Heard on the Tom/Toms
Stephen Frank, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 8/26/24 www.capoliticalnewsandviews.com
Another Major GOP Central Committee Closes Down
If we are to win new seats and keep our current legislative seats, we need vibrant, aggressive and successful Central Committees. The LAGOP only exists at monthly meetings. This was admitted to by the LAGOP chair, Tim O’Reilly at a recent endorsement meeting. He told those asking for endorsements, “We have no money and no volunteers”. He is correct, they owe money than they have in their accounts. Maybe the fact that the members were not given full treasurers reports for months or that many meeting excluded Republicans, except for members and alternates.
This is a County with 23% of the Statewide vote. It can not even help a candidate for city council in the smallest city.
Now we find that another major County, San Bernardino has closed down—and has been closed for several months. For many months and until December, announced Chair Phil Cothran, the committee will have monthly secret meetings—even congressional nominees are not allowed to attend. When Phil was elected as Chair (he is a wealthy businessman and major fund raiser) he stated he would raise ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Instead the Committee is broke and candidates in the County are on their own, just like in LAGOP.
But it gets worse in San Bernardino. A Central Committee member appointed Agnes Gibboney as her alternate. The law is clear, members are allowed to appoint anyone they wish, within the rules of the committee. Instead, the Chair had a vote and Agnes, an Angel Mom and congressional nominee was not allowed to be seated—so she will not be allowed to attend the secret meetings of the Committee. BTW, several months ago her husband was appointed as an alternate, and an illegal vote for taken and he was not allowed to be seated.
In their own words, “We didn’t support Phil Cothran when he ran for Chairman in 2020 after he boasted that he could raise a million dollars for Central Committee when as treasurer he had done nothing, and of course the million dollars never materialized. In fact, Central Committee is broke and in debt. The meeting Cothran was elected as Chairman, quite a few new alternates were sworn in before the vote. After that meeting, these new alternates never participated again. Conditions within Central Committee began deteriorating.”
Apparently they never intended to be Committee members, Phil just got them to vote for him as they walked away.”
On Saturday, I spoke with several San Bernardino committee members. In their own words they felt Cothran was taking the Obama method of governing, “If you don’t like it, sue me.” My guess is that no one will sue—but GOP’ candidates will lose.
I will note there are several other County Committees that operate in the same way. How do we win if major, and smaller counties exist on paper only?
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‘Throwing money down a well’: McCarthy’s revenge tour comes to an end — Rep. Matt Gaetz’s decisive victory this week capped off multiple losses for allies of Kevin McCarthy, and they’re unsure if they’ll continue their vendetta in 2026. Ally Mutnick, Jordain Carney, Madison Fernandez and Mia Mccarthy Politico — 8/25/24
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The unions strike again against the consumer—and promote policies to RAISE the cost of food. Self check-out counters reduce the number of workers paying dues—and financing the Democrat Party:
A California bill would limit self-checkout lanes. What’s it really about? — For more than a year, California businesses’ concerns about retail theft have taken top billing in the Capitol, spurring more than a dozen new laws. But the grocery and drug store workers who deal with thefts and other crimes every day have their own ideas about how to address those threats. Molly Burke in the San Francisco Chronicle$ — 8/24/24
(Periodically the California Political News and Views will publish tidbits of political news, to keep you in the loop of what the pooh bahs know. The phrase “tom/tom’s” comes from my mentor, Lorelei Kinder who never passed a rumor, just called to tell me what she heard on the “TomTom’s”. This column is named in her honor.)
The Republican Party in California is not dead yet, but it has hit the self destruct button. The committees forgot their original mission and instead became a money raising rich people’s club. People who attended committee meetings, when they were held, were basically ignored unless they were big contributors. Maybe the committee leaders were nothing more than RINOs taking up space.