RPI Chair Forum

The RPI Chair candidate’s forum was held at RPI offices in Des Moines this morning. As I drove up, I was surprised to see cars parked up and down the streets surrounding the office. As I entered through the back door, the place was standing room only. I have never seen the RPI conference room so full. I would estimate 150 in attendance. Conspicuous in the room were the large number of Danny Carroll supporters wearing white t-shirts with DANNY written across the front.

Once again, I want to thank Matt Randall for his leadership in making the forum happen. Before I was on the SCC, I was frustrated with the process. We in the grassroots would hear various names being floated for chair and then when the meeting came, only one or two names would actually be placed in nomination. Afterwards the SCC would report that the vote was unanimous. This time, the open process has attracted the attention of activists all over the state. I have received input from many Republicans with comments about the chair race.

A further advantage is that this process has brought out a field of quality candidates from top to bottom. The turnout is especially impressive given that this forum was re-scheduled with only one week’s notice.

Candidates present were (in the order of their opening statements):    
    1. Andy Cable
    2. Matt Strawn
    3. Danny Carroll
    4. Matt Randall
    5. Paul Pate
    6. Christopher Reed

There were 12 voting SCC members present along with party co-chair Leon Mosely. Stryker over at Flyover Country is critical of those members who were absent. I would remind my readers that the meeting was called with only a few days notice during a busy vacation travel season. At least one SCC member was out of state and did not know about the rescheduled forum until it was over. Another is suffering from a recently diagnosed serious illness. 

I will defer to O. Kay Henderson at Radio Iowa Blog and Iowans Rock at the Iowa Defense Alliance for a recap of what each candidate said. I am sure they took better notes than I. (Shout out to Iowans Rock, thanks for introducing yourself — I an a fan!)

In this post, I will share some comments and observations.

Two candidates stick out for their absence:

First, Polk County GOP Chairman Ted Sporer. Sporer was the first GOP blogger to blog under his own name. His The Real Sporer blog has been inactive for a while but it was a ground-breaker in the GOP blogosphere. Ted was the first to publish a plan for what he would do if elected chair. He probably set the bar for the other candidates who have now all published their own plans. Ted was the first. More recently G$ over at Questions Comments and Insults broke the news of Sporer joining Gopal as co-chair on a combined ticket. Ted has been absent from his blog for a while and is apparently absent from the chairman's race as well.

Second, Gopal. The top of the Krishna/Sporer ticket was also absent from the forum. In my last post, I suggested that most of the blogs were wrong in saying that Krishna/Sporer were the front-runners in the chairman's race. Krusty still thinks there may be some backroom manuevering by which the ticket is viable. At this point, the Krishna/Sporer ticket is a non-starter — you heard it here first.

Regarding those candidates present. As I talked to SCC members and guests, there seemed to be a lot of support for both Matt Strawn and Danny Carroll. I was surprised that with the number of Carroll supporters, in their DANNY shirts, that more did not pull me aside to advocate for thier guy.

Andy Cable and Matt Randall both had excellent showings today. Several people that I talked to said that they both deported themselves very well. Andy's obvious passion combined with his grassroots experience caused many to give him a second look. Matt stressed his youth and his organizing experience. I really did not know either of them that well but I was impressed with both.

A variety of people suggested Christopher Reed as a possible co-chair candidate in post forum conversations. Reed has excellent conservative credentials and appeals to many activists within the party.

A friend of mine reminded me recently that in politics, out of sight is out of mind. Maybe that's the problem for Paul Pate. I am from Linn County and have known Pate for many years. In Iowa politics, he has been there and done that at every level. He has impressive credentials — just ask Yoda ;-). Yet there does not seem to be a groundswell of support for him. I thought he handled himself well, but in talking to people afterwards. I do not think he broke through to front-runner status.

After the forum, I would handicap the race as follows:

1. Matt Strawn & Danny Carrol (tie)
2. Matt Randall
3. Andy Cable & Paul Pate (tie)
4. Christopher Reed

The forum was a success. 4th District SCC member Bill Schickel did a great job as moderator. I believe the openness and transparency of this process will help us on the road to unity.

Comments

[Tim]

David, you're the "Rush Limbaugh" of Iowa blogs with an astonishing accuracy rate way up in the 90%'s. So when you say the Gopal/Sporer ticket is a non-starter, I can relax and do away with all the conspiracy theories that were dancing through my head. I lived in Chicago long enough to know the "smell" of dirty politics.

Question: Did the SCC discuss the protocols for next weekends election? Sound parliamentary proceedings and openness will provide a solid footing for our next Chair / Co-Chair and the absence of foul play will be a key to reunify our grass roots folks. Andy Cable is not my choice for chair but if our state had 98 more county chairs just like him, the Republican landscape would look entirely different right now! As always, nice job on providing "salt and light!"

[hawkeyegop]

Tim,

As for the election next week. There is no 'special protocol' in place — only Roberts Rules.

It will take a majority of the votes cast to win, If all voting members are able to make the meeting that means nine votes.

The vote will be by ballot and the results will be posted here.

The only procedural question I have is whether each candidate must be nominated individually or we place all the announced candidates' (the six who attended the forum) names into nomination at once.

[IowaFan]

thanks as usual for the great update, David.

I would be happy with either Danny or Matt S. as the next Chair... a good start.

and would add that I hope that the solid candidates that also attended the session would continue to engage and support this resurgence - we need everyone we can pull together to win in 2010!

with the new interest in this process, could you review what the next steps are? Co-Chair, ED, etc? Are they all elected positions? How are they filled? Are there job descriptions?

