By Jon Fleischman
The California Republican Party’s Spring Convention is almost upon us – and it is shaping up to be a great weekend. There will be a great line-up of speakers to include Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, former Governor Tim Pawlenty, RNC Chairman Reince Preibus and RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day, Congressman Darrell Issa to name just a few. There will be candidates for U.S. Senate, Congress and the State Legislature looking to meet party leaders such as yourself. There will be townhalls, workshops, training seminars, and many great opportunities for networking and preparing to elect Republicans (and defeat Democrats) in 2012!
Once every four years we all get to participate in the honor of adopting our party’s platform – which is significant because we are a party of principles and a party of ideas. And especially in this new era of “open primaries” it is important for the members of the California Republican Party to boldly present our views, which will be in start contrast to those put forward by California Democrats.
At last Fall’s convention in Los Angeles, the full Platform Committee met and after a lengthy meeting has recommended a draft platform that will come up for a vote at this convention. If you have not yet had a chance to read it, you can download it at the CRP website.
It is a great document that will serve as a great platform for the California GOP through the next four years.
While there was some controversy last convention with a move by some to support an alternative platform, I am very pleased to see CRP elected leadership, grassroots GOP activists, and Republican legislative leaders all unified behind the platform draft that has been advanced by the Platform Committee. When we adopt a Platform on the Sunday of convention – it is not in a back room, but rather in full session, with all of our CRP Members and Associate Members present, as well as members of the media and others. This will be a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate that our party is unified behind core principles and ideas.
Hopefully you are attending the convention, so you will be there in person to support our conservative platform. If you will not be at the convention, it is critical that you know who is carrying your proxy, and that they understand that you want your vote cast to adopt the full platform committee report.
I look forward to seeing you in Burlingame for what promises to be a great convention!
Sincerely,
Jon Fleschman
CRP Platform Committee Member
CRP Platform Drafting Committee Member
Former Southern Regional Vice Chairman and Former CRP Executive Director
P.S. Don’t miss out on everything going on in California politics. Check the FlashReport website every day at www.flashreport.org. Just yesterday I penned a column on the Prop 28 SCAM Initiative that would weaken California’s legislative term limits, but has a title and summary (courtesy of Jerry Brown) that make it sounds like it does the opposite. The CRP already has come out against this terrible measure, and we all need to spread the work to defeat it.