George sent me a text message to me from the Committee meeting. They took a secret ballot and the results were 17-8 so that means only the 2 vacant seats did not vote.

This is huge news - and I wonder if this is going to Impact Tom McClintock's decision weather or not to run.

Nice...you have an elected body making votes by secret ballot. I agree with that endorsement but Secret ballot is no way for a county central committee to be making votes.

Secret ballots are entirely appropriate for the state party because the membership is not directly elected by voters but as central committee members, you are a accountable to elected Republicans in Placer County just like a city council is accountable to the residents of a city. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.

Can you image if the Board of Supervisors or the State Assembly wanted to make a vote by a secret ballot.

Aye Captain! Any elected official should be willing to vote on the record.

I have to wonder if Mr. Ose was there for any other reason than to intimidate committee members. If that was the case perhaps a secret ballot wasn't such a bad idea. Any pressure on committee members should come from voters, not power hungry politicians.

What is wrong with the Placer County Republican Central Committee? A secret ballot? Don't the men and the women on this committee have the guts to stand up publicly and say who they support? It is obvious the committee is having less and less influence in Placer County elections.

Captain - if you are so upset over a secret ballot why are you commenting anonymously?

It takes no courage whatsoever to attack me or others anonymously - touche'

Ben Mavy is 100% correct - based on Ose's behavior at the meeting he and his staff members were there to intimidate the Placer Committee.

Mark - you are dead wrong about the influence of the Placer GOP committee. Ose wouldn't have showed up amongst us peons if he thought we had no influence.

Aaron

I do not think the endorsement from the committee means much. It is nice to have, but probably would not cost a candidate the election if he did not have the endorsement. I do not think most people really care which candidate the committee supports. I keep bringing up the school choice issue in Rocklin. The committee voted to endorse 2 anti-school choice candidates in 2006. They knew they did not support school choice. The committee supported them because they had an "R" by their name. Now many members of the committee will not support McCain because they say he is not conservative enough. If people were really interested in what the committee thinks, there would be more people running for committee seats.

BTW - Where has the President of the Committee been on the school choice issue in Rocklin? Not one public comment condeming the Rocklin School Board.

I do not think Ose will loose any sleep because he did not get the committee's endorsement.

Mark, I should clear up a few facts.

The Placer County Republican Central Committee publicly voted by a show of hands to make an endorsement in this race by a vote of 21 to 4. In front of Doug Ose and his henchmen, our elected Central Committee members took a very public stand to get involved. Our Committee members did this despite the very vocal opposition of our two Republican Senators and other respected officials, who asked us to remain neutral in this race (even though most of them they have sought our endorsements for their own campaigns). That was the key vote and it was done in public, not by secret ballot.

The subsequent vote to endorse Rico Oller for Congress was 17 to 8. That vote was conducted by secret ballot, partly to save the time it would have taken to conduct a roll call vote. For the record, several of the people in opposition to the Oller endorsement have publicly and privately expressed concerns about timing and procedure. Their concerns had nothing to do with the merits of Rico Oller as a Congressional candidate.

As to the "influence" of the Placer County Republican Party, or lack thereof, the voters will have to decide that issue. Pollsters tell me that the Placer County Republican Party endorsement is the most powerful endorsement a candidate or ballot measure can receive in Placer County. The record shows that the voters have taken our side in almost every race in recent elections. Our members represent a very broad section of our community, so it is no surprise that we tend to represent the voters fairly accurately.

Furthermore, this endorsement allow the Party to devote its full resources toward Rico Oller.

This does not bode well for Doug Ose. However, he is not yet a resident of the Fourth Congressional District and there is still time for him to find another district in which to file for office. Perhaps this endorsement will help convince him to do the right thing, since his liberal views are so unpopular in Placer County.

As to the Rocklin School Board, please check your facts before posting things to the Internet. I have been very vocal in my support of charter schools and in criticizing those who oppose them.

Tom Hudson, Chairman
Placer County Republican Party

Thank you Tom for addressing the issue - something Aaron doesn't seem to have the ability to do.

Aaron, there is a huge difference between commenting anonomyously on a blog and an elected body voting anonymously. I get the impression that

The time-saving excuse is a cop-out. In Orange County, the are probably more ex-officio members than Placer has members but they still called the roll on the recent vote to endorse sitting Supervisor Janet Nguyen (which failed).

I'm a big fan of Rico Oller, but secret ballots have no place in a public elected central committee.

Again "Captain" - your whining about a secret ballot is absurd since you are commenting anonymously yourself.

And yes, there is no difference between the two because you hide behind anonymity to attack people you disagree with.

The same gripe you have of avoiding accountability by the Central Committee is the same as you are doing commenting anonymously - avoiding accountability.

Tom

I appologize if I am wrong about your charter school support. Have you come out publicly condemning the Republicans on the Rocklin School Board? Maybe I missed it.