Californian Republican National Committeeman Tim Morgan, yesterday, was elected Treasurer of the Republican National Committee.  He penned this commentary from his hotel room at the Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C., and we feature it today…

This has been a bittersweet meeting of the Republican National Committee. On the one hand, we lost the election last fall and Democrats now control Congress just up the street from where we’ve been meeting. House Minority Leader, John Boehner of Ohio, on behalf of his colleagues in Republican leadership, said during the Thursday luncheon that he apologized for the Republican apostasy in forgetting the small government principles that secured our control of Congress in 1994. I was sitting with the Ohio Party Chairman and his staff who concur with Mr. Boehner’s assessment of the political situation here.

This year’s RNC Winter meeting also looked forward, though, by initiating a new team and a new direction for our National Party. An important lesson we’re taking home is that we need to be the Party that sets a good example. Our Grand Old Party must serve as the role model for transcending the partisan divide. While we speak in terms of red states and blue states, our values are red, white and blue!  Our policies must, therefore, reach out to that great coalition President Reagan envisioned, a coalition stronger for including traditional Republicans and new Republicans alike.

Reaching out to new Republicans will be aided by the election of the first Hispanic national Chairman. Not many people speak so eloquently – or as much from the heart – about our principles of freedom and democracy as does Mel Martinez, U.S. Senator from Florida and the newly elected General Chairman, who escaped Communist Cuba as a teenager. As outgoing RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman said here, and I concur, Mel will spread our message far and wide, to those like me who have been Republicans from the beginning and to the newest converts to our cause.  Senator Martinez spoke frankly of the need to secure our borders to protect our national security, to implement a guest worker program, and to begin a national debate that can find common ground to resolve the issue of the 12 million or so illegals who have entered the country in the last 20 years.

And talk about ready for the tough day to day job of RNC Chairman, Mike Duncan of Kentucky is uniquely qualified. Even as I did, Mike started out as a youth activist in the Republican Party. From precinct walking at age 8, he went on to be elected Chairman of the Kentucky YR organization in 1977; then State Party Chairman; and just today, an even thirty years’ from his state YR chairmanship, the National Committee elected him as one of their own to lead us into victory in 2008. I know Mike to be a dedicated party loyalist, a volunteer leader, and a fine man with whom we can all be proud to associate. He lives our values and has the experience and the energy to push past our recent "unpleasantness" to hold the White House and regain control of Congress next year.

Excitement is beginning to build among state parties for the 2008 Republican National Convention to be held in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Governor Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Senator Norm Coleman came to present their plans for a great summer event; their hospitality at a Thursday evening reception was indicative of what convention delegates may anticipate.

On a serious note, there has been much discussion here about the global struggle our country is engaged in. Many, many leaders are concerned that the central battle has been more difficult than expected and that we need to do more in the war on terror and to better control our borders. Ken Mehlman talked about the world we live in having more people deriving their income off of E-bay than make their living in the steel industry. He talked about the need for our Party to recommit itself to being the party of change, of reform on every issues and to holding our elected officials, candidates, and staff, everyone… to the absolute highest ethical standards.
 
President Bush met privately with all RNC members Thursday afternoon in the East Room of the White House to provide background on his revisions to the Iraq military campaign. He hinted at points he’ll be making in next week’s State of the Union address and expressed his iron resolve to prevent the Democrats from defunding the troops.
 
Part of today’s business in selecting the team that will lead the national party these next two years included my colleagues electing me as Treasurer of the Republican National Committee.  I expressed my resolve to conduct the office of Treasurer with probity so that those who invest their hopes, their energy, and their hard earned dollars in our cause may be confident that we will be ethical stewards of these precious resources.. I will be working tirelessly in the battle to retain the White House and to regain the Republican majority in Congress.  With my election as Treasurer, and the selection of Idaho committeeman Blake Hall as RNC General Counsel, the West has gained substantially in its influence within the RNC.
 
I began my career nearby, working in the mid to late ‘70’s at the Pentagon as an Army Captain and JAG Corps officer. I believed then, as I do so now, with all my heart, that our military is engaged in the fight of our lives to protect our freedoms from despotism. Tonight I count myself  lucky enough to be able to continue this fight from yet another national venue, this time as a partisan warrior for our Party. Looking out my hotel room window toward the White House and Capital dome, I am reminded again why I took up a commission in the Army and why since then I have remained active as a soldier in the Republican Party.

President Reagan once said, "In America, every day is a new beginning and every sunset is merely the latest milestone in a voyage that never ends. For this is the land that has never become, but it always is becoming." And as a full circle goes, I am just leaving now to go downstairs to yet another reception, this one a reunion of Young Republican alumni and a special tribute to Mike Duncan and others like myself who got our start in the YR’s… who knew that being Santa Cruz County YR Chairman in 1970 would lead to all this?

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.