It looks like our own California Republican National Committeeman Tim Morgan is going to be elected Treasurer of the Republican National Committee!
The primary governing body of the national Republican Party is the Republican National Committee. This body is made up of around 170 or so people — three from each state and also representation from some United States territories. Each state has on the RNC its Chairman, as well as a Committeeman and a Committeewoman. Each individual state decides how it elects these important offices. In California, since a change in the Party Rules that was in effect in 1996, the State Republican Party Central Committee has elected our Committeeman and Committeewoman, Tim Morgan and Barbara Alby, respectively. Of course the same CRP delegates elect our Chairman, currently Duf Sundheim and come February, Ron Nehring (Ron is unopposed in his ascendancy into the Chairmanship – he is currently Vice Chairman of the State GOP).
As you can tell, the RNC is a pretty elite group. It’s numbers are small, but yet the officers they select run a political entity that is raising and spending a tremendous amount of money.
The politics of the RNC is tied to whether there is a Republican President in the White House. The tradition of the RNC has been to defer to the President on who should be leading the National committee when there is a Republican incumbent. For better or worse, the process has been that a President lets it be known who he or she wants, and that is pretty much game, set and match for who among the RNC members is elevated to the senior-most positions. When there is no President of the Party of Lincoln, then there is a lot more politicking within the committee as the selection for Chairman becomes a real contest. The last Chairman elected under such circumstances was Jim Nicholson of Colorado. He won a very divided election, and saw the RNC through the election of President Bush in 2000. Since then, the President has tapped the Chairmen.
Shortly after the 2006 election, current RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman announced that he would be stepping aside, as is the traditional after your party takes a drubbing at the polls. The President has asked the RNC to elect longtime Committeeman Mike Duncan of Kentucky to be it’s Chairman, and for him to ‘share’ governance with a titular General Chairman, United States Senator Mel Martinez of Florida. This is not uncommon to have a non-RNC member as the public face of the RNC.
The RNC being a seniority-driven body, it has been a VERY long time since we have had any national officer of the RNC from the Golden State. Prior to the change in our rules, we had not had any Committee Members serving as long as Alby and Morgan have that I can recall. Before the change in the rules, the National Committee members were chosen by the RNC Convention delegations every four years, providing for little continuity. And the term-limits on our State Chairmanship have ensured that no California Chairman is around long enough to rise up through the ranks of the RNC.
Because of their seniority, Alby and Morgan have been gaining ground and securing more influential posts. Right now, Alby has a coveted seat on the RNC National Convention Site Selection Committee for 2008. Morgan has been laying the groundwork for years and it is his latest news that is the impetus for this entire Commentary.
I spoke with Tim Morgan yesterday who shared with me that incoming RNC Chairman Mike Duncan has asked Tim to run for Treasurer of the Committee! This is great news for Tim, and also for the California GOP. This is a very senior role on the committee, that comes with all of the input and influence you might expect. While technically there is an election for this post, as I said earlier, when there is a Republican in the White House… Well, Tim would not have been selected to run for this post without the blessing of the administration, making him the odds-on favorite, if he even has an opponent.
From this post, Tim will be a close advisor to the RNC, will be intimately involved with operations and with party finances, and it will also mean that Tim will be traveling around the country on behalf of Republicans.
"I was extremely flattered to be asked to run for RNC Treasurer," Morgan told me. "I am so grateful to my colleagues on the California Republican Party Central Committee for electing me three times now to represent them. It is their confidence that has allowed me to be in the right place at the right time to do this. It will be a lot of hard work, but I love our party, and our country!"
As you can tell, Tim is very excited about this, and it will be interesting to see how this develops, and to see how California benefits from having a voice in the innermost circle of the Republican National Committee.
Congratulations Tim!
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