Fringe Activists Protest Free Family Event with Face Painting, Games, Arts, Crafts, Literature and Food.
The attempts to shut down Moms for Liberty in Indian River are gaslighting campaigns by "unhinged leftists," and local media. The latest demand is not working.
On Friday, Moms for Liberty - Indian River Florida (M4L-IRFL) announced their first annual Family Fun Night to be hosted at the Vero Beach Heritage Center on April 23rd from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. The event is free. It features arts and crafts, face painting, games, information on schools, a book exchange, and food for the sole purpose of fun. Chairman of Moms for Liberty - IRFL, Jennifer Pippin said, “We think it will be a wonderful event near the end of the school year, celebrating with all the children and parents with free family fun!”
Moms for Liberty - IRFL flooded social media through their own public Facebook page consisting of nearly 2000 members. By the end of the day, local members of the group, Liberals in Vero and Mike for Liberty along with a Brevard County based Facebook page Stop Moms for Liberty were coordinating efforts and letter writing campaigns to the Vero Beach Heritage Center to get a fun night for families cancelled. Their reason is because Moms for Liberty has been labeled “an anti-government extremist group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Back in September, the Heritage Oversight Project brought a lawsuit on behalf of the national Moms for Liberty against the Biden Administration. The lawsuit seeks FOIA documentation from the DOJ, FBI, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services that show the coordination between the Biden Administration and the SPLC.
In speaking with the Sunshine Journal, Executive Director of the Vero Beach Heritage Center, Robyn Berry, informed that the Heritage Center would not be canceling the event. Berry stated, “We are a non-political organization and we do not discriminate.”
The Vero Beach Heritage Center has received about 40 emails and their Facebook page has been assaulted by those who oppose Moms for Liberty. They have been leaving one-star Google reviews even though many have never been to The Heritage Center, or even live in the county. One person even wrote on Facebook they “would invite their drag queen friends.” A drag queen could potentially be arrested for entering an all ages event uninvited for the purpose of exploitation.
The national Moms for Liberty posted to their Facebook page a picture of the event flier commenting, “It's such a shame when our Chapters host such wholesome, family friendly events- and haters want to "crash" it. Why would you have a problem with food, fun, crafts, book exchanges, face painting & bounce castles? If you're in the Vero Beach area, head on over for this great event!”
Moms for Liberty - IRFL is accustomed to what many describe as “unhinged leftists” using the sensationalist political claims of the SPLC to go after businesses hosting their monthly meetings or special gatherings. In July 2023, the Stop Moms for Liberty members, who mostly reside outside of Indian River County, pressured the management of the former restaurant, The 19th Hole, to cancel their relationship with the group. All but one email was from outside the county.
The non-partisan Moms for Liberty is an issue advocacy organization. “Our main purpose is to educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights across all levels of government. Your political preference does not matter. Our membership has independents, NPA’s (no party affiliation) and democrats and republicans. As parents, our children’s upbringing is a non-negotiable, constitutionally fundamental right,” remarked Pippin. However, that premise is lost even on those who claim they promote general constitutional practice. In March of 2023, Executive Director of Main Street Vero Beach (MSVB), Matt Haynes, rejected the local Moms for Liberty application to exhibit during the monthly Downtown Friday street festival. In an email obtained by The Sunshine Journal, Haynes wrote, “I'm sorry but we do not allow political organizations to be a part of Downtown Friday. We have had a very recent bad experience with this and the MSVB Board has made this decision. I am copying Joe Coakley, MSVB President for visibility.”
Joe Coakley, the MSVB President and part of the board in 2022, was also once the founding chairman for the Vero Institute of American Liberty, a now defunct education non-profit to teach children the founding principles of the United States. According to news reports at the time, the story of this ‘bad experience’ was when a few partygoers dressed as pirates stumbled out of the bar and began loudly debating democrats at their tent on abortion rights at the June 2022 street party. The police intervened separating the inebriated anarchistic costumed bandits from their temporary political foes.
Pippin immediately responded to the rejection letter. “We aren't a political organization. Looking forward to doing kid’s arts and crafts at the downtown Friday event. Please provide the link at your earliest convenience so I can get volunteers on board to help with face painting and arts/crafts,” she said. MSVB never responded back to her. It seems the organization for face painting and bouncy houses is controversial.
