WHY ARE THERE TWO REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEES IN L.A. COUNTY?
SITUATION: There are two groups of officers of the Republican Central Committee of L.A. County. Each group claims to be the real officers of the Central Committee, and says the other group is falsely pretending to be the real officers. There is a lawsuit about this, but the court has not yet made a judgment, as of April 10. Each group says the other group is making it difficult to get on with their work. The election on June 8 will elect new members of the Central Committee. This election with thus be largely a choice between the one group and the other group. Which group wins will make a huge difference in the Republican Party in L.A. County over the next two years. Your vote will help to decide this important question. Details follow.
WHAT IS THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
Every two years, in even numbered years, 2008, 2010, 2012, and so on, there is a "primary election" in June, in preparation for the "general election" in November. During this June election, the Republicans elect members to the Central Committee or L.A. County. Many people don't even know about this committee, but it is actually very important. It selects candidates for office. It raises money to finance their campaigns. Thus it is very influential, even though it is not actually part of the government, but only part of the Republican Party. The Republican Central Committee is also important in influencing the California Republican Party, which is similarly important in selecting candidates for state office and getting them elected.
The Democratic Party has a parallel system with a County Central Committee for Democrats. Theoretically it is possible, but in practice it is very difficult to get electd to government office running as a candidate for a third party. The organizations of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are not strictly speaking part of the government. But because of their very important role in influencing and controlling who gets to be a candidate, and who gets elected, they are just as important as if they were part of the government.
Members of the Republican Central Committee for L.A. County are elected from each Assembly District within L.A. County. Candidates get on the ballot by gathering signatures from Republicans in their Assembly District. You only need 20 signatures that pass inspection by the officials at the County Registrar's office in Norwalk. Each Assembly District has seven seats on the Central Committee. So the seven candidates who get the most votes in that District in the June election -- on June 8 in 2010 -- are thereby elected and are members of the Central Committee.
In December of each election year, after the general election in November, the Central Committee holds an organizational meeting. This is the most important meeting of the whole two-year cycle. At this organizational meeting, the newly elected Central Committee members elect their officers for the next two years -- Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, and so forth.
ACTIVIST REPUBLICANS GAIN CONTROL OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
In 2008 Ron Paul was running for President. He aroused a lot of enthusiasm for liberty, much more than he himself expected. Some Republicans in L.A. County thought this was an opportunity to take advantage of this enthusiasm for liberty and to get enough strong supporters of liberty and enough Ron Paul type Republicans elected to the Central Committee so that strong supporters of liberty could get elected as officers of the Central Committee. The "old guard" Republicans who were the officers at that time were thought by the new activist Republicans to be weak supporters of liberty. They also had the opinion that the Republican Party in L.A. County was very weak and ineffective. They were hoping to revitalize the Republican Party and to effectively promote liberty and good government both locally and nationally.
Part of the plan was that some people would run as write-in candidates, because it was past the deadline for getting on the ballot. In some districts, there was so little Republican activity that there were no Republican candidates at all on the ballot, even though there were seven seats to be filled. So it wasn't very hard to get elected, even as a write-in candidate.
On December 6, 2008, the Republican Central Committee had its big organizational meeting. There was some debate about whether the write-in candidates who had been elected would be recognized. Finally, the Credentials Committee, by a vote of 4 to 3, decided to recognize the elected write-in candidates as bona fide members of the Central Committee. This seemed reasonable, because the officials at the County Registrar's office in Norwalk had recognized them as having been elected, and had issued certificates certifying that they had been elected.
As the meeting progressed, the "old guard" Republicans recognized that they had a problem. So about 20 or 30 of them walked out of the meeting. Their purpose in walking out was to prevent a "quorum". If not enough members were present, that is, if they did not have a "quorum", then the Committee would not be able to conduct business. In order to determine if there was a quorum present, the members stood up and counted off. By a very small margin, it was determined that a quorum was still present. The Committee was still able to conduct business. The margin by which there was a quorum present was even smaller than the handful of elected write-in candidates who had been admitted by the Credentials Committee. So the elected write-in candidates made the difference.
The new "activist" Republicans then proceeded to elect officers who were strong supporters of liberty. Success!
OLD GUARD REPUBLICANS STRIKE BACK
Then on May 14, 2009, the "old guard" Republicans struck back! With the support of the state Republican Party, and by means of procedural trickery, they managed to oust the existing executives, and to install their own set of officers. Call the officers elected in December 2008 the "First Group". And call the new officers who took over in May 2009 the "Second Group".
