Live Oak delegates return from Republican convention

Published 1:00 pm Monday, August 1, 2016

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Layne Schultetus and his wife Chris Summerlin attended their first Republican National Convention last week and were impressed by how smoothly everything went.

“It went amazing,” Schultetus said.

“It started good and just got better,” Summerlin said.

The two drove up to Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday, July 17. They stayed in an overpriced hotel, Schultetus said, where they heard from Republican party stars like Ben Carson, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich every morning.

“I actually got to talk a little bit with Newt Gingrich at a breakfast,” Schultetus said.

Schultetus said that every morning speakers would come to their hotel for breakfast and speak to the Florida delegates.

Although attending the event and staying in a hotel was pricey, Schultetus said that it was worth the money.

“It’s a trip of a life time,” he said. “Getting to meet these people and actually being a part of the party that I have been a member of my whole life, you can’t put a price on that.”

Sheri Ortega, chairwoman for the Republican Party of Suwannee County, also went to the convention. She said Cleveland really impressed her.

“Everybody was so kind. I don’t know how much they practiced, but we were treated very well,” Ortega said. “I never saw a protester except on television.”

She said the controversies at the event were blown out of proportion by the media. Early on in the convention, the “Never Trumpers” attempted to free the delegates from their obligation to vote for Donald Trump.

Ortega said the whole thing blew over in less than five minutes. She said that if Florida holds a convention, she hopes it can be pulled off as well as Cleveland’s.

Both of the delegates said they were impressed by Trump’s speech, putting an end to the convention Thursday night.

Schultetus said that he believed Trump was being genuine about everything he said.

“He was looking at the Florida and New York delegates the whole time and made eye contact with him,” Schultetus said. “When you’re looking him eye to eye, you can tell he means what he says.”

Ortega said Trump was tapping into a feeling that people have been waiting to hear from someone else.

“He is addressing issues that have been unfolding over the past eight years, and it’s like, “Oh, my god, we’re not alone. There are other people who are actually seeing this, too.’” she said.