A Citizen’s Guide to Burning Down the California Republican Party Part 3 – (Volunteer Clubs)

Within the California Republican Party are a series of volunteer clubs. I will list most of them with a brief description and then conclude with ideas about how they can play a role in preventing the “Third House” and Republican Leadership from having free reign to run amok.

AS I wrote about County Central Committees being basically useless without real people doing real things to raise money, recruit candidates and promote the endorsements, this is also true of a volunteer club. Several clubs are basically shells with only a few members left that accomplish little. That said, some of those groups represent real opportunities for perceived influence.

My personal feelings about organizations aside, here is as close to an impartial analysis as I can offer:

The California Impact Republicans (Note: I am a state board member) are a conservative grassroots group centered around winning elections, recruiting candidates, electing candidates, raising money and promoting Conservative Republican Values co-equally.

The California Republican Assembly (CRA) is a far-right group that is centered around debating and endorsing candidates.

The California Congress of Republicans is a center-right grassroots group with a handful of chapters statewide. They endorse.

The College Republicans are an age-based GOP group across the ideological spectrum. They are known for turning out volunteers for “target races” around the state.

The California Young Republican Federation is also an age-based GOP group of people from College to age 41. They endorse and also turn out volunteers for elections.

The Republican Women Federated is a gender-based group of people of all ages. They do not endorse. They are a volunteer club.

The Log Cabin Republicans. They are a the LGBT republicans.

There are smaller groups centered around ethnicity or the Republican Lawyers – but most all exist on paper only.

Similar to taking over a Republican Central Committee, organizing a grassroots club can be a tool to create a movement of its’ own. There are a limited number of seats on a County Central Committee, but an unlimited number of memberships to a grassroots group.

You can see why “The Swamp” like to manipulate and play in the outcomes of the College and Young Republican’s elections and why in the past they played in the CRA elections. Similar to manipulating and controlling county parties, clubs present perceived power.

In the past, I’ve been a chapter president of a local club that organized to take over the Placer GOP Central Committee, elected 6 of its’ members to local office and registered hundreds of voters. Volunteer Groups can be far more effective than a county Central Committee could ever dream of being… especially when that group has a PAC committee to use for elections.

How do you participate in a successful volunteer club? You have to have something to sell…

1. A good club has events that draw people in
2. A good club has a clear vision of what it is trying to accomplish
3. A good club is active, making phone calls, walking precincts, hosting events and recruiting candidates
4. A good club communicates with its’ members frequently
5. Note: I did not mention social media. Facebook is useless as a tool for beating the Third House or the Swamp

How do these volunteer groups relate to burning down the California Republican Party?

A volunteer group with 30-50 members can create terror in the heart of a rogue Republican Elected. 30-50 people talking, walking precincts, making phone calls, contributing to their opponent, and hosting events is an army. 30-50 people whining on Facebook is background noise.

If the group has stable, ethical leadership with their egos in check, there is literally nothing that can stop them from having a devastating impact on an election. If fights to the death for ideological purity or being right carry the day, then the swamp wins.

The swamp also counts on good Conservatives having too many excuses to organize an effective movement. If you care about burning down the GOP to take it away from the money people, special interests, consultants and unprincipled electeds then it requires a sacrifice of personal time to do so.

Volunteer groups are an effective and almost immediate way to cause the earth to shift politically.

In Part 4, I will detail how Central Committees and Volunteer Groups play a role in the California Republican Party, the next target in the “Burn it Down Series”