In the NCTimes today Darryl Issa, Ca-49 said Congress "Was lied to." Issa is the Congressional Representative largely credited with forcing Carol Lam from office, for her lack of progress on illegal immigration and human smugglers. In defending his own political backside Issa repeated his position that "his complaints about Lam started long before Lam's office began investigating... Duke Cunningham."
Since Lam only took office in 2002, one wonders how soon Issa started his campaign to oust Lam from office, and how effective it was. My guess is not very.
Sen Dianne Feinstein said she believes the ouster "was connected to Lams' prosecution of Cunningham." Some critics of the DOJ have expressed sympathy for Lam, and the other fired prosecutors. Issa is on the record that he never made any complaints to DOJ or the White House, relating to the Cunningham matter.
The architect of the plan to fire Carol Lam is Ron Nehring.
Ron Nehring, Tom Del Beccaro elected to top state GOP leadership
Sunday, February 11, 2007
(02-11) 13:02 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) --
Ron Nehring, a conservative from San Diego County, was elected chairman of the California Republican Party Sunday at the close of its state convention in Sacramento.
Nehring, who works with the national conservative activist Grover Norquist, succeeds chairman George "Duf" Sundheim, a Silicon Valley attorney, who was a close ally of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Those of you who don't follow California politics too closely, may not have noticed that after Schwarzenegger's failed special election, his party loyalty veered sharply toward the middle of the road, and some say, toward the left. No question Nehring was appointed to try to steer the state GOP back to the right. Here's my diary on Nehring, where I suggest that Nehring might be the next Karl Rove.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
To understand the motivation behind the political firings the methods of the GOP must be revealed. This is very unpleasant stuff, as they essentially talk about taking apart the Democratic political appartus , as though they were performing an autopsy on the living. Democrats pride themselves on being progressive thinkers, "Think Globally, Act Locally", is one of our favorite slogans. Unfortunately the other side has taken a page from the play book.
Action Items
To win in difficult districts, the Republican Party must improve the competitiveness of its candidates.
Emphasize the importance of winning local office as an important part of winning election to higher office. Electing Republicans locally serves to put our ideas into action while building a farm team for the future.
Support effective voter registration programs that demonstrate success in substantially increasing Republican Party membership. [I would suppose this might also include drives to purge voters who were poor, or ethnic, who might not vote Republican, from voter rolls...]
Develop and deploy strong, volunteer-intensive Republican voter turnout programs that significantly increase Republican voter turnout, driving down the number of non-Republican votes candidates need for victory.
Build coalitions with potential new Republican voters by identifying issues where Republicans share common principles and values with those who do not yet identify with our party. [Emphasize that you believe in fiscal conservatism, and smaller government, even while your party is running spending deficits, and increasing the size of the Federal Bureaucracy. Avoid mentioning your position on Stem Cell Research, for instance..]
Promote the training of candidates, campaign staff, and volunteers, providing the knowledge base for making the most effective use of time, energy, and resources. [This might include special training for volunteers on the ground. If you are a poll worker, how you might take your voting machine home for a sleep over...]
Promote the naming of potential future candidates to appointed positions in government to help build experience and networks for future campaigns.[Did someone mention appointed positions in government, to help build experience, for future campaigns..??]
Coordinate member communications programs under Proposition 34, allowing the party to raise funds to support candidate campaigns and reducing the candidate’s need to expend limited resources communicating with Republicans.
California has 1.3 million more Democrats than Republicans, but there are many more elected offices where Republicans can be elected to put our ideas into action by committing ourselves to strong candidates, strong campaigns, and a strong party.
Is this boilerplate, or manifesto?
BUILDING REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
There’s no such thing as a non-partisan election.
It’s true: our solid Republican ideas work as well at city hall and in our schools as they do when they’re applied in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.
Five years ago in San Diego County, we decided that the Republican Party would be directly involved in local elections, ending the long running practice of standing on the sidelines while the Democrats and their allies systematically took over city councils and school boards. Our Republican Party committed itself to endorsing and supporting and electing our members to every school board, fire board, water board, city council, and other local government agency in the county.
And more recently, this note on the timing of the change in leadership of the Republican Chair, seems to have something to do with the proposed changes in the rules concering the Primary election, and what seems to be an end run to block McCain from gathering independent votes.
