Here is the back story to the election of a new Chair in San Diego GOP.
Months ago the chair, Paula Whitsell, agreed to step down from her position. As part of the agreement, the new Chair, Corey Gustafson, agreed not to get involved in the GOP vs. GOP race for Assembly between Andrew Hayes and Carl DeMaio.
A few weeks before the November 5 election, Corey started to endorse Hayes, use the SD Central Committee to help Hayes. At that point, people got angry, they thought they had a deal. So, Paula got back in the fray…and she won.
When you read this story, it is based on folks who are anonymous and not supporters of Assemblyman DeMaio. In a few months, candidates will start showing up asking for endorsements from the SD Central Committee. The story is typical of a political organization at election time. I could discuss somewhat similar situations in at least six other GOP committees. The San Fran Democrat county committee had a massive fight between Progressives, Very Progressives and self described “moderates” during their organization meeting.
Nothing new here. It has been going on for at least 63 years since I attended my first LA Central Committee meeting in June, 1961.
Stunner: Paula Whitsell Wins Back GOP Chairmanship as DeMaio Role Debated
by Ken Stone, Times of San Diego, 12/12/24 https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2024/12/11/stunner-paula-whitsell-wins-back-gop-chairmanship-as-demaio-role-debated/
Eight months after being ousted as chair of the San Diego County Republican Party, Paula Whitsell is back in the GOP saddle.
Stoked by newly elected Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, members of the party’s Central Committee voted 26-20 (with two abstentions) Monday night to re-elect Whitsell as party chair and dump short-lived chair Corey Gustafson, Times of San Diego has learned.
“This is Carl’s party now,” said a Central Committee member who didn’t want to be named. “Paula is merely a puppet of their platform.”
The committee member and another witness described a raucous meeting — at the Legacy International Center in Mission Valley — in which DeMaio ushered in non-committee members and drowned out state Sen. Brian Jones, a backer of Gustafson.
Rep. Darrell Issa letter to county GOP Central Committee. (PDF)
“It was like . . . a wedding from hell,” said the committee member. “All the people that supported Carl on one side. And all the people that supported Corey on the other.”
The same person said: “Paula is merely just someone that Carl will use for however long he can use and then they will shoot her in the back of the head if she gets out of line.”
Whitsell is expected to step down after six months, the member said, and hand the job to Alana Sorensen.
Cory Gautereaux, recruited by Jones to serve as the meeting’s sergeant-at-arms, was disgusted by the scene. He was told to bar noncommittee members from the meeting (until the Christmas party that followed).
But Gautereaux said DeMaio defied rules by forcing his supporters in.
He described a “filibuster” in which Gustafson backers were kept from speaking “so Carl’s team could just overrun the whole thing.”
“And then what Carl did — while his team was trying to … yell at everybody and cause chaos — Carl would come in and calm the people down to make it look like he was in charge. It was fascinating to watch.”
Gautereaux, an El Cajon gun store owner, also said he saw two Central Committee members “inebriated” and plans to file an ethics complaint with the party.
But his role in the GOP could be over.
He told me in a phone interview that until the local party drastically changes, “they won’t see a dime from me or any support from me. And I’m currently in the process of … potentially creating a third party, because this was just so disastrous for me to see in person. … and I firmly believe I could take about a third of that Central Committee with me.”
On the eve of Monday’s chair election, Rep. Darrell Issa wrote to committee members on behalf of incumbent Gustafson and blasted old foe DeMaio.
“Assemblyman DeMaio has accused Chairman Corey Gustafson of misappropriating funds,” Issa wrote via email Sunday. “In response, I requested evidence to support this serious allegation in two separate emails on November 30.”
Paula Whitsell letter to Central Committee members. (PDF)
Issa said that even when presented with party financial records, “Mr. DeMaio failed to provide any evidence to back up his claim. Instead, he pivoted to a different accusation of ‘misrepresenting stats’ — again without any evidence.”
I reached out Wednesday evening to DeMaio, Gustafson and Whitsell, but they didn’t respond.
One who did — Lakeside school board member Andrew Hayes, the fellow Republican who DeMaio defeated in the 75th District race in November — said via email:
“There’s always squabbles in families and our local GOP family is not any different. I hope that we can move forward and unify after Monday’s tense meeting. I believe politics and governing is inherently about addition and not subtraction. We need a strong local party to fight against the failed policies of the majority party and fight for a better quality of life for all San Diegans.”
The party subtracted its paid staff, however, the committee member said.
The member said executive director Andrew Cruz submitted his resignation — as did deputy director Rebecca Winfrey — and political communications director Nicolette Mangubat was fired. None of them responded to a request for comment.
But the member said Gerald “Jerry” Sirotnak — let go last month by Gustafson — was being brought back as executive director.
Whitsell, who succeeded longtime party chair Tony Krvaric in 2021, wrote a long letter to committee members on Nov. 23, calling DeMaio “the elephant in the room.”
She began her 1,500-word appeal for the chairmanship by saying: “Corey and some of his backers would like everyone to think the recent drama within the RPSDC is all about Carl DeMaio. They see it as a choice between them and him.”
Corey Gustafson letter to Central Committee members. (PDF)
Whitsell called that a “false choice — and a negligent and destructive framing of the issues we must address.”
She also alleged that senior leadership and donors at the Lincoln Club Business League said they wouldn’t accept Gustafson, 53, as chair “because he lied repeatedly to them and misused funds given by them.”
“They have clearly stated they want him gone and will not fund the Party if he is Chair,” Whitsell added. “They are supportive of our Succession Plan for Unity and want to see new leaders emerge.”
But on Nov. 28, Issa’s letter noted, Lincoln Club Chairman Dan Hom and Chairman-elect Scott Bedingfield released a statement “clarifying that the Lincoln Club ‘did not authorize the use of its name in connection with these disputes, nor have we made any official decisions in or statements regarding the leadership or internal dynamics of the San Diego Republican Party or other entities.’”
My Central Committee source also alleged that DeMaio cajoled members to vote for the “unity” slate of Whitsell, Sorensen as vice chair, Kristie Bruce-Lane as second vice chair, Dan Bickford as secretary and Bill Exeter as treasurer.
Facebook post listed new county GOP leaders.
The source said DeMaio — founder of money-raising Reform California — told several local officials, including San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, that he would support their bids for higher office only if they voted for Whitsell, a 71-year-old Chula Vistan.
Jones, who has launched a campaign to succeed former San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond on the county Board of Supervisors, took offense at the claim.
“I am not owned by a person,” Jones told me in a phone interview, saying she’s never been pressured for such a vote “in my 18 years in office, whether I’ve been on the Central Committee or as a council member or mayor or even vice mayor for that matter.”
“My allegiance is to my constituents and serving them,” she added. “I believe that people are independent thinkers, and I don’t think that anybody, any one person wants to run everything.
“My point is that the party needs to unite and we just need to move on … (and) get good people elected to office. I mean, at the end of the day, that’s what the Central Committee’s job is. That’s what the party’s job is — to get good candidates elected.”
