This is not how Republicans should be making the news . . .
From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
Twitter accounts of county GOP, chairman yanked
A good (old fashioned?) cyber-spat between San Diego County’s Republican and Democratic parties has broken out on — where else? — Twitter.
On Wednesday, local Democratic Party Chairman Jess Durfee issued a press release about the social network suspending the accounts of the Republican Party of San Diego County (@SDRepublicans) and that of its chairman, Tony Krvaric (@TonyKrvaric).
Twitter apparently yanked the accounts after county Democrats contacted the company to complain about four handles purporting to represent Democratic San Diego City Council candidates — @SherriLightner, @ToddPhilips, @MatKostrinsky, and @MartiEmerald — in addition to @sddemocrats and its chairman, @JessDurfee.
Read the rest on the U-T’s Web site.
More at Voice of San Diego.
Still more at OB Rag.
Here’s the SD Dem press release.
My comment: Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Faking IDs is wrong.
Also, Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
Parodying the Dems without the taint of deception could have been easily avoided accomplished by appending the prefix fake- or not- to the noms de Twitter. As in, @NotJessDurfee or @FakeMartiEmerald.
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(DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in this post are mine, and not necessarily those of my employer, the North County Times.)
Comments 48
Also covered in VOSD: Dems to GOP: Stop Pretending to Be Us on Twitter
As a blogger noted, “And, as a member of the GOP (since the early 70’s), am I supposed to be willing to let this guy administrate my monetary contributions?”.
No hundreds of millions of Federal dollars
misappropriated, no automatic weapons sent
to murderous criminals in Mexico, no bailouts
for powerdul auto worker unions …
Tags: Irrelevant, Tempest in a Teapot
We have @sandiegorostra … Go to @sdrostra by mistake, and see what you get. For us, that’s sophisticated.
Let’s see, the public employee union-controlled Democrats on the San Diego City Council have brought San Diego to the brink of bankruptcy and we need to play nice?! Playing nice, compromising, always taking the high road, and never calling it like it is, has been a recipe for failure in San Diego. We need to be aggressive, innovative, keep the Democrats off balance, work hard, promote and defend traditional conservative values and principles, and use everything we can to take San Diego back. Permanent offense Tony! Keep doing what you’re doing!
Jim,
Why do you have so much trouble admitting when you or your preferred political party is wrong? Deflecting the issue by saying the other party does worse does not justify Mr. Kvaric’s actions.
Dan:
Would breaking into the DNC HQs to see what the plan is for the last weeks of a campaign be considered aggressive and innovative, or would not doing so be considered “playing nice”?
No, I’m not suggesting that twitter-squatting compares at all to that, but I’m just trying to determine your definition of what is appropriate under a “permanent offense”?
How about sign stealing?
How about sign stealing, if you knew that it would likely lead back to you and make you or your side look bad?
Paul: Sign stealing is what the Democrats did to the “Yes on Prop. 8” people and Lori Zapf for City Council supporters, intimidation of petition signers of the “Pension Reform” initiative is what the Democrats and union thugs did just recently, also outright lies about “Identity Theft” is what the Democrats and union thugs did in the “Pension Reform” initiative. Stacking the Re-Districting Commission with people who lied about their background and place of residence are Democratic tactics. The stupid Occupy San Diego protest to divert attention from the failed policies of Democrats in San Diego and in the White House are tactics of the Democrats.
Republicans don’t do that, never have, never will, and don’t condone it. Other than that, game on. Hope to see you working hard registering new Republicans, walking precincts, or making calls for Republican candidates…if you’re really a Republican.
Dan:
I actually can’t disagree with the examples you cite of recent labor/Dem tactics. But I didn’t ask you about that.
As far as your contention about sign-stealing, “Republicans don’t do that, never have, never will,” do you really want to go there?
I certainly agree with you that no one should condone it, but do you really believe that no Republicans have ever done it? The question isn’t meant as an attack on Republicans, because I believe the huge majority of Rep candidates haven’t, but you can’t be that innocent, can you? Or, maybe you just think in absolutes and you didn’t mean it that way.
I’m not going to cite names. Other readers here know. But as Republicans we need to have a set of values and expect our candidates to live up to them. We should also understand human nature and how lots of candidates and volunteers over the years make mistakes and lack good judgement during heated campaigns, even Republicans. That’s not an excuse for such behavior, it’s just that it does happen — and we shouldn’t stand for it.
By the way, if you think I don’t know campaign history, ask Tony Strickland sometime what happened with his Republican primary opponent in the final days of his first winning campaign for state assembly. A classic story!
