Political infighting spices up California Republican Assembly convention
Published: Wednesday, Apr. 20, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Allegations of fraud and vote fixing. Courts intervening in the election process. A call to police after members charge the door of a private meeting held to determine who is eligible to vote.
Sounds like the makings of a political thriller. But that's what unfolded at an Arden-area hotel last weekend as political infighting (and maybe some real fighting) spiced up what could have been a drab exercise of amending bylaws and electing officers at the California Republican Assembly's spring convention.
Divisions within the conservative group materialized amid Roseville activist Karen England's challenge to incumbent President Celeste Greig. In the end, Greig emerged from the scuffle victorious, winning re-election to a two-year term, although there remains disagreement over the final tally.
The whole messy scene could be chalked up to the awkward maneuvering of a political group striving to make its name. But to some Republicans, it was an unsettling illustration of the current state of a 75-year-old organization that has long billed itself as the moral conscience of the Republican Party.
It was the CRA, after all, that loudly endorsed favorite son Ronald Reagan over incumbent President Richard Nixon in 1972, cast a "no confidence" vote for gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson and still bemoans the tenure of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"This to me was poor in performance and embarrassing," said Eric Hogue, a conservative radio host on KTKZ. "It's embarrassing for people involved and for the party which they love."
Hogue said it reflects poorly on Republicans seeking to rebuild the party when leaders of a core group are focused on "personal petty politics and grudge lists" instead of seizing an opportunity to rally support for GOP-backed proposals to address issues facing the party and the state.
Though CRA support is still considered key in legislative and local races in conservative districts, the group's influence on state politics has waned in recent years. Every candidate the group backed in the 2010 Republican primary races lost.
It remains unclear how many members exist in the CRA, which is considered the largest GOP organization in the state outside the California Republican Party. Greig estimated the CRA has "a few thousand" members but said she has "no idea because it's a secret."
By all accounts, the weekend fight boiled down to a personality-driven power struggle, not a battle over ideology or leadership style.
GOP strategist Kevin Spillane characterized the dust-up as an "internal squabble that really doesn't have any major significance except to the combatants."
"For the organization, obviously it's not a positive development to have this level of infighting and acrimony," Spillane said. "In terms of what it means long term, it may not be significant."
Both sides of the weekend fight agree that cheating charges stemming from a series of contested officer races resulted in delegates from across the state getting the boot. How many delegates were disqualified and why they were stripped of their voting rights is the subject of a heated debate.
England said the CRA's weekend troubles escalated when committees barred more than 125 members – a figure she said represented 38 percent of the organization's original delegate pool – from participating in the leadership elections.
Former CRA President Mike Spence, who attended the convention, said the number of unseated delegates was unprecedented. "There were more delegates disqualified this time than there were delegates disqualified combined in the 20 years I've been involved." he said.
An attorney for CRA put the number at "much, much less" and pointed out that delegates – albeit not the ones whose credentials were being challenged – voted on the committee's eligibility recommendations during a Saturday session that spanned nine hours.
England and her supporters say Greig's camp took actions that violated or undermined the spirit of the nonprofit organization's corporate bylaws, including making last-minute appointments to the CRA board and attempting to stage a board vote via email to change the qualification requirements for delegates weeks before the Sacramento meeting. The latter is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court by representatives for the Riverside-based CRA chapter. A hearing is scheduled for April 28.
"All the delegates that they threw out were my delegates. They didn't throw any of their delegates out," said England, who said she was stripped of her own voting rights because she was briefly registered in two separate CRA branches after renewing her membership.
Spence said he saw a range of reasons being given for expelling delegates, many of whom had already paid registration fees and made the trip to Sacramento. Two state lawmakers – Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, and Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona – were among the delegates denied voting rights, he said.
The debate at the Hilton hotel got so tense Saturday morning that at one point someone called the local police. Though tempers had apparently cooled off by the time officials arrived and no arrests were made, two self-described sergeants-at-arms guarding the entrance to the meetings told a Bee reporter that a fight broke out after five men without the proper credentials "bullrushed" the door in an attempt to crash the election meetings inside.
