I am taken aback by your endorsement of Dick Riordan as our party's aspirant for Governor. You should know Riordan has been a backer of Democratic Party causes in the past, has backed Democratic candidates for statewide and congressional offices, and turned down attending the GOP National Convention in San Diego in 1996, but saw no problem attending the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000. All of which demonstrates Riordan is far from being a committed Republican. More recent appearances in which Riordan has gone out his way to alienate our party's conservative base have added to that perception. Moreover Riordan's positions as a candidate on any number of issues are out of the conservative mainstream and to the left of even Gray Davis! Which I quite frankly believe is a formula for a Republican defeat in November. I am disappointed by your endorsement of Riordan since it seems to indicate GOP officeholders believe the party should stand for nothing but staying in power. Without a real difference between the two parties and the candidates in this state the GOP will be doomed to political irrelevance. And if all the voters see are two liberal candidates they will vote for the real article every time. I don't have to spell out who that is for you. Any way given my dissatisfaction and disgust with a liberal Trojan Horse like Riordan attempting to take over our party aided with endorsements from GOP officeholders like you who should know better, I would like to make it absolutely clear that if in fact Riordan should emerge as our party's standard bearer for 2002 I will not be voting this November for the Republican statewide ticket. Maybe it will take a defeat or a couple of them for the base's feelings of being betrayed and shunted aside to be finally understood by the party bigwigs but by then the GOP may not be in a position to do much good in CA. I want a party with conservative values and candidates in the mold of Ronald Reagan and I want it to win with that philosophy but I regret to say that I do not believe Riordan represents those values and from what I've learned he is no Ronald Reagan. He is not the candidate who will help our party win in November.
My message couldn't be any clearer. Hopefully if enough of the grassroots communicates their disgust and dissatisfaction with the direction our party's leadership and officeholders are going may be it will bring about a change for the better. God knows we need it and we need a party that stands for something if we are going to win in this state again. Being a me too liberal Rat clone party doesn't cut it for me. Let's have party with conservative values and candidates who are true to what they believe in and lets get one for The Gipper. Cheers!!!