OC/SF--CRP Update
Posted by: Keith Carlson | 02/25/2008 1:42 PM
The California Republican Party just concluded an exciting and successful convention in San Francisco. In addition to nearly doubling the population of GOP'ers in SF, it had a lot of developments connected to the OC. First, the Board of Directors met. Of note, they approved Chairman Ron Nehring's nomination of the OC's Tony Russo to be Chairman of Team California. The appointment is a Board position. With the coming presidential campaign, that position will be critical in helping the party raise the funds needed to support John McCain, and our entire California ticket. Tony's appointment was unanimous, and everyone is looking forward to working with him for a successful '08 effort.
Also unanimous, and this time by the entire state committee membership, was the election of the OC's own Linda Ackerman and Steve Baric. Linda joins the CRP Board as the National Committeewoman and Steve is the new CRP Secretary. Linda was unopposed in her quest to replace the retiring Barbara Alby--who had a long, successful run as our Committeewoman. For a few moments on Sunday we had both Linda and Dick Ackerman--who serves as the Republican Senators' Board representative--up front at the head table. But their terms will actually not overlap. Linda will not officially join the Board until Barbara's RNC term ends this summer, and Dick will be leaving the Board as soon as Senator Cogdill steps in, sometime in April.
Steve Baric was able to run for Secretary unopposed, which, based on my experience having tried it the other way, is definitely a nice way to run. Steve and I first met when he began helping me with the Orange Country Republican Lawyers. Since then moved up to become Chairman of the California Republican Lawyers Association. He's put in A LOT of time in the trenches for the CRLA and GOP candidates statewide, as he helps lead and coordinate the ballot-security effort for Republicans each election. As Chairman of the CRLA, Steve has also worked with the Republican Assembly Caucus to sue the government to prevent the early release of 50,000 felons. Steve reported to the CRP that one of the reasons they might be released is the felons have, apparently, been denied access to the psychiatrists of their choosing. (Upon hearing that report, 1,000 tiny CRP-members' violins were played in unison.) Steve replaces another hard-working volunteer activist, Jalene Forbis, as CRP Secretary. Jalene, like Barbara, has put in a huge amount of time and effort into the party. Both Jalene and Barbara were honored by Chairman Nehring, and were greeted with long, loud standing ovations. Having worked with both for many years, I know they deserved the applause.
I was also unanimously elected to serve another term as Treasurer. That honor was certainly made more exciting by knowing that I'll have plenty of local friends to carpool with to our Board meetings! Of the 5 Board seats in play this weekend, 4 were given to OC'ers.
The last one, the RNC National Committeeman, was won by Shawn Steel--who lives just outside the Curtain in Palos Verdes. Shawn defeated incumbent Tim Morgan in a vigorously fought election. It was the only contested election this time, and it was a thriller. Both sides were highly organized and energized. And, in my opinion, both candidates were highly qualified, good people.
One last bit of OC info: OC'ers Jon Fleischman and Mike Schroeder played a key role in drafting the document that served as the basis for the Platform Committee debates. The Platform debate can always be contentious, and this time there were definitely two obvious sides. The other side also prepared a draft. In the months leading up to the convention everyone went back and forth on the merits of each. Even though the Platform Committee met and debated for 4 or 5 hours, working on the final language, the writing was on the wall when the first vote was held: "which document will serve as the starting point for discussions?" When the one Fleischman and Schroeder offered won, everyone knew the outcome of almost all the following votes. Despite the initial, spirited debate, both sides seemed to leave feeling it was the most open and fair process they could recall. That fact, combined with the unifying behind John McCain--that was evident at the convention--bodes well for the CRP in this coming year.
Chairman Nehring, and OC'er Bill Christiansen (the CRP's COO) deserve a lot of credit for putting on a great convention--in San Francisco no less! We head back to the OC for our next convention, this September, when we gather in Anaheim.
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
I would also point out that your county's star conservatives were quick to raise their hands and vote NO to an amendment that read something like this: "We believe that women should have the same rights and privileges as men." They neglected to think that perhaps by stating that affirmatively and shattering the glass ceiling, more Republican women could ascend the administrative and managerial ranks in occupations such as fire fighting and law enforcement, both notoriously union. By voting NO to that amendment, they also went on record as being openly disdainful of the value that Republican women bring to this political party. By voting NO, they have also singlehandedly managed to anger both CWLA and CFRW enough to make their members pause and think whether or not walking precincts and helping to get out the vote is a right and a privilege that they don't have as opposed to what some men think is an obligation. Thank you Misters Fleishman and Schroder. We did manage to come a long way. But we now know that you've got what it takes to walk that lonely road out to the couch at night.....alone. Oh, and in the words of someone you both know and admire....Hasta La Vista, baby.