Posted on 02/11/2006 4:17:10 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Members of a key GOP conservative group said Saturday they are reconsidering their call for the California Republican Party to withdraw its endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in this year's election.
Despite ongoing differences with the governor over issues such as the minimum wage and his reliance on Democratic staff members, the Republican Assembly is reevaluating its position based on assurances from party leaders that its concerns will get a full airing at the upcoming party convention.
"We want to make sure our views on specific policy issues are openly discussed," said Mike Spence, president of the assembly - one of the oldest and most conservative member organizations of the state GOP. "We have differences from the governor on some issues, and we want to make sure we are able to discuss them."
The group's board voted in December to ask delegates to the upcoming Republican Convention in San Jose to withdraw the expected endorsement of the incumbent governor. Conservatives have been angered by Schwarzenegger's moves toward the political center since his disastrous loss in the November special election.
The biggest issue was the governor's decision to hire a prominent Democrat - and a former aide to Gov. Gray Davis - as his chief of staff. But Republicans are also uneasy with Schwarzenegger's $222 billion public works building proposal that relies on borrowing; his idea to increase the state minimum wage; and his proposed budget that would spend nearly $6 billion more next year than the state would take in from tax revenues.
But Spence said the conservative group is taking another vote on the endorsement issue. The results are expected early next week.
Even if the organization decides not to change its position, party leaders said they do not expect the issue to receive much attention at the convention, which runs from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26.
"Out of 1,400 delegates, I only know of a handful of people who are taking this issue seriously," said California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim. "The endorsement is not in trouble. We are going to come out of the convention with a unified ticket, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the top."
Still, delegates will likely be asked during the convention to consider a floor resolution that calls for the party to withdraw its endorsement of the governor. Sponsored by former state Republican Party Chairman Michael Schroeder, the resolution must pass out of a screening committee before it can be considered by the full delegation.
Spence said that while his organization was not involved with introducing the resolution, he acknowledged that if the Republic Assembly withdraws its support, the call to rescind the party's endorsement of Schwarzenegger would be badly undermined.
Sundheim said attention has already turned away from the endorsement issue. Now, he said, members are talking instead about crafting resolutions that would express some of his party's concerns with positions the governor has taken.
For instance, Schwarzenegger wants to increase the minimum wage by $1 an hour over the next two years, but many Republicans do not support the idea. Sundheim said a resolution might be presented to the party stating that Republicans believe that an increase in the minimum wage would be bad for low-wage workers and minority-owned businesses.
"I think there's differences of opinion, but it does not go so far that we are not going to support the governor," he said.
Conservatives have been angered by Schwarzenegger's moves toward the political center since his disastrous loss in the November special election.
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moves toward the political center?
LOL.. like he ever was much right of center to begin with?
of course he'd have to be opposed by a conservative in the upcoming election... I've not heard of any considering it (yet?).
Don't support him! You show 'em mexifornia conservatives! Don't take any shiite from arnie. See if you can get grayout back. That'll show 'em!
Puleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze. I could see if you had the slightest alternative, but do you really want Wilie Brown or Cruz Bustamy wallet as your governor. Take the small progress you have and build on it. Don't cut your noses off to spite your face.
Issa and Parsky had supposedly filed papers but have not been actively pursuing a run.
Tom McC is content to suck hind teat for now and remains in the Lt Gub primary race.
You call moving left as a party as progress? lolol
what you drinking? I want a case. ;-)
I can't tell you how many times a section of conservative people have seemed to lose their minds, not voted or threw away their vote and then complained about all the Communist Democrats in office.
AMAZING
Bottom line, who ever gets the Republican nomination should get the vote in the main election.
The rest of the energy for all of us wanting more conservative change in this state should be IMO directed toward creating a wider base of voters, or to convert 3% of what votes Democrat now to our side.
No easy task but that's what we need to do.
And what if there isn't a republican in the race? lolol
some of you people really amaze me. geeesshhh!
Bottom line, who ever gets the Republican nomination should get the vote in the main election.
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lol
Tell that to simon after he beat Rairdon... ;-)
It's why the ca gop powers decided let's just skip a primary this time. Don't sweat the details, Just win Baby!
Oh , and don't come crying here to the FR conservatives after the election in November. I'm willing to bet Tom gets more votes overall cast for him than the Gub in their respective races.
We could save ourselves a lot of grief just doing things the way they used to be done, but then the New Majorityite party hijackers wouldn't back the primary winner is my guess. Nothing new there.
and you and others here from the FR Vichy Milque would continue to whine and complain about conservatives whining if they don't get 'their way'. lol
it makes you wonder why some folks even bother anymore when you pretend to claim folks just need more educating.. it seems more like indoctrinating to me. or goosestepping in lockstep. Oh well.
This isn't about the governor for many. It's about the process. When the CRP closed the primary they began reaping what they sowed.
If the CRP continues to ignore tradition this will probably not be the last we hear about rebellion.
The CRP may well end up the laughing stock of California's partisan arena if their grass roots adopts a clothespin as their campaign button.
Heck, they have invalidated the platform planks or ignored them outright, all to retain power and grow the party or so they say.
I don't see pro-choice/abortion, pro-gun control, pro-LGBT in the current ones published at the GOP site.
That is effectively what they have chosen to do and readily embrace by shutting down any debate and not voting one way or the other to truly affirm what they truly stand for. But why sweat little details like that?
Man! That's sure a lot of vitriol for conservatives. Based on your comment, I assume you support:
Last I looked, none of these were part of the Republican platform. If you don't like the criticism, perhaps you are the "third party type."
The fact is, the state is moving left under Republican leadership because liberal policies are being sold and/or accepted under the (R) label. Apparently that matters not to some. In my mind, socialism is socialism, no matter the label.
Read my latest thread (just posted from CPN&V) if you want more of the same.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Now the key is for the so called conservatives to not sabotage the race in favor of the Democrats because they think they have some bright idea. They don't have any bright ideas that could possible be fruitful without all the work needed at the grass roots level.
IMO, the tone of your posts are insulting to a whole lot of folks on a conservative forum trying to advance conservatism. Nobody is looking for big leaps, but they also don't have blinders on buying the troll argument that the party is somehow moving in the right direction (tiny steps or otherwise). The record speaks for itself--look at the list again. The name calling and constant slurs to conservative candidates and freepers shows the troll's true colors.
I strongly suggest you read these two interviews from someone with superb credentials in political analysis. The conclusions are contrary to the accusations and fingerpointing you have posted here over and over since November. In fact, he even predicted that the Arnold camp would try to blame it on conservatives, despite all of the flaws in the administrations strategy and its campaign.
I've included only a couple punchlines.
http://www.flashreport.org/special-reports0b.php?faID=2005110202424596
If they lose all four, we should have a contest on how they'll explain their polling. Maybe it will be the old standby -- opinion shifted at the end, the last few days, and momentum was suddenly against them. More likely, they'll blame Republican voters for not coming out, as if this would be some total surprise. But major donors like to believe these arcane polling explanations, because it's easier to do so than admit they've been had. I mean, when is the last time a rich guy at the Lincoln Club admitted he was gullible and taken in by a poll that cooked the numbers?
http://www.flashreport.org/special-reports0b.php?faID=2006021010190934
It’s just that the governor has become the Republican Gray Davis – more spending, more government, more deficits, political opportunism, and their shared obsession with raising money, and unnecessary wheeling and dealing that doesn’t pass the smell test. Just sloppy, mess stuff with campaign loans, muscle magazine deals, campaign money on the side to state employees and so forth. It’s all gratuitous. Overall, this governor is a political masochist whose wounds are largely self-inflicted.
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