[Iowans Rock]

It was good meeting you too. Thanks for the shout out!

[Nicky B]

Re-posting since it seems everyone has moved on from the topic I posted it on originally:

First off, you guys need to get off of your "has to be a proven winner" track!

How many failures did it take before we got a working (successful) light bulb filament?
How many failures before the Model T was created?
How many failures before the first working telephone?
How many losses before Abe Lincoln became president?

We don't need someone with a high rate of wins over losses. We need someone with experiences who has learned from them (whether they be wins or losses). And don't take this as an advocation of one candidate over another, just an admonishment to look at more than just win/loss records.

We need a chairperson who will stand up in the integrity of his convictions and not waiver. Someone who will do what's right no matter the personal/political cost. We need someone who cannot be 'purchased' and will not even attempt to 'purchase' anyone or anything for political gain.

We need someone who can build a consensus and rally the troops. Someone who knows their limitations and can find people who can compliment their weaknesses, and can do what they can't. And find staff to do better than them, things that they can do adequately.

Someone who can get us all to work together to accomplish our goals.

Plans are great, but they are worthless if our new chairperson cannot lead volunteers and employees alike.

Should we not be looking at people who have run campaigns; not just at former candidates? People like past campaign managers and county chairpersons? Isn't the job of the State Chairperson the same thing as a county chairperson only on a much larger scale? Don't we want someone who has had experience running such an organization?

This is what I am looking for in a chairperson.

[Andy Cable-]

Tim
Thanks for the complement - I think.
My next response to it would be what are we facing statewide and what leadership is needed that is all that much different than County leadership?
I guess my feeling is that it is not that much different except in scope. Do not good Governors not normally make good Presidents? Is the progression really that different? Besides being County Chair I was honored to be elected by my peers to Chair the Fourth District Convention this past year.

Trust me in my background I have managed huge staffs and been responsible for leadership in personel, tough decisions and also mutli-million dollar budgets.
I started my own business while a Senior in college at Drake by the name of Audio Labs- a business that succeeded beyond all predictions and even now close to 40 years later is still in business.

At 24 I was the youngest Head Buyer for a major Department store chain. My open to buy was in the 7 figure area even 35 years ago. I handled all the budgeting, buying and finances for dozens of stores. I was also in charge of a large sales force.
In the 1990s I was the General Manager of one of the top 50 Tennis Resorts in the country. I managed 40 courts, numerous tennis pros, 240 acre Resort with over a 100 Rental properties and over 75 employees.

Over the last 8 years I have successfully managed the winning elections of our District 44 Representatives. We were targeted the last two times by the Democrats as one of their top three races. In 2008 they threw close to 400K at us. We responded with about a third that and won by 8 points.

Perhaps if you truly think we would be better off with 99 of me running individual counties the easiest way would be to elect me State Chair and let me get to work assembling such an organization January 11th.
Andy Cable

[Curtis]

David,

I much appreciate your candid and open comments. Thanks for your work. Forgive me for not coming up to you in my t-shirt, this is new to me and a bit intimidating I must admit.

Nicky B.-

I'm behind Danny because he so much of what you're looking for. His 16 year conservative record is spotless and he actually cares about the platform! (He was the only one to show some sincere commitment to it on Saturday.)

Matt is a blank slate with little record in Iowa. Should we give him the keys to the castle so soon?

Why not make Danny chairman (a much safer bet for what we can expect) and look to Matt for co-chair or a fund raising position?

Finally, a lot of guys talked about grass roots. We all saw the t-shirts. Danny can deliver the grassroots muscle to do the kind of hard work money can't buy.

[MD]

Mr. Chung,

Thank you for your comments. I was one of the DANNY t-shirt wearers from the grassroots. O apologize for not approaching you to lobby you to support Danny last Saturday but when I walked by you there were 3 or 4 people waiting to speak to you and I had to go to pick up my children whom I left with an aunt there in Des Moines. I drove from Burlington early Saturday to show my support for Danny. Danny's ability to activate and mobilize his grassroots organization is second to none. He also has the ability to raise money for the party and that has been demonstrated through his years of campaigning. Here is something for you to think about. Danny is a true conservative. He is the only one who is standing by the platform which the grassroots crafted. Without their support, we will lose every election accross the board. The best part about Danny is that he is a fiscal conservative as well. He is solid on every issue that the platform talks about. This is a rare chance fro you to support someone who will bring in a army of help at the grassroots who are worth more money than any chair can raise through fundraising and Danny has the fundraising record to compliment his amazing grassroots organization. I ask you to support Danny in the election Saturday. Yours is a very important vote.

[Tim]

Andy, my words were sincere. Your reputation precedes you in a highly complimentary fashion.
We share common paradigms about the role of the grass roots organization in our state and how various leadership regimes and campaigns have fractured the once unified party we support.

Your resume-background is most impressive and my earlier comments were based on my inability to read specific plans and details from you. If you have such outlines for public view, I would be most interested in reading them. If David already has them, I'll ask for a copy.

I look forward to meeting you someday in person and you have my best wishes in this contest.

[Yoda]

Aside from Andy Cable, Paul Pate is the only candidate who has come from the grassroots.

He was a Linn County GOP Chairman back when we were a force for our party and he has won this county multiple times for himself (State Senator, Sec of state, Mayor of CR) and for others. When was the last time the State party or one of the other candidates for chairman ever carried this county for themselves or others?

[Mike Thayer]

Isn't it surprising that Leon Mosely is not in the mix?