EXPERT OPINION
Before filing the lawsuit, the First Group requested an opinion from Nancy Sylvester, the leading parliamentarian expert in America. A "parliamentarian" is an expert on what is or is not correct procedure in large group meetings. Her written opinion states that the actions by the Second Group on May 14, 2009 were the most egregious violations that she has ever witnessed in her 35 years as a parliamentarian. In her opinion, it is “extremely clear” that what occurred on May 14, 2009 was not an error in interpretation of the Bylaws, but rather it was "a planned and carefully executed attempt to usurp". Ms. Sylvester states that the rights of the members of Central Committee were not only stepped on in the May 14, 2009 meeting, they were trampled. In her words: “What a travesty!”.
FIRST GROUP FILES LAWSUIT
In December 2009, the First Group filed suit against the Second Group, saying that the Second Group has no legal right to present themselves as officers of the Central Committee of the Republican Party for Los Angeles County.
As of April 2010, the court has not yet issued a judgment. Both groups of officers are holding monthly meetings. It is not strictly correct to say that there are two Central Committees. It is not in dispute who has been elected and is a member of the Central Committee. But there are two sets of officers, the First Group and the Second Group. Each group claims that the other group is false and illegitimate.
The Second Group is recognized by the California Republican Party and by the Republican National Committee as the legitimate group. The California Republican Party played a major role in helping the Second Group to take over in May 2009.
Regardless of the outcome of the court case, new elections will be held on June 8. And then in December, there will be another organizational meeting, and there will be an election within the Central Committee to decide who will be the officers for the next two years.
DECIDING WHO TO VOTE FOR
As a Republican voter, you will help to decide, in the June 8 election, which group of officers will control the Republican Party in L.A. County for the next two years.
It is recommended that you first decide which group you want to support. You will notice that each group claims to advocate limited constitutional government and financial responsibility. So you need to look at what they do, not just at what they say.
If someone is a supporter of Ron Paul, then it is probably safe to say that he or she really is a strong supporter of liberty. If someone is not a supporter of Ron Paul, and yet claims to be in favor of limited Constitutional government, that does not make much sense. You might ask that person to explain his thinking. The Second Group and its supporters tend to put down Ron Paul and his supporters as somehow not real Republicans, as "disgruntled" "fringe elements".
Thomas Jefferson said, "Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.". In other words, people ridicule others only when reason is against them.
There will be an election on June 8th anyway, but who should you vote for? It is worth first deciding which group you consider is the most principled group, as they will carry their level of integrity into their two year term of office, and into their own important decisions about which Republicans to support as candidates for local, state, and federal office, and in the state and national Republican Committees.
It is unlikely that an unprincipled group will suddenly change their colors and become principled when they are using their influence as officers of the Republican Central Committee for L.A. County. So it is important for you to decide right now which group deserves your support.
Once you have decided which group you think has the principles that you want to support, then choose candidates who support that group.
Your vote is very, very important if we are to get good principled representation in the state and federal government. You get seven votes for Central Committee, because each Assembly District has seven seats. When you go to vote on June 8, make sure you have written down the names of seven candidates who support the group you chose.
The candidates listed on this website, RepubllicansForLiberty.org, support the First Group.
If you have any questions, email us at info@RepublicansForLiberty.org. It is very important for you to know and understand what's going on.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Central Committee website for the First Group is http://www.lagop.us/. The box in the upper right will connect you to a great deal of material about the conflict.
The Central Committee website for the Second Group is http://www.lagop.org/. The fifth box down on the right will take you to a two page article about a "Motion To Strike" filed by the Second group in court.
This link will take you to an article by the lawyer for the Second Group, who is a San Francisco attorney, and who is a member of the California Republican Party's Executive Committee. This indicates the strong support of the California Republican Party for the Second Group, which came to power with important assistance from the California Republican Party. This means that if you trust the California Republican Party, then you should support the Second Group. It also means that if you think the Second Group is short on principles, then that may also be true of the California Republican Party, which brought them to power and which supports them.
This link will take you to an article written by the lawyer for the First Group, who is himself a candidate for the L.A. Republican Central Committee in Assembly District 42. This article is a response to the article written by the Second Group's lawyer.
This link will take you to the website for a group of seven candidates for the Central Committee from the 42nd Assembly District. They support the First Group.