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Essays, Opinion, & Commentary |
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May 16, 2005
and Congressional Candidate to Party Leader Interview for NCGOP Chairman's Race by John T. Plecnik
The Interview: 1. Many Republicans -- many activists -- are skeptical that NCGOP chairs have anything to do with the success or failure of their Party. Why are they wrong? As chairman, what power would you hold to help us achieve our ultimate goal, i.e., beat the Democrats? Robinson: The chairman, more that any other person in the state other than a Republican Governor, has the ability to use the bully pulpit to move a conservative agenda. For example, had I been the GOP Chair when Sen. Tony Rand took the Bible and Cross out of the Senate Chapel, I would have been on a plane going from town to town holding press conferences until Democrats begged Rand to put the Cross and Bible back in the Chapel. The current Chair's response was nothing. You can't use a bully pulpit if you are afraid of the press and have an ineffective communications effort. I've see a council of state candidate so fire up a crowd, that even candidates up ballot would adopt his position because they wanted to have positive response from the crowd as well. That council of state candidate was me in the 1996 State Superintendent's race. A chairman can do that as well. A little common sense can go a long way. We need to put out the Republican Standard newspaper again because many older activists do not use the internet or e-mail and they get no talking points from the NCGOP. They are largely silent in the Social Security debate because the current flawed communications strategy has left many of our most credible spokespersons on the side lines and dependent on the liberal media. A chairman can boost activist involvement by eliminating the fee for the business portion of the state convention or tax activism by charging registration fees so that only 1,000 of 15,000 authorized delegates and alternates ever show up. The Chairman can provide voter contact information to every grassroots activist with internet access as I provided to volunteers through Completecampaigns.com. The California party contracts with the same company for distributive campaigning internet applications. With new leadership, the NCGOP will also. The chairman can push a conservative agenda as articulated by the platform in the General Assembly, inform the grassroots about what is going on in the General Assembly and let the chips fall where they may. Alternatively the chairman can call GOP elected officials names and focus on personalities. When I become chairman the NCGOP will stop doing the latter and start doing the former. The GOP Chairman can intervene in the gubernatorial primary, judicial and other primaries and thus not be able to unify the party for the general election and for the governing conservative majority after the election. Alternatively, the NCGOP can stay out of primaries and put the interest of the party above personal considerations as I did when Congresswomen Foxx defeated me in the GOP runoff. As your chairman, I'll do something that hasn't happened lately, concentrate on beating the Democrats. 2. The election year performance of the NCGOP has proven to be a campaign issue. Some say we performed well. Others vehemently disagree. Name the biggest success and chief failing of the NCGOP in 2004. Robinson: The biggest success was the re-election of President Bush. Although we've only lost North Carolina to the Democrats in a presidential race once in 40 years. Targeting resources on a race that was over in August resulted in our chief failing…the lonely landslide at the top of the ticket. The carnage down ballot included having the worst performance in the governor's race in thirty years, failing to recruit candidates in six winnable house seats, becoming the only Southern state to lose a legislative majority in '04, losing Senate seats including Ballentine's old seat to a lesbian, and losing five majorities on county boards of commissioners. Compare that record to Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, our neighbors with GOP control of both houses of the legislature and two GOP governors to boot! 3. Looking to the national stage, prominent Republicans and Democrats alike are prepping for presidential runs. Congress will be hotly contested in the next two election cycles. And, the ideological divide between both parties has never been greater. What single issue must the national party address to succeed in 2006, 2008 and beyond? Robinson: The single most important issue is immigration reform. We must secure our borders, deport illegals, and make English to official language of the United States. The current chairman supports the administration's amnesty plan and refused to send out an e-mail to inform activists about the rally at the Mexican Consulate against the "terrorist" id cards issued there because "my orders come from Washington." I was the keynote speaker at that rally, I oppose the administration's amnesty, I made immigration reform the centerpiece of my campaign for congress, and my orders come from the executive committee not Washington. Immigration reform is sound policy and great politics. 