Dan,
Carl DeMaio was caught on film stealing his opponent’s signs when he first ran for City Council. I hope we can agree that he and any Democrat who did the same were wrong. I also hope that we can agree that what Tony K. did in this instance was also wrong.
Maybe, just maybe, if we can stop pretending that we are perfect and the other guy is always wrong… Never mind, just a silly dream.
Alger:
One of my other heroes (besides Horatio Alger) is George Orwell. He had something to say which applies to this dispute:
“The survival of freedom largely depends upon the ability of ordinary men and women to MAKE DISTINCTIONS.”
I’m making a distinction between real outrages, that deplete the Treasury and cost lives, and trivial disputes over Twitter nicknames.
Author
Jim,
What’s your reference for the putative Orwell quote? My spidey-sense tells me it’s probably spurious.
Nice try in deflective tactics, but no dice. Krvaric got busted.
I have to give Krvaric credit for at least admitting he was the culprit in breaking Twitter policy against username squatting, including creating accounts for the purpose of preventing others from using those account names.
Perhaps he warming up for Halloween trying to pretend he’s someone else. Durfee thinks it’s “just creepy” though.
If it was just this one thing.
The putative quote is somewhere in the 2,000 pages of my 4-volume set of the “Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell”… published by Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich in 1968
I re-read it every few years, and that is where I found and memorized his marvelous insight.
Mighty Thor,
Why did my comment about sign stealing not get published? I believe the incident was even reported in what used to be called Red County.
_____
The comment is above…patience, patience. –Admin
Jim,
Are you referring to the outrage that depleted hundreds of billions of dollars from the Treasury and cost hundreds of thousands of lives? You know, the war in Iraq.
Alger, did you read this?…
http://sdrostra.com/?p=21193
Author
Hmmmmm,
Okay, Jim, if you find the location, I’d appreciate it if you posted it. Is it possible you didn’t give an exact quote, as you’re remembering it, not citing it?
Author
It’s also rather evasive for local GOP defenders to cite Democrat misdeeds at the national level, when this is a San Diego County issue. Why can’t they just say flat out this was wrong, they made a mistake, and they won’t repeat it?
This partisan tendency to rationalize away bad acts is one of those things that keep me from being a Republican, or a Democrat for that matter. (And in the case of the Democrats, also that the party’s leadership knows nothing about economics.)
All this over who has which Twitter handle !? LOL
Jim,
This is not simply about “who has which Twitter handle!?” This is about ethics, or the lack thereof, and the inability of some (obviously, you included) to admit to making a mistake.
Author
Alger,
Obviously Jim knows what you’re saying. And for political purposes, he’s pretending not to understand. You can be sure if a D did this, Jim would be righteously outraged. This is one of the features of partisan politics that makes me hate it.
Bradley,
Well said, but sad nonetheless that otherwise intelligent people have so much trouble simply admitting that they made a mistake.
Time to move on to something more important – Go Aztecs!
This is all the anti-GOP chorus can say this week.
And that’s OK .
Thanks for the entertainment.
Bradley,
You said it best.
“It’s also rather evasive for local GOP defenders to cite Democrat misdeeds at the national level, when this is a San Diego County issue. Why can’t they just say flat out this was wrong, they made a mistake, and they won’t repeat it?
This partisan tendency to rationalize away bad acts is one of those things that keep me from being a Republican, or a Democrat for that matter. (And in the case of the Democrats, also that the party’s leadership knows nothing about economics.)”
Alger,
They just don’t want to own up to a misdeed. That is a typical mindset that belittles their party. The GOP can be better than that.
Speaking of GO AZTECS!…
http://sdrostra.com/?p=21281
There does need to be some honest conversations at the central committee about this.
A) It is INDISPUTABLE that Tony K has done a remarkable job when it comes to the nuts and bolts of electoral politics. In a county which is, due to macro forces that Tony really can not influence much at all, GOP candidates are winning city council seats. Conservative-focused initiatives are doing well. Labor is not. These are all things that Tony should get lots of kudos for. So this shouldn’t be taken as a criticism.
B) But the efforts to be a participant in the thought debate are pretty ineffectual. There is always a challenge of trying to engage on these things when you have a close partnership with electeds that essentially precludes you getting too far away from their position. Doubly so when your first priority is to elect people – so you can’t get TOO tied down in case THEY decide on that issue to reject conservative orthodoxy. Note just how silent Tony has been on, for example, Chargers or raising taxes for Convention Center and TMD – policies at odds with conservative positions regarding taxes and crony capitalism but strongly supported by the San Diego GOP establishment.