The allegations of cheating went both ways. Greig had previously charged that challengers for her job and other officer posts were attempting to rig the vote. She sent an email to board members on March 29 saying the "delegate selection process has been corrupt and impossible to defend."
Sounds like the makings of a political thriller. But that's what unfolded at an Arden-area hotel last weekend as political infighting (and maybe some real fighting) spiced up what could have been a drab exercise of amending bylaws and electing officers at the California Republican Assembly's spring convention.
Divisions within the conservative group materialized amid Roseville activist Karen England's challenge to incumbent President Celeste Greig. In the end, Greig emerged from the scuffle victorious, winning re-election to a two-year term, although there remains disagreement over the final tally.
The whole messy scene could be chalked up to the awkward maneuvering of a political group striving to make its name. But to some Republicans, it was an unsettling illustration of the current state of a 75-year-old organization that has long billed itself as the moral conscience of the Republican Party.
It was the CRA, after all, that loudly endorsed favorite son Ronald Reagan over incumbent President Richard Nixon in 1972, cast a "no confidence" vote for gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson and still bemoans the tenure of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"This to me was poor in performance and embarrassing," said Eric Hogue, a conservative radio host on KTKZ. "It's embarrassing for people involved and for the party which they love."
Hogue said it reflects poorly on Republicans seeking to rebuild the party when leaders of a core group are focused on "personal petty politics and grudge lists" instead of seizing an opportunity to rally support for GOP-backed proposals to address issues facing the party and the state.
Though CRA support is still considered key in legislative and local races in conservative districts, the group's influence on state politics has waned in recent years. Every candidate the group backed in the 2010 Republican primary races lost.
It remains unclear how many members exist in the CRA, which is considered the largest GOP organization in the state outside the California Republican Party. Greig estimated the CRA has "a few thousand" members but said she has "no idea because it's a secret."
By all accounts, the weekend fight boiled down to a personality-driven power struggle, not a battle over ideology or leadership style.
GOP strategist Kevin Spillane characterized the dust-up as an "internal squabble that really doesn't have any major significance except to the combatants."
"For the organization, obviously it's not a positive development to have this level of infighting and acrimony," Spillane said. "In terms of what it means long term, it may not be significant."
Both sides of the weekend fight agree that cheating charges stemming from a series of contested officer races resulted in delegates from across the state getting the boot. How many delegates were disqualified and why they were stripped of their voting rights is the subject of a heated debate.
England said the CRA's weekend troubles escalated when committees barred more than 125 members – a figure she said represented 38 percent of the organization's original delegate pool – from participating in the leadership elections.
Former CRA President Mike Spence, who attended the convention, said the number of unseated delegates was unprecedented. "There were more delegates disqualified this time than there were delegates disqualified combined in the 20 years I've been involved." he said.
An attorney for CRA put the number at "much, much less" and pointed out that delegates – albeit not the ones whose credentials were being challenged – voted on the committee's eligibility recommendations during a Saturday session that spanned nine hours.
England and her supporters say Greig's camp took actions that violated or undermined the spirit of the nonprofit organization's corporate bylaws, including making last-minute appointments to the CRA board and attempting to stage a board vote via email to change the qualification requirements for delegates weeks before the Sacramento meeting. The latter is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court by representatives for the Riverside-based CRA chapter. A hearing is scheduled for April 28.
"All the delegates that they threw out were my delegates. They didn't throw any of their delegates out," said England, who said she was stripped of her own voting rights because she was briefly registered in two separate CRA branches after renewing her membership.
Spence said he saw a range of reasons being given for expelling delegates, many of whom had already paid registration fees and made the trip to Sacramento. Two state lawmakers – Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, and Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona – were among the delegates denied voting rights, he said.
The debate at the Hilton hotel got so tense Saturday morning that at one point someone called the local police. Though tempers had apparently cooled off by the time officials arrived and no arrests were made, two self-described sergeants-at-arms guarding the entrance to the meetings told a Bee reporter that a fight broke out after five men without the proper credentials "bullrushed" the door in an attempt to crash the election meetings inside.
The allegations of cheating went both ways. Greig had previously charged that challengers for her job and other officer posts were attempting to rig the vote. She sent an email to board members on March 29 saying the "delegate selection process has been corrupt and impossible to defend."
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