The Conclusion of the Rodney Stanhope Saga – A Failure of Leadership

This post is an editorial from Placer CRA Editorial Board-Member Aaron F Park.

Rodney Stanhope – why was he a candidate? Why was he even viable for even a short time? And why did this blog have to annhiliate him?

It is simple. An Epic Fail of leadership in the California Republican Party and in the Conservative Movement.

Harmeet Dhillon is not a liberal, she never was – but because she is from San Francisco and is a Sikh – several out there got rooted in their skepticism. But, no one in the Conservative Movement could recruit or tried to recruit a third candidate in to the Dhillon vs Stanhope race.

The California Republican Assembly (the CRA) – the top Conservative Group in California, refused to endorse either Dhillon or Stanhope out of concerns over Rodney’s character (none of the stuff posted on this blog was known yet) and concerns over the much-railed-on association of Dhillon with the ACLU.

I was drawn in to this race when the CRA’s email list was used by a political consultant with the President of the CRA’s blessing to launch attacks against Dhillon that included some erroneous information and a ton of hyperbolae.

It appeared that the CRA was supporting Stanhope.

Many leaders in the CRA were shocked and angered by the unilateral action.

I have known Rodney for 11 years and have always had concerns about his character – having witnessed firsthand an affair on his then wife during a campaign in 2004. I’ve seen him get canned from multiple campaigns, launch profanity laden rants, drink excessively and the stories I’ve heard are legion.

But – I was personally unprepared for the horrific details and the sheer volume of his life pattern.

I was prepared for the Local (defined as Sacramento Area) Tea Party’s response. I have had a negative interaction with many local tea parties for years. Starting in 2009 when several local tea parties were infiltrated by political operatives and used to settle political scores – I have seen them as agents of chaos in the political process. I’ve know many of them to respond to single issues and to refuse reason even when shown irrefutable evidence otherwise.

Witness their attacks against Harmeet for her alleged opposition to the conservative GOP platform while supporting Jim Nielsen who actually made the motion to adopt the “liberal munger platform” in the drafting committee in 2011. It should also be noted that Stanhope was on that platform committee and was  no-show to several if not all the meetings.

The Local Tea Parties’ credibility is forever damaged by their conduct in this campaign – including trashing Harmeet for her Sikh faith, using the name of a Tea Party leader from another area to launch an attack without her consent (aka fraud) and their consistent ignorance of the facts of Rodney Stanhope’s lifelong war on women should give many pause before identifying with them.

For as much as I respect Harmeet Dhillon as a leader – I went to war to save the CRA’s credibility. Rodney Stanhope thinks it is all about him. It is typical of alcoholics to believe that everything is about them. I decided to go 100% public with my sobriety to both establish the basis as to why I believe Rodney is an alcoholic and to establish that I was not claiming moral superiority as I started exposing his record.

Rodney has been caught in multiple lies trying to explain himself. Three separate women tried to get restraining orders against him – they put copies of profanity laced threats and communication in the court documents – but if you ask Rodney, they are all lying since the Judge didn’t grant the requests.

Rodney has called people and sent them messages threatening them (to sue them and otherwise) over the disclosures on this blog.

Rodney has been hit with 6 tax liens, been sued for bad checks, had a contempt hearing for back child support, and appears to have taken money from one girlfriend to pay child support to an ex-wife. But everything is just a lie. He’s the victim here.

Rodney was on probation for assault until 2011 and he is still under the terms of a mediated settlement for a harassment complaint until 6/2013.

The CRA on the other hand is without excuse for giving aid and comfort to Rodney. The 14 Principles of CRA are at complete odds with who Rodney Stanhope is. Sending anonymous emails – even if the cause was to try to recruit a third candidate in to the race against a dues-paying CRA member (Dhillon) was not justifiable under any circumstances as it overrode the decision of the board of directors not to endorse.

Those that acted in the name of the CRA failed. The Tea Party Failed.

When I came to on the floor of my apartment 10 years ago – I came face to face with my own addiction to alcohol. The only hope for me was that I got honest with myself and admitted my life was a mess. I found God at the lowest point in my life. Once I stopped blaming other people – my life turned around. I have not taken a drink since.

The Tea Parties in the local area here need to get honest with themselves – they were used to elect some of the very liberal “RINO’s” that they allegedly were formed to fight against. Many in local Tea Parties have given aid and comfort to those that tried to destroy the very GOP platform they claim to support and have marginalized themselves because their arrogance won’t let them admit that they’ve been sucked in to a vortex chasing “a true Conservative” while completely ignoring character.

The rise of the candidacy of Rodney Stanhope was just the symptom of the team failure of the Conservative / Tea Party Movement.

In the time I have been active in GOP politics – I have not seen a better team than Brulte and Harmeet Dhillon. Their job has an extreme chance of failure… the damage is extensive. Let’s hope that this vice-chair fight was the end of the failure of leadership…

… and let’s hope that Rodney Stanhope will finally stop his destructive patterns. Everywhere he has gone, Galt, Sacramento, Solano County, El Dorado County there is a trail of people he has used. Rodney needs help, not your vote for CRP Vice-Chair.

Unless Rodney can get honest with himself and admit his problem – there is little or no hope for his future.