It is also harder to engage in “serious” policy discussions because MSM essentially discounts everything you say as simply partisan point scoring.. When you get sucked into twitter wars – both overt and covert it doesn’t help the party BRAND….and when you have to be the one to employ a private investigator…..well we see how that worked out.
I honestly believe this points to something DEEPER…..San Diego Conservatives NEED an entity, independent of the party, to be a voice in the thought debates. The Left has CPI and Labor Council and now their fake taxpayer group. They have strong allies in planned parenthood, sierra club, league of conservation voters, Interfaith Council, San Diego Organizing project, etc. etc.
The right? Well Lani does great stuff at Taxpayers but they themselves readily acknowledge that they are “non-partisan”, have a corporatist bent, and have a brand that requires fairly “analytic” work within a narrow band. They have members who are Democrats and more “efficient” government that limited government.
The Chamber? Boy I could go on for days but lets leave it at that they are not on Rostra, they don’t try to engage in the Voice, I almost never see a letter to the editor from them on issues, and I can’t remember the last time I saw Paul or Ruben interviewed on TV being a forceful voice for limited government and the free market. Richard Rider? No complaints but I think Richard would acknowledge that there is only so much one can do as a volunteer and Richard doesn’t do “policy” – rather he is an articulate commentator and voice.
This mirrors a problem at the state level – where California as the largest state in the union has one of the LEAST developed network of conservative non-profits in the country. If you want to see what a REAL conservative network looks like take a look at Goldwater Institute in Arizona…or the Manhattan Institute in NY.
One thing I would like to see the new majority or SOMEONE take up is the idea of putting some investment into such a push locally. If Tony wants to run it he probably would be great. But when the Party starts to drift into these “policy wars” I don’t think it works….it isn’t set up to do it well, it doesn’t have a strategic focus, and it can hurt the overall brand.
Significant insights from Erik. Please opine on the Lincoln Club as well.
I have debated the online anonymity question many times. I’m against it in many instances. I was on the receiving end of some vicious comments for my “Media Migraine” column on the topic for Communities at Washington Times: http://wtim.es/pybW2X The messages to my personal email address can’t be repeated on a family website such as this.
What cannot be debated is something I warn my clients about on a regular basis: don’t post or write (or even say) ANYTHING that you wouldn’t want to see attributed to you publicly. Don’t go “off the record” with media either. Anonymity is a fragile thing.
This SDGOP Twitter incident is distracting and embarrassing for the local Republican Party. What puzzles me is that Mr. Krvaric is hardly shy about speaking his mind and attaching his name to his comments. This aside, truly great parodies are the ones everyone is in on. If you’re tweeting under someone’s real name, you’re missing the point.
For those who laugh off the influence and reach of Twitter, laugh at your own risk. Twitter is increasingly becoming a key source of breaking news and information. People active on Twitter are influencers and opinion-leaders in media, business, culture and politics. Sure, lots of people have fun on Twitter. But hijacking someone’s real name? Not cool.
I think the Lincoln club does a great job but would acknowledge that it “doesn’t do policy” and doesn’t have the sort of expertise that the press will pay attention to.. I think a difficult thing to do when you are not set up as a 501c and instead actively channel money to candidates. When TJ engages in policy debates almost always it is prefaced with “Right Wing political group”. And they don’t really raise money to “do policy” nor make it a central focus of their efforts.
Now I am not pollyanish. The MSM will still make snarky comments. But there _IS_ something qualitatively different between Cato and Heritage and, for example, the RNC or an independent group like Dick Armey’s Freedom Fund. Cato experts get called upon to opine about how a proposed tax policy will or will not impact competitiveness. The RNC is called out to give the “republican position” on the tax proposal. Very different things – EACH with a role in building the conservative base.
The thing that benefits is that the MSM bends over backwards to have the APPEARANCE of objectivity. If there was a center right think tank in So Cal they would CONSTANTLY be able to get points across int he Times and elsewhere just by having the phone turned on and the expertise available. But as Woody Allen Says 99% of life is just showing up. For too long the right in CA has been AWOL.
Mr. Krvaric didn’t just embarrass the Party, he violated a State law against malicious E-personation in what he did. He perpetuated a fraud and violated SB 1411. This is serious and prosecutable:
http://www.senatorsimitian.com/images/uploads/SB_1411_Fact_Sheet.pdf
http://www.senatorsimitian.com/entry/malicious_e-personation_protection_effective_january_1/
Ironically, Mr. Krvaric inserted a measure in the County Party by-laws that allows for removal of Central Committee members for ’embarrassing the Party’. Perhaps the Committee needs a Chairman who conducts himself more professionally and lawfully.
TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH OF THE LEFTIST CRITICS:
“Tony Krvaric is a WINNER. He keeps beating us in
Elections. We really Hate That. So we’ll huff and
puff and Try to make something out of Nothing over
meaningless issues.”
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Admit it, Losers, you can’t compete with Krvaric in
the world of democratic elections… so you try to
get him thrown out of the Game. PATHETIC…. and
certain to fail.
“Admit it, Losers…” I thought the purpose of Rostra was to have dialogue, sometimes intelligent, without name-calling.
Krvaric may indeed be a winner or may just be riding the coattails of public sentiment the same way the Democratic Party won everything they touched in 2008. Either way, he made a mistake here and it amazes me that you, and he, are so unwilling to simply admit it.
Sometimes even winners do things that they probably shouldn’t have. A true winner is confident enough to be able to admit a mistake.
The first successful Horatio ALGER novel is about a young boy, ‘Ragged Dick’, who claws his way out of poverty in New York city with hard work, courage and perseverence.
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cinder/ragged.htm
‘Ragged Dick’ did not taunt, second guess, correct, harass and generally play the Hair Shirt with others. I’m sorry to see that is the role you have currently chosen for yourself here.
If you are genuinely a fan of Horatio Alger, I hope you’ll take a cue from his first hero, Ragged Dick, and show us another side.
And still you can’t say it is wrong to impersonate someone’s Twitter handle. Amazing!
I will, however, take your advice and stop second-guessing you since you obviously do not take criticism well.
Have you read an Horatio Alger novel recently?
You are right in choosing him as a hero. His work positively affected millions of readers. I respectfully recommend that with that handle, you also represent his optimism, hope and cooperative approach.
Jim,
Respectfully, I am would probably be the most optimistic person you know, if you knew me. As for cooperation, I believe I am the one who has been trying to find common ground in most of my posts. You, on the other hand, seem to believe that cooperation means everyone simply agreeing with your point of view.
It may surprise Jim Sills and others like him to know that most of Krvaric’s critics are not ‘leftists’ at all but people in his own party who expect their Chairman to respect the rule of law, due process and fair play and to treat others with dignity.
Mr. Krvaric brings these problems upon himself and is his own worst enemy. His behavior is not the fault of his critics. We do not have to become lawless thugs to win. Republicans were winners long before Mr. Krvaric appeared on the scene and history did not start when he walked through the door.
The GOP chairman’s Twitter trickery —
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/18/the-gop-chairmans-twitter-trickery/
Surprise ! The “all-new” U-T editorial board does not
approve of San Diego’s most-effective conservative
leader….. Stop the Presses.
The Krvaric Kritics only generate Laughter in trying to
build a fuss over Twitter handles into something
ominous . The Real World is not inside your Black-
berries.
But Thanks for the Yucks !
Jim,
Are you really trying to argue that this doesn’t hurt the brand? Even if EVERY Republican registered voter goes to the polls EVERY election we are less than 50% in many many races. We HAVE to get DTS votes. Even if you completely discount the “objectivity” of the “New UT” you can’t be serious in trying to argue this is HELPFUL?
Again, what I wish is that Tony would stick to the business of ELECTING candidates – something he is really quite good at. We need others (and there are suggestions above) to engage in the nitty gritty of partisan policy battles with liberals because that effort, ultimately, is one that the Party Chair, regardless of whom, is ill equipped or positioned to wage.
Ross Perot frequently said, “Words are plentiful. Talk is cheap. Deeds are precious.” So are Tony Krvaric’s most recent deeds, as the Chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party, laudable or are they yet another embarrassment in a string of embarrassments to the county party he leads? Ironically, Mr. Krvaric inserted a measure into the County Party by-laws that allows for the removal of Central Committee members for ‘embarrassing the Party’. Surely the Central Committee needs a Chairman who conducts himself professionally, ethically and within the spirit and letter of the law. Just saying.
Least one forget, Krvaric recently broke a tenant lease agreement with 6 months remaining and moved the party headquarters, at great cost and stealthily under the cloak of darkness, into his own private business office spaces and proceeded then to sublet from the party. At least that is what he conveyed to his Executive Committee….subletting from the party. How convenient for Krvaric to leech off the party and not realize unsurprisingly what a glaring conflict of interest this arrangement allows for as he is also a financial advisor meeting with party donors, in the same office space, who may well become potential clients to his financial business. How convenient.
