The Race for RPI Chairman

Two years ago, before I was on the SCC, this blog was anonymous. At that time I expressed my frustration at the SCC when they re-elected Ray Hoffman as party chairman. To make matters worse, rather than report the vote, they kept the vote secret and declared that the election was unanimous. I was so angry, I could not talk to anyone on the SCC for weeks.

This time, I am on the SCC and in January we will vote on a new chairman for the party. The GOP blogosphere is buzzing with talk about the possible candidates. I have been receiving phone calls from candidates and others. A variety of GOP and GOP-related groups have been holding secret meetings all across the state.

It's no secret that I am a social conservative, and my preference is certainly to elect a social conservative as party chair. But I am not just a social conservative, I am fiscal conservative, I am a small businessman, I am a pro-gun conservative and I will even admit to having some libertarian leanings. The only way that any of the issues I care about will ever become policy is if we regain a majority in the Iowa Legislature and win back Terrace Hill.

So, when it comes time to choose a party chair, I am more interested in their plan to rebuild the party than their ideology. I want to hear about candidate recruitment, fund-raising, absentee and early voting programs, and communications with county and grassroots organizations. We have dug a deep hole and we all need to work together to get out of it.

As I have promised before, this time, the results of the vote will not be a secret. I will report the results on this blog.

Comments

[Nicky]

Hey Dave! Great post. Thank you for working to do what is best for the party and the citizens of this state.

[Michael Ryan]

As a county chair in Pocahontas County I really hope the SCC picks the right person for the job. In my county some of the central committee members would like to see three questions asked. The first one is have you read the party platform. The second one is can you in good conscience enforce the Constition, by laws, and agree with the platform. The last one is how is one's organizational skills when it comes to organizing a business. I just hope we don't stuck with another Stewart Iverson clone who wants to focus on unity without building the foundation of social conservatism.
Just a side note a social conservative is by in large a financial conservative because of the moral basis of government.

[Anonymous]

Michael - NOWHERE did I see fundraising ability in your argument. That should be number 1. Who give a F if they read the platform if they can't raise any money? At least Stew could raise some coin and get the party out of debt...which, it's back in right now by the way. If the chair can't raise money, it doesn't matter how pro-life/gun/taxcuts/marriage he or she is.

You people need to wake up.

[Todd Versteegh]

Anon 3:12

I think you need to re-read..David clearly mentioned fund-raising in the qualities he's looking for.

David is exactly right..we need a chair that has a VISION for rebuilding the party with clear goals from the get go.

We need to get back to our grassroots level activism. David, quite frankly I think one major priority state party needs to return to doing is EDUCATING local party leaders in grassroots organization.

Many of our counties are going to be electing new County Central Committee leaders over the course of the next few months. We need to make sure that they have the tools to build their county organizations as strong as possible.

Lets face facts..the Democrats had a better ground game than we did this year..and of course..they have been killing us in absentee and early voting.

Our leaders for far too long have ignored this reality..thinking that magically all our GOP votes will show up on Election Day...Obviously, its not happening that way...

We need to face the reality that the Democrats have now made Election Day..Election Quarter. We don't need a 72 HR plan..we need a 100 DAY plan.

Activists out here feel like RPI isn't addressing their needs or providing assistance with helping to build their organizations.

Right now, many of our counties just get hurried orders to "do more phone calls" or "Your county needs to walk 5000 homes"..and get the request the week before the election.

Lets face it..we're mostly volunteer based county groups. We dont have the ability to pay for full time staff to do this work like the Democrats have done.

So, something David I think needs to be seriously considered is having permanent staff for RPI based in each of our Congressional districts.

Use this staff to conduct training of activists and the like but..they will be vital in making sure that RPI has their ear to the ground in all of our districts to know about local issues, potential new candidates, conditions in the counties, etc.

This staff can also make those relationships with the larger contributors..and even the medium and small ones. Help to communicate RPI's goals and where they fit in with them.

Also David, I would like to suggest that SCC members hold quarterly meetings with county leadership in their districts. If we're all meeting on a regular basis..we all know what's going on in each other's counties and can offer solutions to problems and suggestions about how to react to them.

That's just my views...please take them as you wish. :)

[HawkeyeGOP]

Todd,

You are absolutely right. The state party needs to be responsive to the county organizations. Quarterly meetings of the District Executive meetings are an excellent idea. We are already planning on holding these meetings on a regular basis in the 2nd CD.

A discussion of district staff is also on the table.

[Mike Sanders]

Whoa budddy!

The state party needs to work for the overall outcome of state wide races, and important races as they see fit.

