The basis of power for an urban Republican Party County Chairman is the ability to project force.
In order to project force the Chairman must be able to pay the rent and staff. The purpose to paying the rent and paying staff is to build a precinct organization that allows the Chairman and his committee to distribute tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of pieces of literature with the Party’s endorsed candidates on it to GOP voters, and turn those voters out, and thus win elections.
There are various bells and whistles a County Party can add after these basics, but these basics come first. Period. If you don’t have the manpower, and the money to support the manpower, then nothing else follows. Not money. Not victories. Nothing. Just a sham and a series of depressing meetings in the back of a library or county adminstration building..
This being said, any Chairman and his leading staff should read Chip Englander’s "Building a Republican Precinct Representative Program in Six Months". It’s the single most important nuts and bolts document available, and should be the Bible of any decent organization, and any decent organization folks.
February 24th, 2007 at 12:00 am
With all due respect, I haven’t noticed county committee chairs in either party “projecting force.”
Perhaps I have been missing something all these years … the aircraft carrier, for instance. Or the big money. :)
February 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I can’t honesty argue that the Democrat County Party Chairman have any force to project – since the unions run the Democrat Party and not vice versa.
But I would argue that over the last several years, the major story missed by the media is the revival of GOP County organizations – in particular San Bernardino, San Diego, OC, Kern, and Ventura. But others as well…
Take a look who is being elected to state and local offices from those areas and some others and it will be increasingly clear what is going on. These folks are electing their own in increasingly large numbers.
And look at their budgets – – for instance the San Diego Republican Party, Ventura, and San Bernardino are now the single largest spenders in non-partisan races in their various counties… more than the unions or any other interested entity.
I don’t think you’ve been missing something all these years, Bill. And if we’d had this discussion 5 years ago I’d have agreed with you. But from my perspective organizational politics is on its way back – at least in the GOP in particular areas – after some 20 years or more of vacation.
February 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Where does one get a copy of Chip’s influential work?
February 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Chip Englander is Chief of Staff to San Diego Assemblyman Joel Anderson. That’s probably a good place to start looking if you want to shake a copy out of him.
February 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Duane,
Don’t forget about the exceptional progress being made in NorCal – particularly in Santa Clara and Monterey Counties.
February 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Chip, please send Jon a copy. (Now we’ll see if he reads FR.)