RebirthLACounty

Action in the state’s largest political subdivision

Crawling from the Wreckage:

The Rebirth of LA County’s Republican Party

by Linda Boyd

Linda Boyd is chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party.

About Like Clockwork— Printer Friendly version

I won a hotly-contested race for chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County January 11 at the head of a slate of candidates called the “No More Excuses Team.” We picked that name because the former County officers seemed to have excuses for every program they were not undertaking and more excuses about why no progress could be made in the County. We were told the fault lay with the California Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, the major donors, the demoralized volunteers, the state of the economy, Los Angeles County’s changing demographics, the invincibility of the Democrat/labor union machine, etc., etc., etc.

Our team took its inspiration from Ronald Reagan’s question, asked when he began running for president: “If not us, who? If not now, when?” I knew a successful Republican Party operation could be run in LA County because I ran one the last several years in the 59th Assembly District, a major portion of which is in the County. It takes organization, leadership, and most of all, a will to win despite the odds.

Los Angeles County has become known as “The Black Hole” for Republican statewide and national candidates. If the County had floated off into the Pacific Ocean, President Bush would have won the national popular vote in 2000. Several 2002 Republican statewide candidates would hold office today but for the large margins their Democrat opponents ran up in Los Angeles County.

A year ago, the Los Angeles County Lincoln Clubs launched an ambitious voter registration drive aimed at adding half a million new Republicans to the County rolls by the next redistricting in 2011. Told that nothing like it had ever been done before, Lincoln Club Chairman Robert Virtue, a man I greatly admire, said “I guess we just don’t know it can’t be done.” That’s the spirit I wanted to bring to the official Republican Party. I called Central Committee Members around the County, and found many who felt as I did. That began the “No More Excuses” Team that swept all seven county-wide offices by two-to-one margins.

Monday after the election, I went to the County Headquarters in Alhambra to assess the situation. After three days of meetings and sifting through boxes of receipts, bills, and the Committee’s three checking accounts, and considering our controller’s estimate of expenses for the second half of January, I could see the bottom line: the County Party was more than $7,000 in debt. Two days later, I was handed a three-day “Notice of Eviction” for non-payment of rent and spent the next week scrambling to move us out of the office the Committee had occupied for more than 10 years. I arranged a little breathing room with creditors and began the daunting task of rebuilding.

Fortunately, San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring came to the rescue. Ron had turned around a dispirited San Diego County Party and built it into an electoral powerhouse in just a year and a half. Even better, he created a standardized model for how a County Republican Party should operate that he shares with any County chairman who asks for it. I asked — quickly — and received documents and computer discs containing excellent information on building a Finance Committee, creating and implementing a political plan, involving Republican non- partisan elected officials, building a precinct structure, and all the other operations of a county central committee.

Frank Baxter, Bill Simon’s statewide finance chairman, graciously agreed to chair a recreated United Republican Finance Committee (URFC) — the old LA County finance organization dating back to the 1950s, when Republicans built LA into one of the state’s most effective and successful local Party committees. Mr. Virtue agreed to be URFC vice-chairman. That ended a 24-year rift that had divided the County Lincoln Clubs and the official County Party. The Lincoln Clubs will now once again work closely with the County Party and continue to have primary responsibility for Republican voter registration county-wide. Mssrs. Baxter and Virtue restarted the defunct “Republican Statesmen,” a $5,000 major donor group, and already have six members. Taking a cue from Ron Nehring, I am establishing a Chairman’s Circle ($1,000 annually), a Reagan Club ($250), and the Century Club ($100). The Lincoln Clubs will be our $500 club, remaining independent but working closely with the County to fund registration and other programs. Mr. Virtue will continue as Lincoln Clubs chairman.

The Republican Women’s Federated will also play a prominent role in restoring the County Committee. Three of the seven new LA County Executive Board members — Secretary Linda Owens, Assistant Treasurer Lynne Davidson, and I — are Federated leaders. I have been an active Federated leader for five years. Federated ladies do most of the grassroots volunteer work for candidate and Party programs in California. They deserve and this Committee will give them the recognition and respect they have earned through their dedication and hard work.

Besides building a Finance Team and registering Republicans, the Committee has set the following priorities for the next two years:

• United Republican Precinct Organization In the 1960s and ’70s, Los Angeles County’s strong, active precinct structure covered the majority of precincts within the County. We will recreate it, beginning in strong Republican areas and progressing toward the goal of a Republican Precinct Captain in every precinct. No Assembly District will be left behind.

• Candidate Research & Development This vital committee, effective in the past, will be again. A well-run candidate committee not only insures that a Republican candidate will contest every partisan elective office, but will also support Republican candidates for non-partisan offices. Actually, there is no such thing as a “non-partisan” elective office. The goal is to locate, train, and field Republicans for every school board, city council, and water district in the County — and let Republican voters in all these elections know which candidates are Republican.

• Los Angeles County Association of Republican Elected Officials Local level Republican officeholders are the “farm team” supplying candidates for higher, partisan offices. The state Party has identified them. LA County will contact and bring them together into an organization for networking and training.

• Candidate and Leader Training Cooperating with the Candidate Research & Development Committee, Ron Nehring will conduct training seminars for volunteer leaders and prospective candidates.

Los Angeles County is far too large and vital to the state not to become a central component of Republican activity. Republican statewide candidates probably won’t carry this large, complex county of ten million people in the immediate future, but they will win a victory here: it will lie in steadily increasing Republican county-wide turnout and vote totals. The goal is to win local, legislative, and congressional races in already strong but neglected Republican areas of the County while improving GOP performance in weaker areas, and to contribute decisively to GOP victories statewide.

To answer Ronald Reagan’s question: the time is now, and we are the people who will get the job done.

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