4. Partisans on both sides insist that real experience and records of success are required for a good chairman. What political or life experience prepares you to lead the NCGOP? Robinson: I believe that a movement conservative who actually achieved policy goals is a better fit to lead the NCGOP than an access donor fundraiser who is a stranger to the conservative policy debate. I laid the ground work for charter school legislation and drafted the provisions of the House version of what became the 1996 charter school law. I am the only candidate for chairman who has been elected and re-elected to office much less from a Democrat district. I strongly believe in immigration reform and defense of marriage and ignored the polls in my congressional race last year when the polls said that the only thing voters cared about was jobs. As an elected official I turned down the access donors looking for government handouts. I turned down my friends and donors because I wasn't elected to take other people's money in taxes and give it to them. It is better to have a chairman who has said no the access donors than one who has catered to their every need. I raised $3 million in my campaign for congress by articulating a clear conservative message that 37,000 people felt was worthy of finance support. Grandmothers, nurses, school teachers and even some unemployed who never asked of me anything other than taking our country back. I offered a chairmanship back guarantee not as a marketing gimmick but to communicate that having worn the uniform of this country as an Air Force Academy cadet and an active duty and reserve officer from 17 years old until I was 35, I understand that the commander is always responsible for what happens on his watch. I will take full responsibility for the results of the '06 election and if I cannot do a better job than the current chair did in '04 then I will resign. 5. More specifically, some claim that one candidate or another is a better fundraiser and will infuse the party with more resources. What plan do you have to ethically increase the flow of funding to good candidates at the local, state and national levels? Robinson: First, we must communicate a clear conservative message in a new contract with North Carolina. Donors are much more likely to give to support strongly held beliefs than they are to give to keep the lights on in the headquarters. Lack of a coherent conservative message not only hurts us with independents and democrats at the polls but hurts us in the bank account. I raised $447,000 on the internet, a record that will not be soon broken. There is no reason to believe that substantial increases in internet fundraising cannot be achieved with a coherent message. Without a coherent conservative message, the direct mail effort has to resort to gimmicks or worse to attract contributions. With a new contract with North Carolina, telemarketing and direct mail will both be more effective. If the current chair is such a good fundraiser, why did Democrat executive committees outspend GOP committees 8 to 1 in '04? And if he couldn't deliver in '04 what has changed for '06? 6. On the topic of fundraising, the incumbent College Republican National Committee (CRNC) has come under fire for presiding over a fundraising campaign that appeared to target elderly donors with deceptive fundraising letters. The most infamous mailer (attached to this interview) promised elderly donors that President George W. Bush would wear an enclosed flag pin at the Republican National Convention, if they returned it with a contribution. This mailer was signed by CRNC Treasurer Paul Gourley, now a candidate for CRNC Chairman. The North Carolina Federation of College Republicans voted to join Michael Reagan and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by endorsing the reformist candidate, Chairman Michael P. Davidson of the California College Republicans. But, NCFCR Chairman Tripp Costas flipped from supporting Davidson and held a meeting to endorse Gourley. When Chairman Ryan Cassin of the Michigan Federation of College Republicans betrayed his state party by supporting the infamous treasurer, Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis removed him from office, pursuant to Article II, Section III of the CRNC constitution. Since it's common knowledge that state party chairs may recognize new CR leadership at will, they are ultimately held responsible for whom their CRs support. As chairman, will you be responsible for scandal or reform? Robinson: The NCGOP cannot be party to the systematic defrauding of senior citizens. I believe that young people will make mistakes and should be corrected. But this is serious business not some out of control frat party. I would explain to Mr. Costas that his conduct directly reflects on the NCGOP and having apprised him of the situation, I will give him an opportunity to renounce his support of the grifter Paul Gourley. Should he decline to do so, I would replace him with a young man or lady who will conduct themselves and the business of the Federation in a manner that reflects credit on them and the NCGOP. 7. From College Republicans to campus conservatives, liberal bias on campus remains an important issue in North Carolina. Across the state, Stalinist professors and administrators seek to indoctrinate the next generation of conservative leadership. As chairman, how will you aid students in battling the bias? Robinson: As a former college professor, I ran interference for the College Republicans as their advisor. I have been invited to speak on a number of campuses and aggressively went after the socialists pretending to be college professors. I have participated in an affirmative action bake sale on the UNC-G campus. I have integrated CRs into my campaigns and supported clubs financially. I was very tough on Republican candidates in the 5th district who sat on boards of trustees and let conservative college kids there twist in the wind. The current chairman acts as if he was afraid of offending some major donor on a trustee board somewhere. I will support the conservative students not the daddy warbucks trustees. 