Carey’s “Steering Committee” Raises Questions
Posted by Andy on April 2nd, 2007
The list of names on Ron Carey’s letter sent out last week and received by select Republican State Central Delegates and Alternates this weekend may actually be inaccurate. This list (referred to as a ‘Steering Committee’ by Carey in the letter) may have been gathered over the last 2 months, well before Col. Joe Repya’s entrance into the race just last week. The listed people may have offered Carey their support back when he was seemingly going to be unopposed for party Republican Party Chairman, because “who else were they going to support?”
Given the emerging news on Repya of last week, and the rapid deployment of this letter, a couple questions come to my mind.
- Did Ron Carey verify all of the names listed on his “Steering Committee” before he sent this letter?
- Did Carey give these people a chance to consider being publicly involved in this now competitive race before he sent the letter out, following the Repya announcement?
Developing….
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April 2nd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I would hope that the Republicans listed as supporters of Ron Carey would have the integrity to only say they support him if they really do. Not simply say they will support him until they decide to support someone else. I guess anyone who would lack that level of integrity would be someone I would lose a level of respect for.
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Andy:
I’m not sure this post is the vision you promised in an earlier email. Come on - you can do it!
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:52 pm
I think it goes:
“Come on Andy you can do it, put a little power to it.”
April 2nd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
It doesn’t matter what the politicians support or don’t support.
It will come down to the delegates; and it’s about time the delegates take the grass roots’ party back.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:48 am
Hear hear!
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:23 am
Psycmeistr/Gary:
For the past 35 years, Ron Carey have been a proud movement conservative. He is a grassroots chair for the Republican Party. Carey has a great relationship with the delegates.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:36 am
To which I would ask, “Why did you give it up in the first place?” If the delegates will not take action in their own BPOUs and CDs that will find and elect “better” candidates– those who will advance conservative principles, not just warm a seat– then why should they bother taking action on leadership? That’s just enough to make some, not even all, delegates feel as if they’re doing something, when they ought to be doing a lot more. “Taking the Party back” is worthless unless you know what to do with it after you get it.
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:05 am
Can anyone close to Carey answer the questions I asked above?
Did Ron Carey confirm these people’s support before he sent their names out publicly once Repya had announced?
April 3rd, 2007 at 11:33 am
MDE: You need to get out of the Metro more. Out here where we actually elect Republicans, Carey is seen as a complete and utter failure. If you think he has a great relationship with the delegates, you must be listening to Ron, and Ron only. There is an impending disaster coming for the Carey camp and Ron knows it. I would imagine you’ll see him withdraw prior to June so as to exit gracefully and not be embarrased by the overwhelming rural CD vote for Repya.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Coreconservative:
For the past 35 years, Ron Carey have been a proud movement conservative. He is a grassroots chair for the Republican Party. Carey has a great relationship with the delegates across the state. Over the past few days, I’ve spoken with numerous delegates in greater Minnesota who are proudly supporting Ron Carey.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:45 pm
MDE:
Movement conservative? I think not. Certainly not a libertarian conservative in the mold of Goldwater or Reagan. Certainly a Christian conservative.
Grassroots? He might schmooz the grassroots, but how much did he spend in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th? On state legislative, judicial and congressional races? NOT ONE DIME!
Supporters? Go ahead, keep your head in the sand. I’m out here actually counting votes. Carey is toast.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:52 pm
There is a great deal of support for Carey some of which might leave if a better option comes along. I’m still waiting for the phone call from anyone who thinks they can do better!
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Is this really the debate we want to be having, arguing about who should be chair? Shouldn’t we be concerned about what every BPOU and CD AND the State Party ought to be doing to get our act together? I am just simply not seeing how electing one person as chair, by a 51-49 vote or even a 70-30 vote, is going to solve our fundamental problems of low fundraising, disillusioned activists, a shortage of good candidates, and an inability to “sell” our conservative message. Is a disunifying fight really that helpful?
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Yes it is a necessary fight. In many ways it is a microcosm that mirrors the Rockefeller/Goldwater ‘64 and Reangan/Ford ‘76 national debate over who is best suited to reunite us under core conservative principles that the majority of voters can flock to.
It is also about the integrity of who will lead us as Chair. Our current Chair knowingly put out a statewide letter over the last few days listing his ’steering committee’ knowing full well that some of those listed no longer supported him. What we’re not getting from the Carey camp is the truth. What we are getting is smoke and mirrors. Worse yet, now even Brodkorb is ’schilling’ for him. It is hard to imagine that he would jeopardize the long term credibility of MDE over this.
If our current Chair really believes he can change and eliminate the fractious situation within the Party then he needs to first come clean about the defections ‘en masse’ from his supporters and even some on his steering committee. Do I think he will do this? NO.
If we are to get back to being a cohesive Party, we certainly can’t do it under the mantle of someone who will be tainted by this mini-scandal that is brewing. We don’t need a leader who won’t come clean and would rather wati until he and the Party are publicly embarrased by this. I am not the only one familiar with who the defectors are and eventually someone other than me will begin to name names.
