In the late nineties some GOP leaders pushed to take over the CRP and local GOP county committees with a simple mantra: Ideology doesn’t matter, what matters is the “nuts and bolts” of party building. Basically, the goods they sold said the party should focus on registering voters, GOTV etc…. Of course most were moderates (who would lose part campaigns if ideology was a factor) and their successful campaign culminated in the much-heralded CRP Parsky Commission reforms of 2001.

 

Below are some thoughts I have about improving the CRP. I never bought the complete abandonment of ideology from the party machinery. That’s how we get GOP endorsements of bonds and other follies

 

I come to them though my 20+ years of GOP involvement in politics, my 15 on the CRP Executive committee, including six years on the CRP Board. I also come from the perspective that 2006 was not a good year for the CA GOP. The Governor won and so did Steve Poizner. McPherson, McClintock and Strickland didn’t. We also lost a congressional seat. I know some have the opposite view and you can read the happy go lucky version here. Does anyone really think that Poizner would have won, if he relied on the CRP operation and not on his own resources? The current CRP leadership may be well meaning and hard working, but we have to change in order to win.

 

The February CRP Elections are looming. The items discussed are not ideological, but “nuts and bolts”. They should address the following: