The problem is that we don’t know clearly what those principles are, and we certainly don’t communicate them clearly to the public, and can’t seem to find candidates who can clearly articulate and defend them. That’s a very big problem. The State Party can, and should, propose ways in which to solve these things, or take ideas from the BPOUs, or some combination, but the BPOUs are still going to have to do these things for themselves.

The response was “I can think of about 90,000 thank you’s no chair has ever gotten before”.

He was playing the poor me card on Friday, and then sounded completely different on the NARN w/ Brodkorb and King Saturday. On that more friendly radio show, he was seeming to blame the Caucus leadership for the elected officials not holding to conservative Republican principles.

I was not able to pay close attention to that show, but it sure sounded like Carey was describing a completely different political party than the one he was on Friday.

He says we delegates need to pick better candidates to endorse, BUT the party leadership (ie: Carey) was actively hindering good candidates, and fighting tooth and nail to be sure we had no options for endorsement. Sue Jeffers is only one example. Harold Shudlick was actively hindered as well. Ultimately he, at least was allowed to address the convention, but only after they severely handicapped him. He didn’t get a delegates list until weeks before the convention. John Uldrich also wasn’t allowed to address the convention. The party, not the delegates chose Kennedy.

Convention rules were changed last-minute to prevent nominations from the floor. In other words, to prevent the delegates from chosing their candidates! Party leaders used proceedural tricks (like running out the clock with pointless platitudes) to prevent debate about the actual rules change. This wansn’t the action of the delegates. It was Carey, and a certain well-known Central Committee member who worked to keep the delegates in line (and in the dark). We were nothing but a rubber-stamp to endorse the candidates chosen for us by party leaders.

Carey has some nerve to blame the delegates!!! That sort of buck-passing doesn’t indicate good leadership to me.

LL

“As mr truth said, BPOUs cannot take on the big liberals groups. EdMN, Unions, MoveOn, etc etc. But if the state party and elected GOP leaders (IE the top of the ticket) were going head to head on the issues with these people and defining the GOP vision vs their liberal one, instead of trying to find common ground or split the difference, our BPOUs could have a chance when they are out one on one. We can get the workers there, but only if it is worth there while, and they have something to sell. We can’t go door to door selling a product labeled grade a beef, when the people know its really tofurkey.”

I think you’re exactly right, and I’m optimistic on that. I love what Senjem and Seifert are doing– bringing up “right” bills even knowing they’ll be defeated, then exposing all the “silly bills” the DFL puts up. We’ve even got Pawlenty saying he’ll veto tax increases, and it looks like the R caucus will hold together well enough to sustain. This could play well with the 70% of voters who don’t think taxes should be raised.

What I can’t do is to say that the State Party HQ can do it by itself. It is going to take great leadership (which you say we don’t have; I’m not sure) to get the State Party to do what it’s never done before (to my knowledge, what NO state party has done before)– to buck their party’s elected officials and support the principles instead. And it wouldn’t even be necessary if the BPOUs were strong enough to send only principled legislators to St. Paul. Yes, the Party leadership can be much more effective in building these BPOUs and giving them a “big megaphone” marketing of our principles. and they should. But the BPOUs have it in their combined if not individual power, to make the change themselves. Ours has started. How about yours?

AAA started a conversation yesterday based on Chairman Carey’s appearance on the Jason Lewis radio show yesterday. Chairman Carey said (in response to a caller asking about RINO’s that don’t follow the platform) that the people passing the platform…

“BTW: I remember this whole it is up to the BPOUs and their fault attitude back when Eibensteiner was around. That’s one reason he was resoundingly thrown under the bus. And what so many failed to see is that Ron Carey had been in party leadership even longer, having been the Secretary Treasurer for 8 years, or 4 full elections cycles. ”

Yep - and we (the grass roots) need to remember that in June when he runs for Chair again.

Honestly AAA - there is blame enough to go around. Where I fault the Chairman is that there was no clear reason (from the Party) why voters should vote Republican. The only thing we got was “well you don’t want Governor Hatch do you?” We (the grass roots) did send up a couple of folks that would have been best to have been left behind however, a couple of them you and I were firmly behind. That is one of the things that hurt us. You and I have learned….will the other districts learn? Will the state party learn? We don’t have a lot of time to find out.

