Next month, the State Republican Party Central Committee will meet in Sacramento to elect most of its officers. Here at the FlashReport, we’re taking the opportunity to work our way through the CRP offices up for election, and give you our take on the candidates who are running. While there is no particular order in which we are going, we’ll eventually get to all of the positions that are being elected – Chairman, Vice Chairman, the Regional Vice Chairmen, and President of the County Chairmens Association. We’ve offered to run columns from the candidates, and all but two have responded so far.
So far the FlashReport has endorsed Laura Gadke for re-election as Vice Chairman for the Central Valley Region. Today we take a look at the Los Angeles Region Vice Chairman position, where incumbent Doug Boyd is seeking re-election.
FlashReport readers have read on this page before that I believe that our party, nationally, is at a crossroads. I believe that elected party leaders at the local, state and national leaders have a bigger role than ever to play in working to see the Republican Party reemerge from the wilderness with a principled, conservative majority. It is for that reason that it is more critical than ever that we elect (or in this case re-elect) strong, passionate conservatives to our party’s Board of Directors. With partys being identified largely by the actions of their candidates and officeholders, we need strong officers who will work with these officials to ensure that we are putting for a principled message, and backing up our rhetoric with actions consistent with what we say. Doug Boyd is that kind of leader.
I have known Doug since 1988 – I met him when I was a young activist with Young Americans for Freedom, and Doug, even back then, was a long-time conservative leader, having himself served as State Chairman of Cal-YAF. Doug has had a long history of leadership in the party, and I can tell you that as a CRP Board Member, he has been a leader. Over the past year and a half, we’ve had a few controversial votes on the Board, and I can assure you that at every turn, Doug has stood tall to do the right thing (LOL – I guess that means he always vote the same as me!).
From 1999 to 2001, I served as Executive Director of the California Republican Party, and at that time, Doug served on the Board as Assistant Treasurer (a position that no longer exists). I can tell you that in that role, Doug was amongst the most conscientious and hard-working of the Board Members. He went on to serve the CRP as its Treasurer, where he continued to do well by the party.
As far as I know, Doug is running for re-election without a formal opponent. But politics being what it is, that may not be the case all of the way leading up to the convention. If you are a Republican reader of the FR in Los Angeles County, you should approach a GOP legislator or nominee and request and appointment – and get up to Sacramento in February to vote for Doug. Under the CRP Rules, Doug can serve only one more term as Regional Vice Chairman – and he should be re-elected to do just that.
Here is a column from Doug – he puts a link to his e-mail within it. If you would like to join me in supporting Doug, send him an e-mail and let him know.
Jon Fleischman
A COLUMN FROM DOUG BOYD,
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL VICE CHAIRMAN, CRP
POLITICAL PENDULUM ABOUT TO SWING OUR WAY
Here’s where the California GOP stood forty four years ago today. The 1964 Democrat presidential candidate had just blown away GOP nominee Sen Barry Goldwater in California and won 44 out of 50 states nationwide. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the California state legislature by big margins. Liberal Democrat California Governor Pat Brown boasted about his party’s showing as the wave of the future.
Liberal Earl Warren was Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, and the Warren Court was pushing the nation leftward by judicial fiat. The Vietnam War was heating up. Republicans were demoralized and wondering whether the conservative course they had just taken (and been trounced on) was out of step with America.
Some in our party were urging Republicans to follow the lead of victorious Democrats and become the less-liberal-but-basically-the-same party because they said it was the only way for Republicans to ever regain a majority. The media fawned over President Lyndon Johnson’s "Great Society" and TV talking heads sagely pronounced the death of conservatism and the irrelevance of our Party.
The economy wasn’t doing well either, and Democrats in Washington DC passed massive new government programs as the cure-all for our fiscal and social problems.
Sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?
But just two years later, Governor Ronald Reagan led an almost clean sweep of California constitutional offices. Republicans scored big gains in both houses of Congress and the California legislature. The late 20th century American conservative movement was born from the ashes of our 1964 defeat and went on to reshape the world and defeat the Evil Empire.
I believe the glass of our 2009 political future is half full, not half empty. It’s true the pendulum has swung away from us, but what do pendulums do next?
The next few years are a tremendous opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the great Republican revival of the early 21st century. Please join me in rebuilding the Party in America’s largest county. I would love to hear from you at srdoug@aol.com anytime with your ideas and areas in which you wish to volunteer.
Los Angeles County is home to over a quarter of the state in population and more Republicans (one million plus) than any other. While it’s true LA County Republicans are outnumbered overall two to one, in the north county and portions of the eastern San Gabriel Valley we are the majority.
0ver the last two years as your CRP Los Angeles Regional Vice Chairman, I have been a strong voice for voter registration and county support programs that include both statewide and local Republican organizations. The CRP should actively assist county parties and volunteer organizations in all areas – benign neglect is not an option.
As CRP Treasurer from 2001-06, I restored the two signature system on Party checks, created the CRP County Treasurers Association, enabled County Treasurers to be voting CRP Members, signed every CRP check, insisted that CRP staff provide a paper trail on every expenditure, implemented reporting changes as required by Prop 34 and McCain-Feingold, brought in the Complete Campaigns reporting assistance service to CRP and every county party at CRP expense, started the practice of doing power point presentations at CRP Board meetings and Party Conventions so members and leaders were more informed on party finances, and started and led campaign reporting workshops at every CRP convention from 1999-06 so that all CRP members who wanted to learn about proper campaign reporting had a chance to do so.
I ask for your support next month for my reelection as CRP Vice Chairman, Los Angeles Region. Our Republican legislators and their outstanding leaders, Mike Villines and Dave Cogdill, need and deserve CRP backing to hold the line on spending and restrain the growth of government. If reelected, I will support them and our outstanding GOP legislators from Los Angeles County as a Member of the CRP Board of Directors.
I am honored to have the support of LA County area legislators including State Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel, Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher and Buck McKeon, Senators George Runner, Tony Strickland and Bob Huff, and Assemblymembers Steve Knight, Audra Strickland, Anthony Adams, Curt Hagman and Cameron Smyth. Also supporting me are CRP Chairman Ron Nehring, Vice Chairman Tom del Beccaro, Secretary Steve Baric, Treasurer Keith Carlson, Vice Chairman South Jon Fleischman and past CRP Chairmen Shawn Steel, Mike Antonovich and Mike Montgomery.
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