It is being reporting in the Washington Times today by FR friend and veteran reporter Ralph Hallow that the McCain for President Campaign, through former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, is advocating (behind the scenes) for the California Republican Party to change its existing Rules, which currently require that you must be a registered Republican to vote in the upcoming Presidential primary. According to the Times' story, Sundheim supports allowing non-GOPers (specifically independent voters) to be able to cast ballots in the GOP primary.
Such a change is not supported by Sundheim's successor, newly elected California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who told me this morning, "We just completed our last state convention before the RNC's June deadline for states to submit their delegate selection rules. Those rules are set as far as I'm concerned. Candidates should focus their efforts on persuading California Republicans they are the most qualified to provide the vision and leadership to carry the party's banner in 2008."
http://www.ronnehring.com
In San Diego County, one of Grover Norquist chief lieutenants heads the county Republican Party. Ron Nehring is the county chair and the co-chairman of the California State Republican Party. Nehring is also a "senior consultant" to Americans for Tax Reform.
Nehring was a staunch supporter of Randy "Duke" Cunningham right up to the Duke's guilty plea. In November, when Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for Cunningham's seat in the CA-50 proposed reforms that would reduce the sort of abuses that allowed Cunningham to secretly steer millions of dollars to companies and individuals, without congressional over-sight, Nehring accused Busby of "regurgitating a 'spoon-fed' proposal created by the Democratic Party in Washington."
Nehring consistently attempts to steer reporters to historical ethical abuses by Democrats. It is interesting that not a single local reporter is questioning Nehring's connections with Norquist, ATR and, ultimately, Jack Abramoff. Maybe it is time to connect one more dot in the mess that is the Republican congress of corruption
.http://whpsocal.blogspot.com/...
Here's what the Sacramento Bee says.
In 2001, when Nehring took the San Diego GOP reins, the Democrats controlled the City Council, a Republican congressman -- Brian Bilbray -- had just been voted out of office, and the local party was broke.
Nehring, 36, is credited with putting together a powerful political machine that rallied cash and volunteers behind Republican candidates for posts from state lawmaker to mayor to county supervisor to school board member and -- he jokes -- to local "mosquito abatement officer."
Krugmans' editorial is starting to make a lot more sense.
"These are elections, and elections are what we do," said Ron Nehring, chair of the San Diego County Republican Party. "There is no such thing as a nonpartisan election. Democrats have known this for a long time, but Republicans have learned this only recently."
Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, said that "in an ideal world" parties would not be endorsing candidates for nonpartisan elections. "But it does become partisan more often than not, because people like Ron Nehring force them to become that," he said.
http://www.californiaprogressreport....
Some of this was covered in the first diary. What is worth repeating is that Carol Lam was brought into office to carry out the plan of Nehring and Norquist, part of the Republicans national plan to politicize local politics, at every level, and to that end she pursued the convictions of San Diego City Councilmembers, Zucchet, and Inzunza, (ultimately reversed) and she sought to ignore the growing evidence that Duke Cunningham was involved in a much larger scandal, one that cast a veil of corruption over the entire Republican party. Carol Lam is not the innocent victim.
When it became obvious that Lam's political usefullness had worn thin, and Nehring took charge, a new set of standards was put in place. It was also evident that the plan to influence and win seats in local political races, and the wider veil of corruption were going to coincide to bring intense scrutiny to some of the selective prosecutions which had been conducted.
You can paint this grassroots political movement in any shade of grey you prefer. Call it smart politics, and just a bit over the top. Call it Neo Fascist, it's becoming clear that this thing goes all the way to the White House, and that appointed positions in government to help build experience and networks for future campaigns. includes judicial appointments.
It would have made more sense to fire Lam before she convicted Cunningham. All the evidence supports the fact that she tried not to bring the case up in a timely fashion, and that she was issuing blanket subpeonas to Democrats, for their part in the appropriations scandal the day before she was fired.
Recall those prescient words, "Act Locally... We need to remember to investigate locally, indict locally, convict locally, until the trail leads you all way to the White House, and it will...
This is much more than some political operative in Washington pulling the plug on a DA because he doesn't like who she has prosecuted, when the case is already over. This is something far deeper and more ominious. This is just the beginning.