The California Republican Assembly is an institution in the State of California. Venerable and influential, the CRA in recent decades has been the “conscience of the Republican Party” — or as some would say, the “Republican wing of the Republican Party.” Conservative to its core, the organization of which I proudly served as State President from 1995 – 1997 is in the midst of internal strife, which came to a very public head at its recent state convention in Sacramento.
While I was not at the convention, I thought that FlashReport readers would enjoy hearing about how that event went — from two decidedly different perspectives. On one side, you have Tom Hudson, a CRA Vice Prsident who supported Celeste Greig’s successful bid for a full two-year term as CRA President. On the other side you have Maria England, longtime CRA activist who was part of the team behind the unsuccessful bid of Karen England (no relation) for CRA President.
While yours truly endorsed Celeste Greig early I, to be honest I am still in a “fact finding” mode before I lay out my analysis of what went right, and what went wrong at the CRA convention. An early examination of the facts indicates that fault may fall on both sides.
The travesty here, is like with any civil war (and this can only be characterized as such), all of the fallen and wounded are conservatives. A top priority for me is going to be helping to figure out the path towards a unified CRA, that will be actively engaged in working to elect conservatives. This is important all of the time, but with the confluence of the new Prop. 14 rules and the impacts of the decennial redrawing of political boundaries, CRA’s influence is going to be more important now than ever.
Below are links to the two columns, which I encourage you to read. I also encourage comments (though be aware that I have to approve comments and am away from my computer much of the day — so be patient).
April 27th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
We don’t need the same old commitees, conventions and wooing moderates away from the gov. feed toughs.
Only need a one page sticky note for politicians’ bathroom mirrors: CUT Spending, regulations, public worker union pensions and the welfare state!
April 27th, 2011 at 5:31 pm
We don’t need the same old commitees, conventions and wooing moderates away from the gov. feed troughs.
Only need a one page sticky note for politicians’ bathroom mirrors: CUT Spending, regulations, public worker union pensions and the welfare state!
April 27th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
Jon – new motions have been filed in the court case, assuring that the legal bills will continue to mount and that the resolution to the legal issues will be drug out for at least several more weeks.
April 28th, 2011 at 1:02 am
Jon, for those of us living in Placer County, the CRA convention was no surprise. We know the past work and characters of those who ran the CRA convention– namely George and Aaron Park and Tom Hudson. What happened at the convention is exactly how the Placer County Republican Central Committee and Placer County Republican Assembly is run.
The FBI is investigating them for what everyone understands to be money laundering with Headquarters Partnership. They are on first name basis with the FPPC. They sell endorsements and shake down candidates. They take donations to the Placer County Republican Party and redirect them to accounts they control. They are at war with the Tea party as the Tea Party attempts to clean up their corruption. They have no volunteers and very little money. They have run PCRCC and PCRA into the ground. PCRA is the definition of a paper club. We were once a proud 52.55% Republican county, now we are barely 48% Republican.
They are now exporting all that to CRA. We watched what they did to PCRCC and PCRA and we will not be surprised with what they are going to do to CRA.
Just contrast the people who hang out with George and Aaron Park and Tom Hudson with those associated with Karen England. The Karen England crowd are high achievers of substantial accomplishments in the private sector, good Christian people of integrity, honesty and uprightness. That is just the opposite of the Park/ Hudson associates. You can tell a lot about people by who they hang out with.
Like I say, we have seen it all in Placer County and we are sick of their antics!!!
April 28th, 2011 at 11:42 pm
When you read Ken Campbell’s lies (above), keep in mind that he himself was a fraudulent delegate to the CRA Convention from a San Diego unit that he never even bothered to join. Once his fraud was exposed by the Credentials Committee, he did not even show up to answer questions or apologize to the Convention.
This is the same Ken Campbell who was forced to resign as Chairman of the Placer County Republican Party in the midst of a self-created scandal.
Now, Ken Campbell is claiming that the “Karen England crowd are high achievers of substantial accomplishments in the private sector, good Christian people of integrity, honesty and uprightness.” He is talking about the same Karen England who publicly admitted that she was still a member of the Placer County Republican Assembly when she was submitted as a delegate from Yolo County. Most people do not consider lying and cheating to be Christian virtues.