8. Retaking the state government is among the hottest issues of this campaign. Although, in the aggregate, Republican candidates for state legislature polled higher than Democrats, we are in the minority in both Houses of the General Assembly. And, despite a record of waste and failure, "Tax-Hike Mike" remains in the governor's mansion. We were out-spent and (some argue) out-hustled at the state level. What can we do to beat the Democrats and take back Raleigh? Robinson: As hard as it may seem to younger conservative activists given last year's bleak results for the GOP at the ballot box as the rest of the South roared past us with GOP majorities, once upon a time in 1995 there were 69 members of a GOP majority in the North Carolina House of Representatives and 24 GOP members of the North Carolina Senate. The GOP Chairman was Jack Hawke and the instrument that created the Republican revolution in Raleigh was the Contract with North Carolina. The contract was straight forward. If the voters gave control of the General Assembly to Republicans for the first time since reconstruction, the GOP promised to bring to the floor and vote on several bills long languishing in the bowels of the legislature. Even though there was no state wide race other than judicial races, the contract created a coherent conservative message across North Carolina. Jack Hawke recently explained that legislative candidates in each media market pushed the same message creating a statewide echo chamber for conservative government. The contract wasn't perfect. Many conservative education reformers including myself sharply criticized the contact for its wimpy education plank. At least 12 members of the House opposed any school choice language. Many conservative Christians criticized the initiative plank after the majority was elected as a lottery Trojan horse. But despite those problems, the voters understood that the GOP's contract offered change and the other side offered nothing but corruption, confiscation and cultural warfare. The GOP majority after the initial heady days of 1995 began to backslide, became timid on fighting for conservative values and looked a lot like the Democrats in the General Assembly. One GOP legislative leader said that Republicans went too far to the right in that 1995-96 session. In 1996, without full-time chairman Hawke to hold it together, GOP had no coherent message and lost seats. GOP legislative leaders were even more scared and timid during the 97-98 session and were appropriately rewarded by the voters in 1998 by losing the GOP majority. Since 1995, a succession of part-time GOP chairmen have left the NCGOP wanting for leadership, failed to articulate a clear conservative message, ran an ineffective press operation, became internet dependent, and ceased publication the Republican Standard newspaper so that for the majority of activists over 60 (those who do not use the internet or e-mail) the NCGOP "message" was reduced to an occasional poorly written piece of fundraising mail. The new contract should include the Taxpayers Protection Act and make a commitment to rightsizing a state government that continues to grow uncontrollably. Immigration reform including tightening driver's license and election security, making English the official language, encouraging state and local law enforcement to use criminal trespass laws to detain illegals and crushing in-state tuition for illegal aliens should be a central part of the new contract. A contract plank on educational opportunity should include K-12 scholarships, removing the cap on the number of charter schools, reform of the UNC system and replacing the terribly flawed North Carolina K-12 testing process with nationally normed tests with diagnostic capability to help teachers and parent help children. A new contract must offer a constitutional amendment to defend marriage and a commitment to abolish racial quotas in university admissions, employment and contracting as well as tort reform making the case that we have to stop the disappearing doctors from rural areas so that children can receive primary care. Finally, the contract must offer good roads and expose corruption in state government with a commitment to root it out (considerably easier with Les Merritt as State Auditor). These planks are not cast in stone but provide an idea what I think should go into a contract with the people of North Carolina. 9. Speaking of Raleigh, what plans do you have for 1506 Hillsborough Street? As chairman, do you intend to draw a salary? If so, how much? Robinson: Jack Hawke, a full time chairman was the most effective in NC history. I would eliminate the position of Chief of Staff which was created to go around the authority the Central Committee. I believe that the level of damage, disorder, distress, and disunity is so high that the NCGOP requires a full time Chairman. I will submit a budget to the central committee after consulting the remaining staff and several former chairmen about revenue projections. That budget will include me as chairman/executive director and Fern Shubert as my number two with both my hiring and compensation decided by the Central Committee. Finally, I have always hated how elitists in the GOP use Christian conservatives to get out the vote and make the voter contact phone calls and then treat us like lepers after the election. They would rather rub shoulders with wealthy Democrats than ones that brung'um to the dance. I hate that. When I am elected that treatment at NCGOP headquarters will be gone and I will take the "staff only" ropes down in the headquarters as a symbolic physical gesture to return the party to its conservative grassroots base.
John T. Plecnik (JTP) is a 21-year-old law student at Duke University and a Featured Columnist at The Conservative Voice (www.theconservativevoice.com), Lincoln Tribune, a weekly newspaper in Lincolnton, NC., and various other online and print publications. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting with a Minor in Mythology and graduated summa cum laude, sharing the title of Valedictorian, from Belmont Abbey College. Email your comments to John at John.Plecnik@law.duke.edu. Copyright (c) 2005 by John T. Plecnik. Reprinted with permission.
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This
interview was offered to both candidates for North
Carolina Republican Party Chairman: Councilman
Vernon Robinson and NCGOP Chairman Ferrell
Blount.
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