Around 900 Republicans gathered last evening at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine for the 9th Annual Flag Day Fundraising Gala Dinner of the Orange County Republican Party. Every year, this event is a who’s who of the OC political community, with most every prominent Republican official or activist being present. This year was no exception as popular County Party Chairman and former Assembly Republican Leader Scott Baugh presided over a packed house of GOPers who gathered to hear addresses from Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who everyone knows is on the “short list” for McCain’s VP considerations, and GOP Gubernatorial hopeful Dino Rossi, who famously won the Washington State Governor’s race in 2006 only to literally have the race stolen away from him in a third recount. Rossi is running again, and looks to be the favorite as his popularity has grown while the incumbent’s has shrunk.
The tradition of this dinner is that it is impossible to move two feet without running into yet another county leader, and last night was no exception. I will refrain from a “Romper Room” style who’s who of folks that I saw at the dinner, as that would take a long time, and invariably will lead to my skipping important people. I will give a “shout out” to Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit who broke out his Sunday suit and was looking quite spiffy for the affair. His note pad was at hand, so I’m sure we’ll be able to enjoy some of his observations from the evening in one of his columns this coming week.
For the second year running, respected Orange County artist Gary Kutscher, a solid Republican, donated a work of art to the GOP – this year’s work depicted a rendering of Abraham Lincoln’s desk, filled with many “clues” to its owner without being overly overt. Last year, Kutscher donated a similar work themed around the life and career of Ronald Reagan. Both fetched thousands in auction proceeds for the party.
In his remarks in addition to singling out former County GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes who is recovering from some health issues, but was looking quite well last night, Baugh asked everyone to welcome Orange County’s new Sheriff, Sandra Hutchins (a lifelong Republican) who attended this event, getting acquainted with OC politics within a week of her appointed by the Board of Supervisors (four of whom were at the dinner – Pat Bates was unable to attend). The new Sheriff received a hearty applause from the crowd. Hutchins was quite aggressive in moving around and meeting folks at both the VIP reception (where I saw her being introduced to people by State Senator Dick Ackerman) and at the dinner itself (where well-connected O.C. GOP leader Jim Righeimer took her from table to table). Baugh also asked the gathered Republicans to recognize Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson who was present for the six months he spent as the County’s Acting Sheriff. It was something to see nearly all of the guests stand and give Anderson a lengthy and loud standing ovation!
Dino Rossi, a fine conservative from Washington State, a former legislator there, fired up the crowd with his clear articulation of Republican principles. He walked attendees through the close election of 2006, and made an outstanding case for why this year, he has done so much more than last go-around to win the Governorship (that he narrowly lost last time).
Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s remarks were focused on the important Presidential Election taking place this November as he shared some personal observations about Senator John McCain with the crowd, drawing a contrast with ultra-liberal Barack Obama. Crist was introduced by Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer, who flew out with the Governor from their GOP-dominated state.
Crist was clearly taken aback when, in the midst of his remarks, he issued an applause line about being good friends with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The anemic response from the GOP crowd of nearly a thousand people was clearly shocking to Crist. I would say he was stunned and distracted for minutes, as he absorbed the lack of popularity in this room for the Governor. I looked around the room as this happened, and saw a lot of prideful conservatives looking to each other, approving of the opportunity to send a message, hopefully carried back by various Schwarzenegger appointees that were around the room. When I asked a few folks why the dead-pan response about the Governor, I constantly got the “Shouldn’t that be obvious?” look. When pressed, the litany of complaints ranged from his proposal last year for the largest tax increase ever on California business to create a massive government healthcare system in the state, the massive regulatory hurdles being placed uniquely before Californians and California businesses because of his global-warming crusade, and a great many cited his abysmal track record in terms of appointments. Especially noted was angst at the large number of Democrats he has appointed as Judges around the Sstate.
As the formal part of the front-loaded program (a necessity when your main speaker is on East Coast time) came to a close, barely anyone left the room for hours as all of the social networking began, with activists and donors taking this opportunity to mingle with the many Congressmen (Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce were big celebrities), State Senators, and Assemblymembers in attendance, as well as many Countywide officeholders (District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was quite a draw, with a lineup to praise the hard-charging prosecutor), and the afore-mentioned Supervisors. Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel was a star attraction as well.
It was great to see some of our State GOP “brass” on hand – including State Chairman Ron Nehring, CRP Secretary Steve Baric, National Committeeman Elect Shawn Steel and National Committeewoman elect Linda Ackerman, as well as Los Angeles Regional Vice Chairman Doug Boyd. I look forward to working with them as colleagues on the State GOP Board of Directors, where I serve as Vice Chairman for the Southern Region. Also on hand were two neighboring County Chairmen — Ton Krvaric from the San Diego GOP and Lind Boyd from the Los Angeles County GOP.
After the dinner, I was able to spend more time with Chairman Baugh, Dino Rossi, and the successful dinner’s Finance Chairman, John Clarey. It was a great “night cap” to the evening – toasting to the very successful event, which raised a lot of the necessary funds to finance the operations and get-out-the-vote effort of this vibrant Republican County organization!
Many congratulations to Baugh, the O.C. GOP, and to the staff members and volunteers who made the evening one to remember.
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