I’m torn between thinking this is just sad or that it’s just funny. Maybe ironic is a better word? First, the NHGOP establishment power brokers (who forced Jack Kimball out) just cleared the field to make sure that the preferred, groomed, in-debted (and in debt) to them, moderate-insider was the only candidate left running for the NHGOP chairmanship.
These are the same folks who got their asses handed to them in the 2012 election, if you’ve forgotten, losing the way they did before 2010–with the “right people” at the helm. The ones that pissed off all the Tea Party and 9/12 groups under the assumption that we’d all just toe the line. Not so much.
That same leadership has decided to ask all voting committee members to the state convention to (pretty please) donate $25.00 to the Party by the convention. You heard me right. If you are a voting delegate you are expected to pay dues to the NH-GOP for the privilege. It’s not mandatory, but then neither was dropping out of the race for chairman, right?
While many are outraged at the idea of being “encouraged” to donate or else, I think it tells us exactly what we already knew about the people who lay claim to the power behind the NH Republican party.
Ask yourself? Why could they possibly need to tell voting committee members to pony up $25.00?
They think that members are not doing enough. They are not donating enough. Not participating enough. Not donating enough time. They are dropping the ball, it’s their fault we lost, so the Party figures–if you are not going to do enough then you’d better give us some cash so we can afford to get it done without you. Like that’s what they’ll do with the money.
Well, why wouldn’t anyone (or enough of them) feel excited, motivated, enthusiastic, or encouraged to give their own time and money to the State Party or the people it wants them to support?
Bad management.
I’ve run my share of businesses, and when things are done well, people give more of themselves. When they believe in the goals and feel certain that their effort will be appreciated and rewarded (and it does not have to be monetary) they strive to do more and do it well. When they know that they will not be asked to compromise their principles, they feel better about those principles.
That is clearly not what the people who are behind the New Hampshire Republican Party are all about.
They have no conviction or dedication to conservative principles. Just look at Charlie Bass. He’s to the left of Jack Kennedy.
Look what happened when Frank Guinta went to Washington. The so-called conservative Tea Party candidate practically turned into Charlie Bass.
Ask former Republican candidates for Governor Joe Kenney, who couldn’t even get the State Party office in Concord to put his campaign sign in the office window.
Ask Jack Kimball, and now Cliff Hurst. Ask anyone who ever wanted to give extra of themselves, who was not cut from the right cloth, how they were received by the New Hampshire NH GOP establishment?
It seems like the New Hampshire Republicans who decide things about the Party, not even the Exec Committee but the power behind the party, don’t care one damn bit about winning elections in New Hampshire. They just want to make sure that they are in charge of the Party and the people who could win even if they were just shades of Democrats who lose to real Demcorats.
And I think everyone knows it or suspects it.
In an environment like that, no one feels like giving anything extra. No one offers to stay late or come in early. They certainly won’t part with their hard-earned money to support such an endeavor. And so they pay a toll at the door to the convention. Do you know what they say about a tax? It keeps all the wrong kind of people from voting because they just won’t show up.
Hmmmmm.
I think the national party owns the state party because the state party clearly can’t raise money without them. The political consultants who could help or have ties to most big PAC’s are all part of the same DC cabal, and should not be trusted much further than you can throw them. They are as tied to the money as the rest. And anyone who tries to bring in new money or new blood (or God help us, new ideas) is either silenced, converted, or railroaded out. Even “insiders” who look too ambitious are shut out.
Who the hell would ever want to support that? Who would want to run to try and change it? No one. And that’s intentional too.
Some of you will say, what about 2010? November 2010 was an outlier for New Hampshire. The NH-GOP had not one damn thing to do with that; there was so much momentum they couldn’t have ruined it if they tried–and they tried. And then they took credit, none of which they earned or deserved–points you’ll find in abundance on GraniteGrok all throughout 2010 and into 2011.
But the first chance they got, the insiders began applying leverage to anyone perceived as a TEA Party leader, anyone who was not one of theirs, and they began weeding them out.
I expect that the pressure on elected reps and Senate Republicans, in particular, was fierce over time–why else would so many decide not to run again? The Party probably made them miserable. It’s not worth the pay, you have to believe in it, you have to want to do it, but if your own Party is not backing you up why bother? In the end, I think the NH-GOP got exactly what they wanted in 2010.
They lost and lost big, in an effort to take out as many of those people who were the wrong kind of Republican in the process. And while they wanted their establishment folks to survive, I think they are content with that arrangement, as long as the right people are managing the train wreck, just like the Fergus Cullen years.
And if they have their way, the Jennifer Horn years will be little different.
The right people will be in the right places and everyone else will fall in line.
Of course, it could be worse than even that. They might actually think that their message will somehow survive and that if they only act a little bit more Democrat, next time, they win back some power.
But if not, failure is always an option.
But it doesn’t have to be.
The right people, with different money, and different allegiances, could probably take the Party over and free the trapped spirit within it. It can’t be that hard. This bunch can barely raise any money as it is. All you’d have to do is elect a strong conservative Chairman who could raise money without the typical DC insiders who strong-arm the party now. And we know there are a few real conservatives hiding in the bushes just waiting to jump out and yell “Surprise”!
I can’t tell you who that chairman is, or where they’d start, but they are not running now, and if you ever want to elect a Republican governor, and have a party that supports real Republicans, sticking with the Party that has to charge admission at the convention door to get something out of its members is probably not the way to go. You better pack your bags for Texas or some other red-state because you’ll never get what you are looking for here. (And trust me, the establishment would help you pack if they could.)
One final note. Don’t call Skip and bug him about this, he’s not me, I am. Unless you want to tell him how inspired you are by my screed–that would be fine.
One other final note Don’t call me either. If you agree, want to help, or have an idea how to fix it, email me, or Skip. And for God’s sake, if you’ve got the stones to run for the NH-GOP chairmanship, and you think you can find financial support after, I bet you could get elected, assuming everyone pays the cover charge to get in and vote for you.
