It’s the fall of 2006, and the midst of a very intense General Election here in California. With a host of down-ticket races providing some modest distraction, the attention of those driving the California Republican Party Victory ’06 program are focused relentlessly on the big prize, re-electing Arnold Schwarzenegger to a full four-year term as Governor of California. At the height of the effort, a decision was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and then State-GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim that is still having reverberations today.
You see, while the Governor’s re-election campaign was going well, and his numbers were looking solid, the Victory Program was rapidly running out of money heading into the final month — a month of critical importance to be up with television advertising. Then came the big decision (the Governor always thinks BIG) — to literally "bet the bank" and have the State GOP take out a THREE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN from a friendly contributor’s company, thus providing the necessary injection of cash into the CRP coffers to run a full campaign to the end. Chairman Sundheim brought this plan to his board (the CRP Board of Directors had to approve this kind of debt), and convinced them to go along, creating what is now referred to as "Duf’s Debt."
**There is more – click the link**
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Jon is correct that some of this activity took place in CRP Board closed sessions and cannot be publicly discussed in greater detail.
It is unfortunate that the Party is being burdened by this carryover debt. It was a drag on our 2007 operations and is now impacting 2008.
I am confident that Chairman Nehring is working diligently to put this old matter to rest once and for all.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Once again Jon, you have gone off the rails. If you voted to accept the debt obligated by the prior board, it is now YOUR debt. And on all the non-profit boards of directors I’ve served on, a primary duty of each board member is to raise money. So what have you done to raise money and help retire the debt? My hunch is, you have done NOTHING to help retire the debt, but I could be wrong so tell us what you, personally, have done to help. How many potential donors have you personally met with and what was the result? In addition, according to the reports I’ve read, the “major donor” met with our current chairman last July and at that meeting the “major donor” told the current chairman he would forgive the debt if our current chairman gave him a strategic plan detailing how the CRP would increase voter registration and also the “major donor” would help our current chairman fill vacant CRP positions and our current Charmian agreed to do these things and then – did nothing. Finally, the “major donor” went pubic with his frustration at the inaction and the far right wing direction of the CRP. We all have read about this failure of the CRP board and leadership. Now, we have a far right wing anti platform facing us at the upcoming convention. So when that platform passes, we further marginalize our party. But I know you don’t care about the fact that the Republican Party has not controlled the legislature since the 1970s. All you care about is bashing the governor and the people you call RINO; the people who just happen to stand between your wallet and the Democrats who never met a tax increase they wouldn’t vote for and a regulation they wouldn’t embrace like a python.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Bob, thanks for your comments. I know that you feel that in order for the Republican Party to win elections, we need to be more like the Democrats. Obviously I disagree. But nevertheless I enjoy your commenting on FR.
That said, I did say in my commentary that this is the CRP’s debt, no bones about that.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Evans, I’ve been listening to the Rockefeller/CC Repubs. as they were called back in the day, for forty years now. The fiddle is the same, as is the tune it continues to play. You all need some new material and a better definition of what it is YOU stand for other than demeaning those with which you disagree.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Dang Jon, again you are off the rails. I don’t want the Republican Party to be like the tax and spend Democrat Party. I want the Republican Party to be like the Republican Party, not the religious party. But since the 1980s our candidates have been burdened with a far right wing religious anti platform – the Rev. Pat Robertson platform – that wants to kick out Republicans called RINOs, including elected Republicans who do not toe the anti line on “social issues” dear to the heart of the far right wing. Doing acts such as putting up far right wing straw candidates against moderate Republicans who had won their primary and could win the general election, thereby splitting the vote and putting a Democrat in office; putting out hit mailings on Republican candidates who do not toe the far right wing theology, etc. And if this keeps up, the Republican Party will be further marginalized and then the Democrats will pass any and all far left wing nut legislation and taxes with the ability to completely ignore the current Governor’s veto. And wait until 2011, when a Democrat Governor and a Democrat dominated legislature has Michael Berman (congressman Howard Berman’s brother) redraw the district lines using his little computer and his voter rolls. The Republican Party will be as completely marginalized as the Green Party after 2011 if the right wing keeps up the RINO mantra and we have a dithering CRP board.
