Three aspire to be RPOF chair, and, well, it’s complicated

Analysis by Kay B. Day

By all accounts, if national leadership can come up with a platform that will put the U.S. back on track, the Republican Party may be able to topple the Democrat monopoly in the 2010 elections. In the nation’s fourth largest state, Republican Party of Florida chair Jim Greer resigned, leaving a financial mess in his wake and an empty chair for about 11 months.

Three solid conservatives have expressed interest in serving the remainder of the term for the chairman’s position for the 11 months Greer would’ve served.  In January, 2011 a new state chair will be elected.

While some grumble about one or the other in the trio of aspiring chairs, it’s actually pretty impressive that 3 people are willing to take on a daunting job—to raise a lot of money fast. The Tampa Tribune claims the GOP needs approximately $40 million over a 7 month period.

Whatever a leftwing paper claims, it’s a fact those 2010 elections are staring GOP candidates in the face and they will definitely need money to challenge Democrats.

Regardless of what pundits say, I think this is the overwhelming priority in determining who will fill Greer’s vacant chair. There's also another way to look at this. Having so many talented people is a pretty good thing for any Party. [Story continues after photo.]

‘An Elephant on His Hands’, a cartoon showing President William H. Taft, as a ringmaster telling two men, "radical republican" and "conservative republican," who are fighting as they get in a G.O.P. elephant costume, "Hey! Get together in there!" They didn't and the Party lost the presidential election.[L.M. Glackens, artist; 1911; Library of Congress]

THREE SOLID CONSERVATIVES WANT THE TOP SPOT TEMPORARILY
The three potential chairs are state Senator John Thrasher, Sharon Day and Mark Cross.

Thrasher emerged victorious in October after a highly charged campaign for the state senate. As best I can tell, Thrasher who lives in North Florida is highly regarded by both grassroots and leadership. The Orlando Sentinel cited a number of people who endorse Thrasher for temporary RPOF chairman, from former Gov. Jeb Bush to Armando Guttierez who is opposing Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson (the same Grayson who called one of President Bill Clinton’s female advisers a “K Street Whore”).

Democrats don’t like Thrasher—that’s natural, first because he’s a Republican and second because he’s an attorney who has fought for tort reform. The dirtiest thing you can say to a Democrat, other than ‘conservative,’ is ‘tort reform.’  The next dirtiest thing you can say is ‘tax reform.’

One of Thrasher’s greatest assets, and most definitely the critical asset at the moment, is his ability to raise money. Democrats and some in the GOP, however,  have also been vocal about Thrasher serving in the Legislature while leading the Party. The way I look at it, Thrasher’s tenure would be less than a year and the short time frame includes a lot of down time for the legislature—the summer months are a perfect example.

DEMS FEEL THE HEAT
The Dems of course have good reason to hope a solid fundraiser doesn’t get the position because they know there’s a big target on their candidates’ backs for 2010. They earned that target as a Party because since the 2006 elections when their Party took Congress, the country has been on a downhill slide and the last year, with the U.S. under one party rule, has been disastrous. Blaming President George W. Bush for problems the Democrats contributed significantly to is wearing thin. For instance, President Barack Obama keeps talking about federal spending, but he never mentions his Party helped form budgets before he became president and when he was the junior US senator, he either sponsored or co-sponsored almost $1 billion in earmarks.

Day is well-known and well-liked. She worked hard during the General Election in 2008 and she took a decisive stand in the Marco Rubio/Charlie Crist dustup as certain Party elites wanted to shoo Crist into the candidate seat without a backward glance at Rubio. Some of those elites—Greer, for instance—are  no longer around.

The result of the dustup is that Rubio is a viable candidate to win the GOP primary. Conservatives are crazy about the guy because he is a fiscal conservative who believes in small government. He’s the son of Cuban immigrants and if you hear him speak you’ll have no doubt he really does believe in the American Dream that at the moment is undergoing a serious trouncing in Washington. Current Democrat leadership appears to despise the iconic American Dream. Go figure.

Day, who hails from South Florida, already holds key positions in the Party. She’s secretary of the Republican National Committee, and she’s a state committee woman and a national committee woman.

There’s always a ‘but.’ And it is perhaps her success that leads to a qualifier for Day. Those 3 positions wield a lot of power. And if she were to add the temporary chair position to those she already holds, there might be issues over a balance of power—one person could theoretically control  outcomes of matters requiring a vote at the RNC. Theoretically that balance of power issue would have to be addressed if Day takes the reins.

Mark Cross has also tossed a hat in the ring. Traditional media is so clueless about Republicans they have overlooked him in various stories about those hoping to complete Greer’s term.

Cross is a long-time activist who serves as vice-chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus National Committee. Cross has worked hard for Republican candidates and as far as we can tell is well-regarded by his political peers. Cross was the Ron Paul for President State Coordinator in Florida in 2008 and has served as Treasurer of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida***[Edited 1-17-10; see correction below]. He lives in Kissimmee. The RLC is a force to be reckoned with—the membership is dedicated, informed and passionate about Constitutional rights.

BIG TENT MEANS BIG CHALLENGES
Most parties would rightfully feel lucky to have three people with the skills these three have who are willing to dedicate time to raising a large sum of money in a short period and keeping the diverse RPOF membership happy. Contrary to media impressions, Republicans do not think alike.

The Big Tent leaders like to talk about is actually pretty accurate. An excellent discourse on this matter popped up this morning as I was finishing my column. Erick Erickson does a fine job of explaining the diversity in the Party and having experienced it up close, I will say Republicans have a far harder time of satisfying their constituencies because, for one thing, media gives this Party no passes. Erickson's commentary about media bias is spot on.

I’ve written about media bias towards conservatives and Republicans since founding The US Report. Having seen this industry from the inside, I can assure you major branded media hearts Democrats and this is a challenge we must overcome, not by pandering to media but by educating voters.

When it comes to major branded media, the Democrat Party has a free pass dating to ancient times. It took media more than 40 years to ‘fess up about covering up the truth about JFK and LBJ. And if Jimmy Carter were a Republican, every time his name cropped up we’d be reminded he pardoned a presidential assassin who failed to hit his target.

Despite impressions created by some, the whole process of finding a chair to temporarily replace Greer has been an open process. The state Executive Committee will vote on Feb. 20. If the process weren’t open, we would not be having this conversation.

The outcome of that vote will have a major impact on the 2010 elections. The financial situation at the state party level is critical. Whatever the outcome of the vote, the new Party chair will have his or her hands full with a short window of time to raise a large amount of dough. We’ll take the leftie newspaper blogger’s word on the $40 million.

So it all boils down to $40 million in 7 months. Democrats know this, and Republicans should take that into consideration as well, from the grassroots to the upper levels.

[A reader emailed to tell us Mark Cross hasn't been the Treasurer of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida since March of last year. We extracted Cross' bio from the RLC National Website bio, citing him as treasurer as the page bio currently lists him under 'Officer and Board Bios': "[Cross]  has served as Treasurer of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida since May 2004." There's also a note at the top of the page that Cross serves as vice-chair of the RLC National Committee. We appreciate our reader updating us on Cross' position and trust he's correct, though Cross is still listed under that capacity on his page bio at RLC.

Readers should also be aware that TUSR editor Kay B. Day is no relation to Sharon Day by way of marriage, as far as we know. Day is a fairly common name.]