Here’s a little advice for Republican candidates seeking their Party’s endorsement and assistance in San Bernardino County elections: You can’t have it both ways. If you think political parties shouldn’t be involved in local or so-called ‘non-partisan’ elections, then don’t ask for their support only to later criticize their involvement if they endorse someone else. By doing so you run the risk of seeming disingenuous.
Consider Sunday’s San Bernardino County Sun article by staff writer George Watson that profiles judicial candidate Larry Roberts, who placed second to GOP-backed Steve Malone in the June Primary (30.6% vs. Malone’s 44.8%). In it, Roberts explains how the GOP’s involvement in the election gives him “chills” because of its potential to frighten jurists from making the right decisions for fear of Party retribution. Read it here.
But when Malone points out that Roberts had also sought the party’s support, Watson’s report paraphrases Roberts as saying he “never actually sought the party’s endorsement….” and that he had “met with (Central Committee) officials to tell them his views, which included asking them not to endorse any candidate. But, Roberts said, he chose to keep those words to himself because it was so evident that the party planned to get involved.”
As chairman of the county Party’s Endorsements Committee, I see posturing every election regarding Party involvement, and the Sun newspaper consistently plays right along with the stereotypes of hardball partisan politicians, moneyed political machines, smoke-filled backrooms and undue influence. But what really bothers me in this case is that I clearly remember Roberts seeking the Party’s endorsement, as this exchange of emails would seem to confirm.
I respect the fact that Mr. Roberts is a Republican and a deputy District Attorney, like Malone. But after reading some of these statements in the press and looking at his website, I believe his posturing is contrary to the Party’s effort to help elect Republicans in San Bernardino County – an effort Watson characterizes in Sunday’s Sun article as “masterful in its effectiveness.” Roberts’ angle here is harmful in my opinion not only because it’s not true, but because it gives the press the irresistible specter of “Republican infighting,” it unfairly casts the Party’s choice in a negative light by questioning the process and the legitamacy of Party involvement, and it advances the untrue notion that the GOP wants judicial candidates who would be beholden to the Party, sacrificing impartiality on the bench.
It now seems even more evident to me that the Party made the right choice in backing Steve Malone for Superior Court Judge.
October 8th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I read the article this morning and found it hard to believe when Roberts stated that he never actually sought the endorsement.
However, the emails you have presented clearly (in my mind) undermine his credibility.
When I read the headline and opening paragraphs, I initially thought: “Sour grapes.” Now, I know it is sour grapes.
I am also more than a little annoyed that in his bid to make political hay of this matter, he graciously gave the San Bernardino Sun another opportunity to take another swipe at our Chairman Bill Postmus.
Under his leadership, the Republican Party in San Bernardino has excelled at winning races from the state legislature to the dog catcher. Under his leadership, the party has been downright dominant.
And to come full circle…that is why Mr. Roberts sought the GOP endorsement to begin with.
October 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Great post Brad.
Candidates for any office do not have to play the party game. But when they don’t play it well and lose, it is just sad to see them complain.