Over this past weekend, California Republicans chose former state senator and senate minority leader, Jim Brulte, to be the new chair of the CRP.
It was one of the best moves that the state party has made in recent times.
Lets face facts, the Cali GOP, well it is in a state of major suckage.
The party is in debt, losing registered voters, and losing legislative seats pretty quickly. In fact the Democrats control both houses of the state legislature with super majorities. The Democrats hold every statewide elected constitutional office. And both federal senate seats. And a staggering 40 of the state's 55-seat congressional delegation.
Clearly, priorities need to be put in place.
One thing that Mr. Brulte is going to do is get the party finances in order. Without money that can help candidates down the ballot to win elections, the crash-and-burn of the last several election cycles just continues. So that is where I think Mr. Brulte will spend the next several months.
Another area that is important is not just the ol' outreach but actually recruiting non-White candidates for office.
Honestly, that will be the tough nut to crack in this state.
But it is not impossible.
The fact is that the best chance for non-White candidates to win is where the party still has strength. That would be the Central Valley, Inland No Cal and of course Orange County. And there has been some success in Orange County especially among the Vietnamese community.
One thing to realize is that it will not be a marked turnaround in one election cycle. It is a long term project. And to me, it is no out of necessity but fulfilling what the Republican party stands for.
Speaking of which, the party also showed that it is moving in the right direction in electing Harmeet Dhillon as Vice-Chair of the party. OK, I know, she is from San Francisco. And yeah, I think it kind of sucks that she actually supported the current state Attorney General, Kamala Harris, in one of her races for San Francisco District Attorney. But those are my only issues, per se. Anyone who opposed her on the basis of her being a Sikh, as this ignorant woman did, is a fool and just feeds into the Leftywhore media narrative of those crazy Cali Republicans. The fact that she unified moderates AND conservatives makes it a great first step in showing non-Whites that this party will not tolerate fools like Vera Eyzendooren and her ignorance of the Sikh religion.
Now, I have my issues with Karl Rove, but I think here he makes a great deal of sense when he told Cali GOP activists this:
"We have great principles, but we sometimes talk about those principles in a way that makes it sound like it's 1968, 1980 or 2000."
I must say that he is spot on. In some ways the basic issues are the same, but what needs to be recognized is how fast big government has taken hold at all levels. That we need to speak to those that have been left behind in a changing economy. We need to speak to those people not about government dependence but how and why it is better to have the freedom to make one's own choices to improve their lot. In that I think of the late, great former Congressman Jack Kemp. That is what we need to begin doing not just here in Cali but all over the United States.
One other thing.
I read this somewhere a while back, but that when the national party writes off so many states, it does have an effect as to their strength a the state and local level.
Think of New York state, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Washington state.
What Mr. Brulte needs to do is take the Republican National Committee Chair, Reince Preibus, up on his word that the national party will not leave any part of the United States untouched. He needs to get a guarantee that whoever the Republican presidential nominee is in 2016 will actually campaign in California. Not just come here for cash from big fat-cat contributors and leave. Real campaigning and yes, in areas that maybe, just maybe are not exactly Republican friendly.
Mr. Brulte did kind of allude to that in this he said to convention delegates:
"If we are going to be successful at winning elections, we have to get out of our comfort zone and stop only talking to the choir and going and talking to the people who don't necessarily share our views, because if we share not only our head, but we share our heart, we will make converts."
And I would add make sure to get our presidential candidate to restore the party not just to be competitive, but a winner once again.
That is the overall task of Chair Brulte. To make the Cali GOP a winner once again.
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