So, Jon, you forgot to write what YOU did (do) to help retire the CRP debt? You didn’t say in your comment on my prior comment and I’m waiting to read about your personal efforts to help the party.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Ms Gahm; I want the Republican Party to be like the Republican Party not the religious party. We should stand for government off our backs and out of our wallet, bedroom, bathroom, and doctors office. If you are poor due to no fault of your own, Republicans should stand for government acting to help you get on your feet by providing you with educational opportunities and if you need it, health care. I think the Republican Party should help make our public education system the best we can have by helping teachers get paid according to their responsibilities and should work to help teachers gain authority over their classroom commiserate with their responsibilities. I think the Republican Party, if we are really serious about illegal immigration, should stand for making it a felony to hire an illegal. That is, send a few CEO’s to prison for hiring illegals. I guarantee if that were the law no illegal would be hired and the illegal immigration “issue” would go the way of the Dodo.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Bob Evans, I have to agree with you on all yours posts. The California Republican Party has lost touch with reality and is going down the wrong path. We aren’t the religious party.
I’m not a fan of Duf but don’t like the way the debt is being made his problem. Ron Neyring should step down and the board needs a shake up.
I, too, would like to know what Jon did to retire the debt. Everyone at the upcoming convention should ask him or herself the same question.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Here’s a real improvement for the party: open meetings of the board of directors so delegates and officers can point out the fiascos. This way they are averted early, rather than being foisted on the successors.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
As a long-time friend of Jon’s, I am willing to bet that he has done more to retire Duf’s Debt than any other CRP Board member besides the Chairman. However, it would be ridiculous to expect Jon to detail his private solicitation activities on the Internet, for every Democrat to read.
The more important point is: What are we going to do to prevent CRP Board members from going into debt in the future?
Dan Lungren left us with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt when he used and abused our CRP bank accounts for the benefit of his own gubernatorial campaign. He ended that disastrous race with a surplus, while we ended up in debt (thanks to him and his paid henchmen). Now, Duf Sundheim and Arnold Schwarzenegger have left us with new debt.
We Republicans need to put a stop to this outrageous practice. This year’s donors do not want to pay for last year’s campaigns!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I’ll buy Mr. Hudson’s criticism of my prior posting. Jon, you don’t have to give details, just tell us how many potential donors you have met with since joining the CRP board and what is the average amount of donation you have secured to help retire the CRP debt. You shouldn’t tell us the name of the person(s) you met with or the date and time, just the amount of money you have raised.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Just cut, cut, cut across the board.
It’s a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
No new taxes! No new fundraising!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I don’t know Mr. Evans, but if he thinks the problem with the Party is a platform that nobody reads, then he doesn’t understand politics. If he thinks we are the “religous” party I invite him to give us examples. Frankly, we’ve not been a conservative party at any level since 1996. The President has defended the country, made some tax cuts which resulted in huge revenue increases, and appointed some good judges, that is hardly a religious agenda. And don’t get me started on the Governor. He has bankrupted our Party and State, as a great “moderate”.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am
I stand by my comments. If my comments sound like Ron’s, perhaps it is because we are both trying to pull the cart forward — not backwards nor in circles.
It is too bad that so many of my fellow Republicans spend much of their energy attacking each other rather than attacking the Dem’s.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am
I don’t know Mr. Manouel, but to answer his first comment, the average person going to vote has no idea what a party platform is. But I guarantee you the mainstream media has read our platform from start to finish and picked out the parts that make Republicans look like nuts. To answer your comment about my giving you examples of how the Republican Party has become the religious party, let me count the ways: our party apparatus has been taken over by religious activists intent on bringing “biblical principles” to government: outlawing abortion, ostracizing homosexuals and teaching creationism in public schools. Is that enough examples for you, Mr. Manouel?
And I am still waiting to read Jon’s catalog of his efforts to raise money to retire the debt of the CRP. But I have the feeling that I’ll wait a very long time to read anything because I think that Jon has done NOTHING. Nothing, that is, but try to put his (and the other current CRP board members) responsibilities onto the Governor and the prior Chairman.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am
To anyone who thinks the Republican Party is not viewed as the “religious” party, I invite you to enter the key words “Republican religious right” into any search engine and see how many hits you get. You will be surprised and, if you are a person who wants the Republican Party to be Republican, appalled.