This last weekend’s California Republican Party Biennial Organizational Convention in Sacramento was a busy one, and so it will take me a few blog posts to really talk about all of the aspects of it, and ultimately provide a comprehensive recap. As conventions go, it was a tremendously successful one. It was a extremely well attended by delegates and guests (this is especially notable due to the absence of hotly contested races for statewide party office) and the lineup of speakers was top notch.
Speakers at the convention included South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Chairman of the National Republican Governors Association, former United National Ambassador John Bolton, gubernatorial hopefuls Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, Lieutenant Governor candidate State Senator Jeff Denham and talked about potential candidate Bill Simon, U.S. Senate candidate Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and rumored potential candidates Carly Fiorina and Larry Elder, Congressmen Darrell Issa and Tom McClintock and also national conservative leader Bill Bennett. As I pen more from the convention, we’ll talk more about all of these folks.
With only two semi-annual conventions, the task of providing oversight for the operations of the California GOP falls to its Board of Directors, made up of roughly twenty members. Elections were held over the weekend for ten of those board positions. The top two races, for statewide office were those for the offices of Chairman and Vice Chairman. In both cases the incumbents, Ron Nehring and Tom Del Becarro, were unanimously re-elected by the delegates. In eight regional Vice Chairmanships, the results were: Appointed incumbent Patricia Welch was elected to a full term as Vice Chairman, Northwest, Tom Hudson was elected Vice Chairman, North, Morgan Kelly was elected Vice Chairman, Bay Area, Laura Gadke was reelected Vice Chairman, Central Valley, Mike Osborne was elected Vice Chairman, Central Coast, Doug Boyd was reelected Vice Chairman, Los Angeles, Larry McCallon was elected Vice Chairman, Inland Empire and yours truly was reelected as Vice Chairman, South. Also serving as officers of the committee are Keith Carlson as Treasurer and Steve Baric as Secretary (neither of whom were up for election this past weekend). Following the convention, three additional board members were appointed – Paul Bruno was appointed Budget Committee Chairman, Tony Krvaric was appointed Finance Chairman, and Tony Russo was reappointed as Chairman of Team California. Also serving on the party’s Board are California’s Republican National Committee Members Linda Ackerman and Shawn Steel, Immediate Past CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines and to represent the California Congressional Delegation, Representative Ed Royce. What a great team – I am looking forward to serving with them. Of note to readers is that the CRP’s Chief Operating Officer, Bill Christiansen, announced that he will be departing – though he will remain on staff for a few months as part of a transition as the party searches for a new permanent COO. Also, to assist in the transition, Chuck Hahn, Chief of Staff to State Senator Dave Cogdill, is taking a leave of absence from that job to serve as an interim COO. Everyone on the Board applauded the leadership that Christiansen showed for the organization during this past election cycle, and wished him good luck on his future endeavors.
**There is more – click the link**
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
I’m frustrated. Our California Government looked at our fiscal mess and decided that we were insufficiently taxed. I think that this blog has done a good job of telling the story about how bad taxes are in general and how horrible they are in a recession in specific.
I’m sorry that the six Republican Legislators and our Republican Governor bought into that thinking.
But my biggest frustration is that the Governor and the Legislature made no serious attempt to take on the state bureaucracy, the employee unions, the pensions, the waste and the duplications. In other words, they never addressed the real problem.
The Republicans are spending their energy punishing those who see taxes as the only option rather than digging in to the massive bureaucracy to find the waste. We need to do better.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Boy Scouts..without strong local participation in Republican politics throughout the state you cannot counter EARTH DAY, MAY DAY, gov. workers deemed rock stars, the massive increase in service jobs in California making most occupants dependant serfs for health care and safety net dealeees…and the massive increase in the ‘new poor” creating the demand for welfare enablers…..an industry rivaling the size of the auto makers.
Too many families owe their futures to government, so why will it change soon? Republicans save your money talent and time….
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
There you go again, Jon, off the rails to the far far far right. Seems to me the Republican convention in Sacramento puts the cap on the decline of the Grand Old Party. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the latest voter registration figures. Democrats – up. Decline to State – up. Republicans – down (to just 31 per cent). Does that tell you, Jon, anything about how well your far right wing-nut philosophy of governing is doing with the voting public? No? Well, keep it up, Jon and cohorts, and you will soon be holding your convention in a telephone booth, with room left over for a high school marching band.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Hey Bob I have news for you. Jon and the “far right” haven’t been “governing”. The only Republican who’s getting any credit for governing is Arnold. Does that tell you, Bob, anything about the damage done by political cross-dressing and abandoning principles??
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Abandoning principle — that is what has been done — I voted for Maldonado with much doubt about him.
I was encouraged by the California Congress of Republicans to vote for him.
I should have used my instincts with this.
Disgusting about those republicans who caved to Schwarzenegger.
To make matters worse, in adition to these egregious tax hikes the “Gov” is accepting Fed money (stimulus)
What the hell is going on?
I am sick of the political chicanary by those who want to stay in power (read republicans) who would sell out California for their own political future.
Oh, they will be reelected because they towed the dem line.
There is no republican power in California because of these weaklings.
February 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Hey Dan. Who got elected in a landslide? I’ll give you a clue: Governor Schwarzenegger. And that was after he got his head handed to him the previous year for going down the far right wing-nut path with those “year of reform” initiatives. Now think – how did Governor Schwarzenegger do that? Because he got real and returned to his moderate Republican roots. I recall my dear old mother saying how she resented “those old white men in Sacramento” telling her what she could and could not do with her own body re: abortion. And I have to tell you my dear old mother was Republican to her marrow and she would “vote for a yellow eyed dog” if it was a Republican. The death of the Republican Party in this state is the “social issues” around which this party has become a religious cult. Until that cult is broken the party will never gain a majority in the legislature or elect constitutional officers – except for the random star.