HispanicVista Columnists

The California GOP: Showdown in San Francisco
By Raoul Lowery Contreras

California State Republican Party is broke. We are in the 2008 presidential race with a candidate who can appeal to many Independents and some Hispanic and pro-America Democrats thereby putting California in play. We have a President who despite low approval ratings can raise bushels of cash yet "Chairman" Nehring hasn’t brought the President to the state to raise money for the State Party. The Party is broke; technically, the Party is bankrupt what with owing more money than it has on hand in both State Party and federal accounts. Word has reached us that Chairman Nehring is complaining to a select list of his supporters that he i s being "persecuted." Who by, by big time donors who have gone public about Nehring’s "incompetence" (as they put it publicly) and ideological bindings that disfavor the presumptive Presidential nominee of our party, John McCain, as I put it. Complementing his claim of "persecution" are cries of "conservative impotence" by California Republican Assembly’s Mike Spence who writes in Jon Fleischman’s FlashReport that Orange County major donor Larry Dodge and I are wrong when we claim that hard right wing conservatives have a stranglehold on the State Party. Well, then, he can answer the question, what happened to Vice-chairman Mario Rodriguez’ step upwards to the state chairmanship that tradition dictated after his election to the Vice-Chairmanship several years ago? Suddenly Ron Nehring became Vice-chairman as more moderate Vice-Chairman. Mario Rodriguez disappeared. Nehring’s record of Mexican-baiting and a string of appearances by fanatical and discredited spea kers to the San Diego Party puts Nehring in an ultra-conservative posture that no state Chairman in recent history has manifested towards over 40-percent of California’s population. For example, there is the midterm coup he organized by hard right wingers to vote out of the San Diego Party Chairmanship Roxanne Fox a woman they claimed is a RINO (Republican in Name Only) so that the rebel conservatives could name Nehring Party Chairman. For example, he featured as a party speaker "Dr." Madeline Cosman famous for dragging CNN’s Lou Dobbs further into the anti-Mexican muck he thrives in than even his limited intellect could do. She spoke to the San Diego Party to thunderous applause by claiming that leprosy brought in to the Country by Mexican illegals was sweeping the nation. Ron Nehring bought into and promulgated this lie. Yes, it is a lie. Lou Dobbs ruined his reputation, albeit low to begin with, by buying into "Dr. Cosman’s lie about leprosy. The lie: 7000 c ases of leprosy had been documented in recent years attributable to illegals. The truth: 7000 cases of leprosy in the United States over the past 30 years with no documented case tied to illegal aliens from Mexico. Nonetheless, Ron Nehring proudly sponsored this charlatan "Dr." who wasn’t a medical doctor at all, she had a doctorate in Literature. Then, there is the Nehring adventure in hiring an illegal alien from Australia who had been jailed by the federal government and ordered deported -- as Chief Operating Officer of the California Republican Party. This crony of Nehring’s had worked with him for Grover Norquist in Washington D.C. for several years. When the illegal Australian was exposed by the San Francisco Chronicle and this writer, Nehring claimed he didn’t know of his friend’s illegal past, or of his jailing and order of deportation. Nonetheless, he hired the man. Now, word is circulating that Nehring was fired as Executive Director of the San Diego Party by then Chairman William Marvin for shadowy expenditures of Party money. For example, his running up huge cell phone charges on a Party-paid-for-phone while sitting in his car at Party Headquarters even though his office landline phones were available. Party sources indicate there is also a curious connection between Nehring and a company called the Coronado Group. Interested Republicans might demand to see a penny-for-penny accounting for every dime of the millions the Pechanga/Morongo/Sycuan and Aguas Caliente tribes contributed to the Party for use in supporting state Propositions 94-95-96-97 in the February 5th vote. How did the Party spend these millions when I received only one letter supporting the propositions signed by Nehring? Did it cost all these millions to send out one letter? What agency or company handled the mailing? How much did it make off the project? How much and to whom did it pay consulting fees? The largest questions of all: Why is the Party broke today? Why hasn’t the governor stepped in to rescue the Party from Nehring? Why is Nehring hanging on when he has proven he is incapable of running a successful state Party? With an eye towards operating in a presidential election without any money, shouldn’t some objective committed Republicans ask these questions at the State Party meeting in San Francisco?

Contreras’ books are available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com