The grass roots needs to start driving this beast and driving it forward. The Chairman said that this is a bottom up organization…time for things to roll UP for a change!

LL

By the way the GOP caucuses should throw out anyone who votes to raise taxes.

If the party can’t stand up for the principles and actually in the public arena, take on Ed Mn, and the DFL, why have it be so ‘centrific’ and controlling? The do set the agenda or organization that CDs and BPOUs have to follow.

Yes some BPOUs and CDs are reforming because they have to due to the state. But others are following this”Its up to the BPOU and the state party just can’t do anything” mindset, but refuse to even assist in the communication between them. Now BPOUs are the muscle of our party, but there has to be tendons to hold it together. there has to be a nervous system to help it work with the other ones, not against them. One muscle can’t move a body, we have to work together. But most importantly is having a super model exterior (IE skin) that draws people towards us in the first place is going to make it easier for everyone.

That’s my problem with the status quo mentality currently visible. I was ready to give up and pray Carey is the person some say he is, then I started to hear about things again, and go back to the Carey I know and see.

We didn’t lose the MN house because of Iraq, and I hope to Reagan no one really buys that as THE lone reason (a part, maybe, but in absolutely no way the lone reason. IF so, explain Bachmann and Kline and Pawlenty. All 3 were big supporters of the war. It wasn’t an issue our state candidates even touched on. And if voters did vote because of it, it is further proof that Minnesotans no longer know what the Republican party of Minnesota stands for.).

We lost because people are now starting to believe that Government can and SHOULD answer and solve every single problem in people’s lives. Why? Because Republicans (especially at the top) have started to believe that too and define the party to fit that model. As much as Pawlenty has done on conservatives’ behalf, he has … well he said it himself, “the era of small government is over.” I completely disagree, but if even the Republican party won’t try to make the case against that notion…..

If the GOP is going to go along with that, you will see more discontent, and even less workers in the grassroots in 2008. And no matter how we rearrange the deck chairs, it won’t matter. It’s the issues folks, call it platform or principles, that’s where the real fight needs to be waged. All the details and mechanics are great, but if we don’t have 2 clear visions visible at the statewide level, it will be another massacre.

I agree that there needs to be an alternative, and there are still people still considering it and preparing their plans.

And to JEwing’s MSM attack:
If Ron Carey can’t admit there was a fundamental failure at the state level, that the performance of elected Republicans in 2005 & 2006 is what killed our grassroots turnout and the defense offered when they did it that and helped lead to 59% voter turnout, and Carey is going to blame the grassrootss for endorsing them, as well as put the responsibility on grassroots to repair that, well….

WHY DO WE EVEN HAVE A STATE PARTY CHAIR WITH SO MUCH POWER?
All we need is an office manager, data manager, and researchers. We don‘t need a full time CEO Chair if he can’t do anything.

As mr truth said, BPOUs cannot take on the big liberals groups. EdMN, Unions, MoveOn, etc etc. But if the state party and elected GOP leaders (IE the top of the ticket) were going head to head on the issues with these people and defining the GOP vision vs their liberal one, instead of trying to find common ground or split the difference, our BPOUs could have a chance when they are out one on one. We can get the workers there, but only if it is worth there while, and they have something to sell. We can’t go door to door selling a product labeled grade a beef, when the people know its really tofurkey.

Right now, a lot of grassroots people could care less. That’s a problem, and something that can’t be solved by volunteer leaders at BPOU levels.

I’m demanding accountability from our party leadership. I’m questioning the past performance and current blame shifting. You call it whining and caterwauling, I call it caring about this party so darn much that I am taking this argument to the people that will listen and hopefully care enough to ask questions too so some real change can take place once and for all. We’re really arguing about the exact same stuff as we were when Ron Eibensteiner was run out of the party. Well…..

Our party can be better than this, and the secrecy and closed door meetings are only going to further divide this party.

Volunteer chairs at the local level can’t solve everything that is wrong with the party brand and organization. Especially when we’re shunned and forced to do what we are told.