the
country, then you have a right to say so and you have a right to run for office in a political party which
generally agrees with your philosophy.

I, on the other hand, disagree. I think the American people have been "trickled on" enough.

That's not my beef with you.

My beef with you is your calling the Tea Party a "sham" political rarty and your questioning our right to
even exist.

A little background on how the Tea Party got founded for over twenty years I've been working with
Doug Guetzloe and others to fight tax increases and big ticket boondoggle projects like Sunrail.

In 2006, with it being apparent that the Republican Party (at least at the state level) had become the
"tax and spend" party, Doug and I looked into what it would take to form a political party. At the time,
we thought about calling it the "Ax the Tax Party," but the name sounded a little klunky and we didn't
do anything.

In August of 2009, with the emergence of the T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) movement, I pulled out my
old research and went ahead with forming the Tea Party. I didn't roll it out publicly until November,
after Doug Hoffman's showing in NY23 and the apparent groundswell of dissatisfaction with both
political parties.

By November, Doug and Nick Egoroff had been kicked out of the Republican Party by the now infamous
Jim Greer. So, Doug and Nick both being friends, I asked them to come join me. Thankfully, they
agreed.
As an aside, Alan Grayson had nothing to do with any of the above. He didn't give me the idea to form
the party. He didn't pay me to do so (no one paid me to do so). Moreover, I've never met Alan Grayson.
I've never talked with Alan Grayson. In short, I wouldn't know Alan Grayson if I ran him over with my
car.

But I digress. Since November 2009, Doug, Nick and I have been recruiting candidates (and not just for
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the 8: Congressional District). But, as to the 8 Congressional District, I first met with fellow attorney,
Todd Long. The meeting was arranged by a mutual friend, Alicya Simmons, the ex-wife of former State
Rep. David Simmons. Todd, Alicya, myself and another attorney, Mark Fisher, met for about an hour. I
tried to convince Todd of the advantages of running on the Tea Party ticket. But, Todd wanted to run as
a Republican, and so he politely said "no."

Next, Doug, Nick and I met with Dan Fanelli. We had several meetings with Dan. Unlike Todd, Dan
couldn't make up his mind what to do. We gave him a deadline (because we needed to move on if he
wasn't going to run on our ticket). The deadline came and went and still no decision from Dan. So, we
moved on.

As another aside, it's humorous to read Dan say he "turned us down cold." That couldn't be further
from the truth. Todd "turned me down cold," in a polite way. Dan ... we just never got an answer from
him.

Luckily Todd turned us down and luckily Dan couldn't make up his mind because that brought us to Peg
Dunmire.

Peg was a total surprise. I hadn't heard of Peg prior to our meetings with her. Peg is spunky. Peg is
knowledgeable. Peg is 100% right on all the issues. Peg would mdke a great Congress-person. But,
what attracted me most to Peg is how much she cares about her granddaughter and the kind of country
we're leaving behind to our kids and grandkias.

But I digress. I, too, read Mark Schlueb's article in the paper. I like Mark. I think he's a good guy. We go
way back. But, Mark needs his job. So, Mark does what he's told. His "masters" (the people who run
the Sentinel) HATE Doug Guetzloe (and they don't like me very much either). The reason they HATE
Doug Guetzloe is because Doug has historically been the main opposition to all the taxpayer funded
downtown boondoggles the Sentinel tries to push down our throats in order to improve the value of
their property downtown (question' is it just a coincidence that the main SunRail station is only a block
away from the Sentinel's property downtown?).

So when Mark writes a story about Doug (or me), I know what his instructions are and where the article
is going. For example, I gave Mark a statement about Grayson's involvement (or, I should say, non
involvement) with the Tea Party. But, not surprisingly, Mark didn't use my statement in his article,
because it just didn't fit the story line he was trying to create. What I told Mark was that,
unfortunately, Grayson hasn't contributed any money to the Tea Party. But, if Mark were going to
contact Grayson for his st:ry. I asked Mark to tell Grayson he could either contribute on-line at our
website or he could send a check to the mailing address on the website, or, if
the check were $500 or more, I'd personally go by and pick up the check,

Which brings me back to your press release calling the Tea Party a "sham" political party what is it with
you Republicans? Why do you feel you're "entitled" to be the voter's only alternative to the
Democrats? Where did that sense of "entitlement" come from? I've checked the Constitution, I can't
find it there, I checked the Florida Statutes, I can't find it there. i even checked my FHP driver's
manual. I didn't find it there, either. Why do you think the voters should only have two choices? In
every other area of American life people have more than two choices. Yes, there's Burger King and
IV1cDonald's. But there's also Wendy's. Where does your sense of "entitlement" come from?

As you may be aware, a recent New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 46% of Americans say the
country needs a new political party. Are you saying 46% of the people are wrong?

Regardless, you've flicked a fight that's going to cost you, In case you were wondering, "O'Neal" is an
Irish name, Genetically, therefore, I suffer from an acute case of "Irish Alzheimer's," a condition which
causes you to forget everything but the grudges. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I now have a
grudge with you.

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Specifically, if by some fluke you become the Republican nominee for the 8 Congressional District, and
if by some fluke Peg Dunmire were to want to withdraw from the race, I, personally, am going to beat
her with a stick until she agrees to stay in the race to the end. Or, if despite my best efforts she still
withdraws, I will see to it that someone else takes her place so that there is a Tea Party nominee on the
ballot in November opposing you.

And, if you ever again in your lifetime decide to run fur any other public whether it be dogcatcher
or water district commissioner, I'm going to, personally, make sure there is a Tea Party nominee on the
ballot opposing you.

You are going to personally find out how wrong you are in saying that the Tea Party is a "sham" political
party.

Sincerely,

Fred O'Neal, the proud Chairman of the Tea Party political party and proud supporter of Peg Dunmire,
the Tea Party's nominee for the 8t~ Congressional District

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