I remember 2002 like it was yesterday. Then Congressman John T Doolittle and others raised and spent thousands on slate mail cards to defend the Placer GOP from an attack of the “liberals”. The beneficiary of that effort was none other than Ken Campbell, who was re-elected chairman of the Placer GOP.
Within 4 years of Congressman Doolittle basically getting Ken Campbell re-elected chairman of the Placer GOP, Campbell was deposed as the party chairman for publicly attacking a slew of officeholders with his title and had then Mr. Campbell completely turned on Doolittle.
Despite the fact that the opposition to Mr. Revell is being led by Tom Hudson, Campbell is up to his neck in it and has been an agent of chaos in the years since sanity prevailed and he was ousted as Party Chairman.
I want the Ken Campbell that donates to local charity and volunteers time for local charity back. That guy is useful and helpful – not the vengeful self-righteous puritan zealot that pillories friend and foe alike. The Ken Campbell I see is a cowardly rage-ball that disappears from combative meetings that his rants and manipulation set up, preferring instead to let surrogates take the public heat.
No better an example there is than when the since vindicated Courage Worldwide got attacked publicly by Thomas N Hudson, Ken Campbell was nowhere to be found to defend Courage Worldwide from the attacks he knew were false. Yet, Campbell had flown to their Africa location and had donated thousands to their efforts over the years! This is not the behavior of someone who is trustworthy or a leader.
I’ve written ad-naseum about the foibles of Thomas N Hudson. He is the vocal and vicious leader of the opposition on the Placer GOP Cent Com. For the 18 years I have known him, he has been in the middle of dozens of political fights. His demonstrated character defects disqualify him from leading anything at anytime anywhere.
Both Campbell and Hudson play fast and loose with the truth and as I have learned in my years of knowing them both, and will outright lie if needed to “win”.
Deborah Jackson who is the candidate against Placer GOP Chairman Dennis Revell is a complete disappointment to me. Repeatedly, in politics, I’ve attempted to give people the benefit of the doubt and about 4 out of 5 times am utterly disappointed.
I had been warned about 3-4 years ago by another Tea Party operative about Deborah Jackson. I had a positive impression of Jackson when I met her, I was working well with Jackson despite my knowing of her affiliation with the above two. I don’t usually judge people in politics because they have friends I don’t like.
What I was warned about was that Jackson was a “Black Widow” type of person that gets involved in groups and then takes them over. Dennis Revell actually appointed her as a delegate to the state party, see what it got him?
Jackson is a retired police detective, I figured that it would make her more discerning and that discernment would allow her to see people accurately. I am sure it did.
The only conclusion I can draw is that she did indeed figure out who the players were and sought out those that would help her accomplish her goal of taking something else over.
What clued me in to who Deborah Jackson really was, was seeing her $100 check to the feckless non-Republican liberal opponent of Kirk Uhler. No real Conservative or Republican activist would attempt to take out the most Conservative Republican leader in Placer County unless there was an end game. In this case, it was Ken Campbell’s decade old grudge and Thomas N Hudson’s desire to assuage his bruised ego over the collapse of the Placer RA unit.
When the leaders of the Conservative movement on the Placer GOP are Ken Campbell, Deborah Jackson and Thomas N Hudson, it makes you want to have an abortion.
I have to admit, I was not a fan of Placer GOP Chairman Dennis Revell. The circumstances surrounding his ascendance to the Chairmanship of the Placer GOP started with $47,000 of independent expenditure money that was directed in to Placer County by David Stafford Reade. It has gotten back to me from sources that within the inside of the State GOP that “they” still brag about taking over the Placer GOP.
If having a nearly 2/3 majority of Tea Partiers that are being led by Hudson / Jackson and Campbell is a takeover, I’d hate to see what a loss looks like.
Revell seemed to be the logical choice at the time for Chairman of the Placer GOP. He was one of Ronald Reagan’s Son-In-Laws, he had no real enemies and seemed to be a consensus choice as David Stafford Reade had a relationship with him through the Lincoln Clubs. Tom McClintock knew Revell for years and all the Gaines’ cared about was anyone not aligned with any of their adversaries.
I did not like Revell as I saw him as a squish and a part of the Establishment, and I viewed the assistance of him by Congressman McClintock as the latest McSellout of Conservatives.
For the last 3 1/2 years, I have gratuitously taken shots at Revell and have enjoyed the turmoil and the ineffectiveness of the Placer GOP.
What I have since learned about Revell is revealing. Unlike many, I try not judge people by all of their friends as I expect well-rounded people to have a quiver of relationships across the spectrum. I got a glimpse of why Revell has as many friends as he does. It is not about Ronald Reagan, it is about a disarming, charming and sincere man. Meeting Revell allowed me to separate him from those that got him in to the mess of being Placer GOP Chairman.
The hubris that I once misread in Revell was actually his shyness and quiet exterior. Revell means well and indeed wants to see the GOP win more elections and register more voters. It seems that those two goals have escaped his detractors as it is all about control. Revell has attempted to negotiate with and engage the opposition. They are not interested.
Getting expelled from the CRA by people like Thomas N Hudson and others similar to him has helped me finally lift the veil of self-righteous pseudo-conservative stupidity that once blinded me. Their current leadership makes me embarrassed to be a Social Conservative as they could not stop a nosebleed let alone an abortion, but man they will tell you how right they are…
It used to be a case of “How Conservative Is He/She?” was the first question I asked. This led to repeated cases of ideological fratricide over feckless, moribund marginal candidates (or hurricanes). It led to the emergence of charlatans like Tom Del Becarro, Chuck DeVore, Karen England, Tim Donnelly and others who fund-raise and rip off naive unsuspecting people while engaging in personal behavior that is horrendous.
It has led to the legitimization of people like Hudson/Campbell/Jackson and given credence and rise to a generation of destructive operators who believe that since they are right and all those squishes are wrong that anything they do to advance their cause is justifiable.
Dennis Revell may not be as Conservative as I am, but his heart is in the right place. He is a real man with a real heart and he wants to help. I believe that he deserves re-election as Placer GOP Chairman because of who HE is, not because of my disdain for the excuses of Conservative leaders that are on that committee. It is high time we had servants instead of arrogant narcissists and cowards in leadership positions in the Placer GOP, and in office everywhere.
I sincerely hope that the legislative staff that David Stafford Reade and others paid to help elect in 2016 to the Placer GOP stay put. I hope that Kevin Kiley and other partisan electeds take a direct interest in helping right the crazy train of the Placer GOP. Dennis Revell is a good man, but he was left to fend for himself after 2012 and the crazies will once again bring the committee to a standstill unless Mr. Revell has backup.
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