I don’t think anyone could argue with a straight face that the Republican Party hasn’t made itself a major player in San Diego over the past maybe six years. The change started under current CRP Chairman Ron Nehring, and continued under current San Diego GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric. In my mind, the local GOP and the Lincoln Club and a few of the local business associations filled the vacuum left by a Chamber of Commerce that is in fact useless.
With an elected membership the local GOP cannot be the easiest organization to run. Under Krvaric’s term there has been some level of discontent about what I guess I would call increased centralization of power. There would be a pretty good argument that a large elected body couldn’t be run as a direct democracy. And there is the tension: with the need for decisiveness and privacy in political matters, how much power should the Chairman or the executive committee have?
Over the last couple years this question has been debated with some venom, largely from the “less power” side (I think anyone who reads this blog regularly would agree I’m not on a side, just an observer), and with some degree of retaliation from the “more power” side. It’s been quiet for a while but what did I get over the internet a few days ago? A link to a website critical of Krvaric, linking in one place most the the criticisms that have been levied against him over the years (www.retiretonykrvaric.com).
I’ve addressed some of these criticisms in the past. Largely they are misleading. But it is news that an otherwise quiet half a year or so is over.
Comments 18
Nothing succeeds like success. The strategies
devised by Tony Krvaric and Barrett Tetlow were
instrumental in delivering victories in the ‘Big 5’
local election campaigns.
I could see this coming weeks before Election Day
when the share of Republicans among returning Mail
ballots was up 4% and 5% from 2008. Four percent
will win a LOT of elections.
Party building, registration, urging people to vote
by Mail, the tireless volunteers in the 7 regional
Rep Party of San Diego HQs, and of course the
over-size landmark mailings, all were factors.
These are basic, timeless approaches. They have
always worked. They always will. What separates
winning from losing is the energy and will power
to make these activities GO. Tony Krvaric has that
energy and optimism, and those qualities are
contagious.
This whole issue is absurd. The SDGOP was largely successful and the leadership should be commended. The sour grapes of one R nominee who lost his election and sent a mass email criticizing leadership should be ignored.
I guess he can’t accept that he wasn’t going to win for several reasons, none of which had anything to do with local GOP leadership.
If not Tony, who? I mean he’s not going to be there forever one way or the other.
Absurd indeed, although the anonymous website is a re-hash of old issues, while the critical email from the nominee is separate. Yet, that nominee largely did nothing near what it takes to even compete in a much stronger Dem AD 78 than it was when Horton took it by surprise eight years ago. So, now we can place the GOP nominee in the ranks of those that knew little about winning, then did little to position himself to win, and yet still ends up critical of a Party that can’t waste resources by spending good money in a race where not even bad money was available. Not a clue.
And what i mean by that is: who are the good people being groomed for leadership in the future.
I’m confused why someone wouldn’t think San Diego GOP’s leadership isn’t on the right track…
Didn’t we just recently retake the position of being the leading party with registered voters in San Diego?
Wasn’t San Diego the only real major city in California to have some decent election results?
While a lot of us may not care for Sanders’ decisions, isn’t it true that San Diego is the largest city in America with a Republican mayor?
Prop D and J were stomped. Prop A was fantastic. We seemed to have a lot of active volunteers marching around?
It doesn’t seem like a time to sound the alarm and make any major structural adjustments.
It is my understanding that the party does the following:
1) Register more Republicans
2) Recruit volunteers
3) Endorse candidates for office
4) Inform Republicans as to whom the endorsed candidates are
5) Raise the money necessary to do the first four things
A lot of the frustration I hear has to do with a lack of understanding and/or the wrong expectation of what the Party does. They do the above 5 things and the last two years they did those things well. If people were elected that you do not like, blame your fellow voters. And when you are done sulking…educate your fellow voters.
There should be a giant banner with Schwartz’s (Nehring’s) five points hung at every central committee meeting.
What I noticed over the years is that many candidates/campaigns expect to be funded by the party. This isn’t really the party’s role, except in limited circumstances.
Really, every candidate needs to be able to show fundraising strength and electoral strength and demonstrate the need before the gop (or the crp, or the nrcc, or the lincoln club, or whomever) should consider getting involved.
Now of course there is the endless chicken and egg argument here: you won’t give me money so my campaign isn’t seen as viable and can’t raise money or talk to voters and get electorally in the game. The problem is one of the key judgments of strength of any candidate is fundraising, pure and simple.
So here are some good rules to live by if you are planning to run for office:
* If you are in a safe GOP seat don’t expect a bunch of party money
* If you are in a swing seat and can raise money and show yourself to be viable you might be in the mix for money
* If you are in a safe Dem seat you MUST raise money and show yourself to be viable, in polling, or there is almost no chance of getting money
Money isn’t unlimited. The party leaders at every level have to make very tough decisions where to spend for the most bang for the buck. Learn to raise money.
Candidates that lose will evaluate what they did wrong and try again.
Losers will blame:
The Party/ Establishment
The media
Their campaign staff
The donors
The volunteers
Their family
Their mom
Their is a difference and it’s sad to see a losing candidate, like Rick Powell, turn into a loser.
“Rick Powell Is Wrong!”….LOL
Tetlow=Genius
The most pathetic part of Powell’s email was that he didn’t have the cojones to name the people directly whom he blames for “local losses”. He just blew a lot of hot air about how we need to “be prepared to recognize failures within the county blah blah blah”
I suspect he’s putting a slate together for new SDGOP leadership with people like himself and M. Crimmins in key slots. I wouldn’t want Powell running my hated homeowners association much less SDGOP.
Its great that some of the people on here appear to know each other but what email are you talking about and who is powell?
Rick Powell was the GOP nominee in the 78th Assembly District. If you read the thread, it should be clear he sent a critical email. No, we don’t plan on publishing it here too.
I made an attempt to organize local volunteers to help with his campaign. Mr. Powell earned a “C” from the NRA due to what he wrote on the survey which made it impossible for me to find any support for him.
I mean even Ralphy earned a “C+” and he was only talking about a Red Ryder BB gun!
I would say that Mr. Powell’s lack of understanding of the Second Amendment issues facing Californians was basically shooting himself in the foot, but there is a better joke in there somewhere about him “shooting his eye out” for better comedy writers than I.
Good luck winning any election in San Diego being anti-gun!
Even better luck convincing anyone that he is the person that should be questioning the GOP leadership.
THE EMAIL BEING CIRCULATED IS NOT FROM RICK POWELL, IT IS A FRAUD. Someone, who had a copy of an email that was going to be sent asking for a review by the Party, of what happened to California, what we did well and what we could have done better, was hijacked, changed to fit a political agenda, titled to change the theme and then sent out via a created Gmail (not authorized or approved by Rick Powell). Perhaps before you start publishing and being critical of something, someone should ask the alleged author if it is true. The Party is aware of the fraudulent email and I am releasing a newsletter via Constant Contact addressing the issue.
The email sent came from a gmail address that Rick Powell never once used during the campaign. He in fact has a cox address…there would be no reason for him to switch to a gmail address for this one post election distribution. Gmail is much harder to trace for an IP address…and it has been the fake and anonymous email provider of choice for those hiding behind their criticisms. In this case, it appears someone may have used Powell’s name for what would appear to many as criticisms being leveled by him. Whether he was aware of it is causing quite a bit of debate. I have asked him to provide his statement here on Rostra.