Under Krvaric’s checkered stewardship the county party has shrunk in membership to the point it has taken on the appearance of a private club with no accountability or transparency that merely exists to launder financial contributions to favored vendors. In point of fact, when Krvaric took over as chairman in late 2006, he inherited a data base with over 3,600 volunteer precinct walkers. Today virtually none exist. Yet go to any Tea Party meeting held around the county and you’ll observe the attendance to be doubled or tripled of that that turns out for the monthly county republican party meeting. Why is that do you suppose? Just asking.
We are indeed a nation of immigrants. Some recent, some not. Regardless, we expect our new citizens to be imbued with American values and principles. If not, then why come here in the first place? To take advantage of our laws and largess? Rather, stay in your own country of origin where the coercive tactics of bullying, threatening, intimidation, harassment, lawlessness, and the willful disregard for the rule of law are routinely employed. We do not expect or should tolerate behaviors that imbrue our sense of fair play and besmirch our party.
It is sad to reflect upon what our county republican party has become to represent under Krvaric’s leadership.
As a combat veteran of two wars, I know a little something about what leadership is; more importantly what it is not!
Central Committee members: it’s high time to wake up and smarten up and set a different course with a new captain on the bridge before this ship sinks beneath the waves of being rendered irrelevant. Better get those bilge pumps up and running.
Ever hear the adage, “This too shall pass”? This too shall pass. And, since it’s no big deal, why respond to every critic on here, a position they see as defending the indefensible, and thus providing them a fertile field in which to rebut once again? Is it an uncontrolled need to get in the last word? But, in so doing, expanding the “non-story” over several days? You think people haven’t seen it in larger venues like the UT, so as to form an opinion? Stop already.
Mr. Crimmins’ comment is of course his opinion. It appears here intact, except for two sentences that have been edited out, because in our judgment they could be libelous — specific allegations stated as fact without any substantiation. It’s not our job, nor do we have the resources as a volunteer admin effort to substantiate such statements. It is our right to edit as we see fit and we do so only in extremely limited cases, when there are violations of the Rostra rules including possible libel. We have been criticized for doing so in the past when we’ve removed wording about a Democratic candidate, not because it was critical, but BECAUSE IT WAS LIBELOUS. So, please don’t now say we are only protecting Republicans, such as Mr. Krvaric. If we are to be criticized, it is for UNIFORMLY disallowing potentially libelous statements on this blog. We know that some readers may have difficulty in differentiating between statements of opinion and statements of fact, the latter of which may be their opinion or even may be something they know first-hand, but nevertheless are still unsubstantiated. We would encourage those not understanding the difference between opinion and fact, to figure it out.
“We are indeed a nation of immigrants. Some recent, some not. Regardless, we expect our new citizens to be imbued with American values and principles. If not, then why come here in the first place? To take advantage of our laws and largess? Rather, stay in your own country of origin where the coercive tactics of bullying, threatening, intimidation, harassment, lawlessness, and the willful disregard for the rule of law are routinely employed. We do not expect or should tolerate behaviors that imbrue our sense of fair play and besmirch our party.”
Does this statement leave any doubt that the Central Committee made the right decision in kicking out Crimmins because he made racist comments? It was unbelievable at the time that anyone could in this day and age, but this seems to confirm that Crimmins has no problem making racist comments.
Why am I not surprised by “Jus Sayin'” circuitous, convoluted, comment in an attempt to raise the race card yet again in order to defend the indefensible behaviors of one Tony Krvaric.
A little reading and understanding of the history of the United States will reveal such a misunderstanding of historical immigration migration waves and assimilation behaviors and draw a bright contrast to the posted comment.
“Jus Sayin'”, facts do matter. When my American of African descent Primary opponent in 2010 indicated I made a racist comment towards him, he essentially pulled the race card as a strategy in his failing campaign to gain traction. Several local reporters picked up on it and investigated never having the witness produced by my Primary opponent because no such witness existed and because my Primary opponent indicated to the reporters that he himself did not hear any such comment with his own ears emanate from me.
There was however a concerted effort, with an abundance of procedural due process and party by law violations, then orchestrated by Krvaric to diminish my campaign in order to distract from his own personal behavioral issues. Just a little bit of Internet research on your part will reveal these facts to a fair and balanced mind. Good luck.
Author
Jus’ Sayin’…,
I know nothing about Crimmins, and for all I know he has said racist things. But what you quoted didn’t seem racist to me. Crimmins just criticized lawless behavior on the part of some immigrants and the lawless behavior in certain unnamed countries, without mentioning anyone by race. Such lawless behavior undoubtedly happens, and certain countries undoubtedly have a culture of lawlessness. Those are facts. He wished those lawless types would stay in their own countries. What is racist about saying that?
good Kharma keeps the wheel turning…