There has been a school of thought since at least 2008, maybe before that the “leadership” and the “insiders” (see also Oligarchy of Controlled Failure) resent the amount of work they have to put in to keeping the CAGOP under control. There has been more than one person suggest that “they” would shut down the party if they could.
On Saturday, 3-28-2020 – the CAGOP’s Board of Directors cancelled the 2020 Convention and delegated the disposition of Fall 2020 Party endorsements to a small committee of insiders.
Then there is the overall apathy and attitude of defeat that comes from a generation of grassroots being shunned from any positions of real consequence and mocked for their beliefs. People only endure relegation and insults for so long before they either become terrorists intent on burning the organization down or just giving up and leaving.
After Meg Whitman won her governor’s race, everyone that supported Steve Poizner and worked for him was targeted and shunned. This matters because the same people that worked for Whitman then are swinging the axe now – Jeff Randle (who made $7500 a month from the new defunct California Trailblazers and at reputedly least double that from CAGOP Contracts), David Reade, Andy Garakhani are the people behind the curtain circa 2020. We detailed that the blacklist has returned. We’ve written about several insider machinations. We’ve detailed the serious condition that several legislative districts are in.
Your intrepid blogger even had first-hand knowledge of (some not all) “leaders” defending outright corruption/misbehavior in AD72 and AD73.
I have been told by several insiders that a survey that was sent out via email to the CAGOP’s members had next to no responses. The key aim of the survey – sent via email only – was to determine what people wanted to do with the CAGOP Convention in the #Chinavirus world. Did the party bosses really want any response?
(Note, after three months I am still not getting CAGOP Emails, others have to forward them to me. If you want to forward them to me use aaron@rightondaily.com or if you prefer asshole@rightondaily.com)
I believe that the cancellation of the 2020 Convention is a toxic combination of apathy and “leadership” really not wanting to have to deal with a convention. Again, I believe the apathy is in no small part created by the psychotic grasp of control exerted by the shrinking coven of consultants and staff inside the oligarchy of controlled failure. I’ve watched for years as they have systematically dismantled and demolished organizations they could not control and killed organizations they did. Why should the CAGOP suffer any different a fate?
The State Party By-Laws call for 1 Convention Every Calendar Year. The Feb 2021 Convention is now the next convention. This means that the CAGOP will be in violation of its’ own by-laws. What is the consequence – someone could sue the CAGOP? This is not the first time the CAGOP leadership have flouted their own by-laws, I’ve seen it many times. Mostly the By-Laws have been flouted to ensure endorsements of incumbent legislators or to circumvent insurrections against the wishes of party bosses.
If more Apathy, disconnection, exasperation and separation is what the consultants that are making 6-figure incomes off of the CAGOP want, they are on their way.
What are the potential consequences of the CAGOP skipping and deliberately not re-scheduling the Convention in May? Please note that a lot of County Chairs wanted the convention to be re-set for September. So add Anger and disenfranchisement to the list. Did the regional vice chairs talk to their county chairs about how they felt? Did they care?
IT is the opinion of this blogger that Former Congressman Doug Ose is ramping up a Governor Campaign, and John Cox is looking at running again as well. However, given the abject bias and the movement of insiders – the Trump-Hating former Mayor of San Diego Kevin Faulconer is being lined up by the Oligarchy of Controlled Failure. They believe that we need yet another Chad Mayes Republican to run statewide. Remember Randle and Reade raked in $15,000 a month from Meg Whitman. Garakhani and Patterson also cashed in off of Meg Whitman, this is their paradigm.
What has their leadership brought us? (Quoting an email I actually get)
- No voter registration effort by the CRP since March, 2013 They did a one month effort in September, 2019. Current registration figures are 44% Democrat, 27% NPP and 23% GOP
- The November, 2020 ballot will NOT have Republican on the ballot for:
19 Assembly Seats <<< 22.5% of Assembly Elections with no GOP Candidate on the Ballot.
9 out of twenty State Senate seats <<< WHAT!? That’s 45% of the State Senate Elections with no Republican on the Ballot! (note, in SD05 the party bosses wasted $150K on a Republican that finished 5th)
8 congressional seats
Out of Ose, Cox and Faulconer – only Ose is an original Trump Supporter (although Cox was endorsed by Trump for Governor in 2018) and Cox is easily the most Conservative of the three. Faulconer is the most liberal – hence the love of the insiders.
There would be a clear nexus to keep the grassroots at bay. There will be no debate about proxy rules and Jessica Patterson can go in to the 2021 CAGOP Convention with 257-275 proxies lined up making her a prohibitive favorite to get re-elected. This favors Faulconer.
Perhaps the very ambitious and very liberal CAGOP Northern Region Vice Chair Deborah Wilder (a client of David Stafford Reade’s) will be tapped to run for CAGOP Chair after the November Elections are complete? (It is the opinion of this blogger that at least 3 more Legislative seats are gone, perhaps as many as 6) Remember, Wilder has served party bosses well, arguing against grassroots supported rules changes at at least two conventions that I am aware of.
Another sick irony is that with the 2020 convention shuttered, none of the never-trumpers currently raking in money off of the Trump effort have to face any of the rank and file CRP delegates until the Feb 2021 officer election convention. (Note, that while David Stafford Reade worked for Marco Rubio and later Cruz in 2016 – he is bundling money for Trump in 2020, this will undoubtedly set him up for a run of his own in 2022 or more high-profile work. Of the crew, Reade is the most conservative and the most friendly to Trump) It is my estimation that Jessica Patterson, Jeff Randle, David Reade and Andy Garakhani (among others) split a $500K kitty from the 2020 RNC Convention drill – despite their past history of openly opposing President Trump (scrubbed social media or not).
The only decision made by the CAGOP Board this past weekend that I agreed with was making the election of two RNC officers a mail in ballot deal instead of a jam down from the 159 hand-picked RNC Delegates. Had the CAGOP board not designated a mail-ballot election, Harmeet Dhillon would have been at the mercy of 159 hand-picked RNC Delegates that Andy Garakhani and Jeff Randle selected for the RNC Convention instead of being re-elected by the rank and file CAGOP delegates.
The other major decision of the CAGOP Board is related to the election in November 2020. There are going to be a ton of ballot measures on the ballot in November. The initiatives committee – 100% of which were appointed by Jessica Patterson and 100% of which were supporters of Jessica Patterson is making the recommendations. (Remember, in Jeff Randle’s world, anyone that did not tow the line is excluded. It is my opinion and knowledge that Randle directed the process of forming the current CAGOP committees) Then the recommendation of the initiatives committee will be sent to the executive committee of the CAGOP for debate and ratification. 50% of the executive committee is also appointed by the Chair. The Rank-and-File delegates are shut out again.
No by-law debates, no endorsement debates just a couple of party insider committees calling the shots.
Perhaps party activists that care about the party should organize their own convention? I’d support something like that were it to get traction.
Perhaps party activists should openly petition the party bosses to actually hold a regularly scheduled CAGOP Convention in August or September in order to satisfy the PARTY’S OWN BYLAWS? The only way to set aside the party by-laws is with unanimous consent and the cancellation of the convention was not done unanimously. I would also support a VERY PUBLIC effort to petition party bosses to do their job and hold a convention in 2020.
If you care about the CAGOP – please forward this to people that are delegates and alternate delegates to the CAGOP. This is our party and what is being done is not right.