From Phil Spackman:
Since 2004 I have watched this once great political party continue to fall apart. It saddens me greatly to see this happening, but it doesn't surprise me at all: from the shenanigans that went on at the State Chair elections in 2004 to the derailing of Susan Hutchison's bid for the US senate in 2006.
And now this.
The State Gop has blown a golden opportunity to grow the party in a pretty sizable fashion. It's estimated that the Ron Paul candidacy attracted over 12,000 new participants to the State GOP this past year.
Now, you would think this would be a good thing for the party. Unfortunately it has not worked out this way so far. Instead, what you have is a systematic attempt by the leadership of this party to drive away Ron Paul supporters. Luke Esser, by his own actions, has demonstrated he is not interested in uniting the members of the party. From the very beginning of his reign as State Chairman he has consistently been dividing this party, Luke has completely blown off the 44 state committee members that didn't support his election to State Chairman. Instead of embracing the thousands of new potential party members, he, with the willful aid of the Mainstream Republicans of Washington State, has done everything he could to keep them out.
Which brings me to Dino Rossi.
Where in the hell has he been during all of this? What kind of man (who is the defacto leader of the GOP in this State) sits on sideline and watches his own political party disintegrate?
Is it really worth kissing off 12,000 new voters just so you can be in the good graces of the Mainstream Republicans?
Dino, I will say this again: if you want to win you need to follow the Bobby Jindal model for success. Sir, stop hiding in the corner ~ you won't win that way.
While I have painted a pretty dark picture of the outlook for the party, there is one man that can right this ship and unite this seriously divided party and that's my friend Mark Hulst. I have known this man for over 14 years. I have seen Mark do just that in Skagit county many years ago. He was probably the best county party chairperson in this state bar none. I watched Mark clean up a huge mess and turn that county party into a winner again. What's more, he is a conservative through and through. In the coming weeks my friend, the "Washington Activist" and I, will launch a site where all of you can go help encourage Mark Hulst to run for State GOP chairperson. For now check out gowashingtonpolitics.com and markhulst.com to learn more about him. If everyone pulls together we can make this a reality.
How will he be different from current leadership? Will there be greater tolerance for minority voices? Will his new leadership pre-ordain only select candidates with biased procedures in the various levels of caucus / convention? Will caucus delegate lists be made available for lobbying, or more embargoes?
Posted by: WestSeattlePCO on June 4, 2008 10:33 PMI see you feel very passionate about that and it is great, but what exactly has Esser done (specifics please) that back up your statements? I am not saying he has or has not done just what you are stating, I just would really like to look at it myself. I have been out of the country now for going on 14 months, so I have missed out on allot of what has been going on.
As for the Paul supporters, I think the biggest problem for them is the biggest problem with many of the various groups out there. The biggest, loudest people get all the attention and it is not always good attention. I know that all it takes is a few bad apples to make the whole group look bad and I try not to judege the whole group based on what a few "bad apples" have done. I think Paul has some good suggestions and some other positions that I just cannot in good conscience agree with, but that is no reason there cannot be open debate. With that said, my question for the Ron Paul supporters is your candidate did not win this time, I am sure Ron Paul will be back in 2012, so why do you continue to push forward like he could still win the nomination at the convention? I just really hope that the few "bad apples" out there do not go and do anything to disrupt the convention like the Democrats had happen in '68. It will tarnish all who are a part of it and will not help Ron Paul out a bit. Just for the record, no I am not a supporter of McCain and I do not see anyway that I can vote for him due to principle.
Posted by: TrueSoldier on June 5, 2008 04:04 AMThe reason Paul supporters are pushing on is two fold.
1. They do not support the policies of John McCain at all. There is very little we find positive in his canidacy to support.
2. The Ron Paul campaign is seen as just the first step in a revolution. The revolution is a peaceful one but a revolution like the one in the 1700s nonetheless. Take a look at this article from lew rockwell to get the feeling of what is planned for the future. Even after november RP supporters are going to continue to fight on.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods91.html
Posted by: Lysander on June 5, 2008 05:44 AM Mark and I talked at some length yesterday about this whole ordeal. This is his position regarding Ron
Paul supporters: Mark is all for the supporters being
in the party. He wants the party to grow bigger in this state and if they are serious about being involved then he is all for it. I can tell you from
day one he has not been happy with the way the state
Gop has treated Paul supporters.
Swatter, Apparently you don't know the whole story
about what happened with Koster. I was living in
Skagit at the time and I can tell you it was not
the conservatives that slammed him. The Majority
of the conservatives supported John Koster. I was
at the skagit county Gop convention and Koster received a standing ovation from three quarters of
the room. There was a small group of individuals
who didn't supported him because he was pro life.
As to how he actually got slammed. The Koster campaign had
TV ads ready to run to respond the outright distortions that were made by the Larsen campaign,
The time slots they wanted to use were being held
by the state Gop. Chris Vance refused to release
the time slots and that's why Koster got slammed.
I don't know all the particulars, I admit, but I had heard it was the Skagit crowd that got him. I just assumed an R in Skagit was conservative by definition.
Posted by: swatter on June 5, 2008 10:52 AM Yeah not all of the republicans
in skagit are conservatives.Its a small number to be sure. But there big enough to screw things
Up if they want to.
I take that back, your mind is already gone.
Posted by: The World on June 7, 2008 08:59 AMI'm happy if they stay in the GOP and work to reform it, but I am also happy if they join the LP.
Either way, the world is better off for the Ron Paul revolution.
Posted by: Bruce Guthrie on June 7, 2008 01:17 PMweird weird weird. phil spackman is a perfect fit with the "Reagan Wing" clan -- membership now steadily approaching a half dozen!
Posted by: AD on June 8, 2008 06:24 PMSo, as ReaganWingesque he is, there is some truth in what he says. Face it, the leadership of the R machine is weak and tends to keep people away rather than bring people in.
So, while I take what anyone says with a grain of salt, I also there is truth in what Doug and Phil speak of.
Posted by: swatter on June 9, 2008 08:04 AMReally, I am here to learn.
Posted by: swatter on June 9, 2008 11:52 AMAnyways, Doug, I've said before that the way you couple your petty vendettas (see: Lori Sotelo, Michael Young, Ruth Gibbs, etc) with your zeal and paranoia to launch the hateful diatribes on your website (traffic approaching half a dozen hits a day!) is what causes people like me to remain anonymous.
Posted by: AD on June 10, 2008 12:23 AM