Conservative Victory At California Republican Convention
My first California Republican Party convention was in July, 1966 (not a typo). I have seen lots of them, some more important than others. The just concluded convention sets the foundation for the conservative revival within the Party structure.
Here is what did occur at the convention:
1. The CRP, by unanimous vote, declared that the Governor has been wrong in appointing so many non-Republicans to the bench–the McClintock position
2. Even though the Resolutions Committee passed to the floor a measure supporting the Governors deficit budget (imagine a GOP committee applauding deficit spending) thanks to Assemblyman Chuck DeVore that was changed. Instead the CRP opposed deficit spending and unbalanced budgets–the McClintock position
3. The Resolutions Committee passed a resolution in favor of infrastructure needs (which we all agree on) but refused to oppose $68 billion in General Obligation bonds–massive indebtedness for future generations to pay, instead of a “pay as you go” system advocated by the Assembly Republican Caucus. The convention, instead of passing this, sent it to the Initiatives Committee–again, the McClintock position (he strongly opposes General Obligation bonds).
4. There was an effort to pass a Rules change, proposed by Chairman Duf Sundheim, to allow the Executive Committee to hold its meetings and allow votes in conference calls. The effect of this would be to allow the Chairman to call “emergency” meetings of the Executive Committee and vote for or against Initiative measures. For instance, Duf could call a meeting to support $68 billion in General Obligation bonds and the committee with as little as 26 votes (out of the over 1400 members of the CRP) put us on record against the Assembly and Senate Republicans, and the vast majority of the Base of the Party).
Worse, in effect, this would be an Executive Session of the Executive Committee, since unlike face to face meetings, where all the rest of the CRP members could attend and watch to see the debate and who votes which way, that could not happen on a conference call with limited number of participants allowed. The votes would be done in secret with no security as to who is really voting. Happily for the CRP, this measure was killed on the floor, after the Sundheim appointed Rules Committee easily passed it out to the floor.
5. The motion to rescind the Governors endorsement, a symbolic resolution, was easily defeated–the McClintock position
6. The resolution to oppose the increase in the minimum wage was killed in the Sundheim appointed Resolutions Committee–the decision was NOT the McClintock position
But, the real story was the assets used by the Governors people, versus the assets used by the CRP conservatives.
The Governors people:
1. Hired staff
2. Did numerous mailings
3. Did automated phone calls
4. paid for folks to come to the convention, for hotel, food, registration etc.
5. Lobbied the delegates
6. Asked for votes
7. Created a “whip” operation for the votes
8. Did a major proxy drill
9. Rumors have it that the Guv’s people spent between $20-100,000 on the effort–money that was donated to beat Democrats, not for CRP resolutions
Based on the results, did the donors get their money’s worth?
The CRP conservatives on the other hand:
1. Did not hire staff
2. Did no mailings
3. No automated calls
4. Paid no one to come to the convention
5. Did absolutely no lobbying for votes
6. Did not ask for votes
7. Had no “whip” operation
8. Did ask a few people for proxies
9. Spent no money on the effort, at all.
Imagine what the results would have been for the conservatives if we matched the Guv’s money and efforts at the convention?
One reporter did get the story–most were too confused by the procedures and the spin to see the results. That reporter was George Skelton of the LA Times. The headline gives a good over view, “Gov. Misses Chance to Beef Up Support”. In part, Skelton wrote, “Party activists are relevant because they become the campaign phone-bank volunteers and precinct walkers. The party agitators get quoted in the news and can influence grass-roots partisans. Moreover, because of campaign “reforms” with loony loopholes, tens of millions of political dollars this year will be laundered through both parties.
So came the big convention banquet Friday and everybody was excited to hear from the gov. But he didn’t even sit down and eat with the delegates, let alone work the tables, meeting and greeting. We’ll just assume he was attending to urgent state business, but that’s not an acceptable excuse for a pol who badly needs to restore relationships within his own party.”
He ended the piece with this, “Schwarzenegger must tend to the care and feeding of his own party. Otherwise, agitated activists could take a bite out of him in November.”
Party conventions have little meaning in the real world. Stopping the executive sessions of the Executive Committee was the one action that will have real long term effect on the Party–it will keep the actions transparent. But, this convention was good for the long term of the Party. It showed that, in the main, we stood for principle, that the values of Tom McClintock are dominant in the Party, and that unity means all parts of the Party must work together for victory. Demanding blind fealty does not work and everyone needs to be heard. This was a victory for the GOP, now we need to build those bridges to assure victory in November.
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Steve Frank is the publisher of California Political News and Views and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.
Read more of his work here or at his blog.
The opinions expressed in this column represent those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, or philosophy of CaliforniaConservative.org