MSVB’s funding is partially provided under a sanction by Florida’s Office of the Secretary of State. Each Downtown Friday receives partial state funding. MSVB is part of the larger historical objective for the preservation of the historical downtown, landmarks, and other projects. MSVB is formally registered by the Secretary of State and is based municipal code. The code includes how citizens pay for historic preservation through their property taxes. MSVB’s mission statement reads in part, “Our Executive Director and Board work to encourage and support local business, by building connections with local and state government, creating events and promotional opportunities, and shining a spotlight the best things about Vero Beach.”
However, candidates for all levels of government, and even non-partisan organizations are not allowed to present their ideas at street fairs on Main Street —the proverbial town square — to the very community they willingly want to serve. MSVB has removed their right to assemble.
Moms for Liberty - IRFL was also denied application for their float entry in the Vero Beach Christmas Parade in 2021. At the time, the Oceanside Business Association denied their application because they were deemed a political group by parade committee leader, Al Benkert. According to emails obtained by The Sunshine Journal, he told Pippin the float was denied because “[your] objective in being in the parade was to push a certain political view,” adding in his closing, “Let’s just concentrate on the spirit of the season.”
The float design submitted featured someone dressed as the Statute of Liberty with primarily red, white and blue Christmas lights and kids passing out candy. Pippin was also told by Benkert that Parents for Equity and Equality were denied as well for the same reason of politics. However, that denial was not true and verified by citizen journalism. Pippin was disgusted by the decisions and called out Benkert for lying about the other float. The day after the parade she wrote Benkert an email. In the honest ‘spirit of the season’ she described, “One of the books [Parents for Equity and Equality] were holding up and singing about last night on the float was a book about a 6 year old getting raped by her uncle when her parents passed away. Pedophilia. Incest. And Moms for Liberty was denied because we are ‘political.’”
While Moms for Liberty - IRFL knows who are behind most of these gaslighting operations, occasionally, someone new crawls out into the open. “You think you have seen it all and then somebody else, out of nowhere is writing misinformation about you or the people in our chapter that’s even more outrageous,” says Pippin. Her recent editorial shared insight on some of it.
An article written by a Claremont, FL “journalist” named Bonnie Kurowski at her own online magazine, The Illinois Reporter, in October 2023 was a baseless accusation filled screed on Pippin. Among other unverified statements, Kurowski accused Pippin of being a “white nationalist,” “contacted her possible employers to verify” if she was able to serve “Black, Jewish and LGBTQ” patients, and attempted to dox her but had the wrong address. It was a ludicrous assessment to the average media reader. Yet, the report was picked up by Russ Lemmon of Lemmon Lines who reposted Kurowski’s defamatory narration on his publication’s Facebook page.
Through a little digging, it was discovered that Kurowski had just lost a libel suit in federal court. The restitution decree included she must admit the libel, apologize for it and forfeit her media property used to produce the libel to the court. The suit cost her $80,000 which she is currently negotiating in bankruptcy court. The Illinois Reporter was a new website and the self-proclaimed Dominatrix’s return to journalism. Yes, Kurowski also has an S & M business page. Pippin was her first target at The Illinois Reporter and Kurowski followed with other written profiles of Moms for Liberty chapter chairpersons.
Furthermore, Kurowski did eventually find Pippin’s address. She sent Pippin and roughly 20 of her neighbors a paper copy of the article with a message on it stating, “Her immediate family members have criminal records for abuse and violence. She encourages abuse towards school teachers and other members of our community. She is dangerous and should be avoided.”
Florida’s Voice covered this story following its publication. In it, Pippin said she “demanded a full apology and removal of the article or legal action would be taken.” Moms for Liberty’s legal team is looking into all of these outrageous claims of Kurowski concerning their members. In response to the discovery of Kurowski’s past, Russ Lemmon asked this reporter on Facebook, “how come you didn’t address how this article— which has not been refuted—brought embarrassment to Indian River County?”
Well, for those residents seeing who is triggered by the outrageous claims, the embarrassment is obvious.
How is Moms for Liberty not a political organization? Where does one draw the line these days between taking sides on values and advocating for a political organization?