I know you guys out there think that the 2nd CD is competitive, but the results beg to differ and the more money we sink into your losing causes, the less money we have for races we can actually win.

Im more than a little ticked off that many Republicans dropped everything to go help Miller-Meeks and she got abolutely toasted, a little help here and there and we may have won other races.

Of course it is easy to be an analyst after the election and I am a layman, not an expert but I think we need to pick and choose our battles.

[HawkeyeGOP]

Mike,

I am absolutely thrilled that 'many Republicans dropped everything to go help Miller-Meeks' even if she got 'toasted'. Maybe it is a quixotic streak in me, but I am happy seeing people get out and give their all to any of our candidates.

As for the 2nd CD, I singled it out only because it is my district. Are you suggesting that the state party over-emphasized the Miller-Meeks race?

[Wes]

You’re right, the 2nd Congressional District as a whole wasn’t competitive last election but that isn’t really the point. Conversely, neither was the 1st or 3rd District. Does this mean we effectively surrender 3/5th of the state and focus only on Latham and King? If we do that, we’ll never win another statewide seat. Its simple math. 2/5th loses to 3/5th 100% of the time. 2nd District dose have the weight stone of Johnson County hanging around its neck. That alone probably seriously diminishes the chances of us ever winning back that Congressional Seat. However, If you look at Johnson County, throw up your hands and walk away from the 2nd District, you also give up on a lot of Republican Counties like Muscatine, Louisa, Henry, Cedar, Van Buren, Appanoose, and Wayne. You also lose a few swing counties like Jefferson, Washington, Davis and Linn where we used to win as early as 10 years ago. There are a lot of opportunities in the 2nd District ,and in every district really, that can help us in the long term. Just because we get killed in a Congressional election does not mean we should abandon an entire district. If anything, a stomping like we just took gives us a chance to identify our opportunity and problem areas so we can better address them for next time. We’ve got to be thinking big picture here.

[Yoda]

Well done Wes. What he said....

[IowaFan]

Miller-Meeks was a great republican candidate for CD2.

She should run again.

no one (especially someone with limited name ID and a first time candidate) could have run up against the crazy Obama first time voters that really had no clue who they were voting for, they just wanted to vote straight D, with Bush Derangement syndrome in high gear and an economy in the tank.

in a more competitive climate, she would do fine.

[Andy Cable-]

Todd - some very interesting comments and suggestions- which I would expect nothing less than from you.
It is imperative we come together as a party. We need first and foremost communications between all invovlved- counties must develope stronger precinct leaders, RPI must not just take the county organizations for granted, the legislative branch needs to have open lines with RPI and we need people in RPI that understand this and are willing to pull all the factions together - not point fingers and alienate.
What is the plain and simple function of RPI? To win elections. How is this done? By merging all like minded people in the state into a strong cohesive party using the values we share to form a statewide base through mutual goals and communication.
That base is there as is the money and resouces to accomplish such goals- we simply need strong principled leaders. We turned it around in 94 nationwide and it needs to be done at RPI as well as nationwide NOW. 2010 is closer than we realize and we can not waste any time approaching a new and focused effort to change the landscape here in Iowa.
Opportunity always presents itself in hard times- the trick is recognizing it and then taking advantage.
Andy Cable

[Deb Thornton]

A couple of things: We must get rid of the 72 hour plan! It doesn't/didn't work. By the time we were actually doing anything, the "D's" had everyone locked up. Not just their own people, but all the I's and a lot of the R's. Too little, Too late. Try a 72 day plan. And at least from JoCo - we tried to tell the state/national people that - but everyone was lockstep for the 72 hour thing.

Following the caucus's it was apparent it was a new world, but we not only didn't act, we didn't even react!

On the 2nd. D./JoCo. discussion - we won the outlying areas on Election day - carried many townships. The straight ticket "D" absentees are what killed us. Solon, Swisher, Shueyville, Hills, Lone Tree, Oxford, Tiffin. We must work on those areas for the next 4 years. On town council races, small school board races, voter registration and turnout. As it continues to become more expensive to live in NL/Coralville/IC more people will move to the "country" and we must earn their votes.

Earn is a key word.......In Indiana Mitch Daniels took an RV and drove it almost door to door for two years before his first gubernatoral election. He and the staff slept in it - or in guest rooms/sofas of supporters' homes. No $$ to fancy hotel rooms, no $$ wasted. He lived and demonstrated fiscal accountability and conservatism. In doing so - he earned the loyalty of many, many regular people, and heard their issues and ideas and concerns. Then when elected - he acted. Fiscal reorganization from the top down. Every thing was on the table for cuts and redos.

And he was re-elected by 60% - while McCain went down in Indiana. That's how you win elections.