Hey, MDE (you’re on the steering committee, so) get ahold of Carey and tell him to come clean before it’s too late. Then we’ll know if he really is more concerned with what’s best for the Party or just what’s best for himself.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I have been out of the state for a few months, but I find it hard to believe that Carey would have any support right now. He can’t excite activists, he can’t fundraise and the press thinks he’s a joke. Its time for the adults to take over again.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:22 pm
CoreConservative said ” He might schmooz the grassroots, but how much did he spend in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th? On state legislative, judicial and congressional races? NOT ONE DIME!”
I don’t know about the rest of it, but the few measley pennies that my corner of the 2nd District got didn’t amount to much and we had to beg, plead, cajole and THREATEN before we got anything. We were entirely on our own the final 15 days of the election - THEY EVEN TOOK OUR FIELD STAFFER AWAY FROM US!!!! That is not the kind of support I expected out of Chairman Carey. Shoot we got more support out of the Bush campaign in 2004 than we got out of the MNGOP in 2006!!!!!
MDE said “He is a grassroots chair for the Republican Party.”
If he WERE the “grassroots chair” Michael, he would be listening to the grassroots - especially those who are unhappy with the “leadership” we are getting out of St. Paul and DC and he would be telling us what he can or can not do to change things, instead of making excuses and blaming the grassroots for the party’s failures! He would also be listening to us when we PLEAD for some direction (aka leadership) out of him.
The grassroots is looking for the positive Reaganesque message. What we are getting out of Chairman Carey is press release after press release about what crooks the DFL are. While that gives you an endless supply of blogging fodder, it doesn’t do the grassroots volunteers any good. Our neighbors what to know WHY they should vote Republican, not that the DFL are abject scum.
JE is right though…“Taking the Party back” IS worthless if we don’t know what to do with it. The question we should be asking ourselves (as delegates) is what are we going to do to move the party forward if we take it back. Complaining about the status quo does nothing. There must be constructive, forward looking ideas too. Do we have any? Do the candidates have any? We don’t have a lot of time to find out. The state Convention is a scant 60 days away.
LL
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
To be clear Core, we don’t know that he didn’t know they didn’t support him. He may just have neglected to see if they would still support him over Repya after he got in the race.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:57 pm
He probably sat them all down, started talking and when they all fell asleep he took that as support.
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Onvacation said “He can’t excite activists…”
That is, in my mind, the most important thing. If you can not get the rank and file engaged (and a lot of my districts rank and file stayed HOME on election day) you are going to lose elections. We are going to need to see if Colonel Repya is the one who can excite the activists.
LL
PS - I wish I were STILL on vacation. It was a lot warmer and sunnier than this!
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Andy:
I’ll give you that point that he may not have checked his support after Repya entered the race. But clearly, Carey had to begin mailing these letters on Friday knowing full well that things had changed.
It is the responsibility of a leader to make sure the facts are correct before taking action. I just think he had all these prepared letters ready and it was just ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’.
Again, this is one of his main problems. He doesn’t think, he reacts.
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
LL:
I don’t know if Repya is the one to excite the grassroots. I know up until recently there was a man over at that party who could excite the grassroots better than anyone, but he was smart and decided to get out and use his God given talent in another arena.
God help us if we don’t elect someone who can excite the base and the donors. Otherwise I believe that the Republican Party of Minnesota as a organization will be nothing more than a shell. Coleman will run everything through the NRSC, the House and Senate caucuses will run their own races. There will be nothing to unite those groups.
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Friends:
I think we call all agree that strengthening the Republican Party of Minnesota should be our goal. As I said on my radio show, that while I am supporting Ron Carey’s re-election, I think Joe Repya is a great American and a patriot.
I’m looking forward to a positive and hearty discussion on the upcoming MN GOP leadership elections.
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Hey Brodkorb,
Didn’t you call Blois Olson a great American?
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
MDE
How much does the RPM pay you to write that blog? It seems that you always support a Chairman that’s in trouble. Just kidding. It will be an interesting debate. I hope there are lots of dirty unauthorized hit pieces from both sides. The party’s in such bad shape right now, a good old nasty Chairmans race can’t hurt it that much.
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Onvacation said “I don’t know if Repya is the one to excite the grassroots. ”
Have you ever been around a Marine “on a mission”….they can excite the DEAD! And have on more than a few occasions. I’ve been around a few in my time.
Col. Repya has done the fundraising before so that is a plus. It’s just can he organize a bunch of volunteers - as opposed to a bunch of troops!
MDE said: “I’m looking forward to a positive and hearty discussion on the upcoming MN GOP leadership elections.”
I certainly hope that we can keep it that way.
AAA said “Hey Brodkorb,
Didn’t you call Blois Olson a great American?”
Play nice AAA.
LL
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:17 pm
MDE:
I would encourage you to look back two years to where we were (not so good) and look at RPM today (disaster). And you’re supporting someone who will continue to move us in that same direction?
I will also take ‘positive and hearty discussion’ to mean that you do know the defectors and (like Carey and the MSM) are just going to ingore news that doesn’t fit your message. It’s a house of cards, Michael.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
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