FLASHREPORT

There have been many voices heard since the state budget was passed with the help of a handful of GOP legislators last week.  I waited to digest the news, listen to the debate coming out of the Republican convention and think about the future of the Republican Party in our great state.  It's crystal clear to me now what change we need for the California Republican Party.  We need a divorce from our governor.

There is great outrage—and much deserved—at the GOP legislators that voted for the budget.  But we need to also put ourselves in their shoes.  They are members of the minority party (and a minority party that is significantly shrunken in size).  There was incredible pressure for them to vote for a budget.  Democrat legislators, members of the press, educators and others from their local districts and—let's not forget—the governor, were all pressuring them to "do the right thing."  

So I find it interesting that we, as a party, took action against the handful of legislators who voted for the budget but didn't take any action to remove Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from the CRP board.

The legislators would not have been in the position of having to vote for that budget if two things had happened:  1) the governor did a better job representing Republican fiscal principles throughout his tenure in that office and 2) the governor truly acted as the head of the CRP during elections and helped elected more GOP legislators.

I, like many FR bloggers and readers, was excited and supported the Schwarzenegger candidacy and the Davis recall.  I truly never expected that the Schwarzenegger Administration would be a repeat of the Davis Administration, from both a personnel and the budget perspective.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, after getting an enormous amount of help from the GOP in his initial election to office, abandoned the party after losing the special election in 2005.  His appointment of a left-wing activist as his chief of staff has contributed to the disconnect between his administration and the party he supposedly represents. 

Today we learn that the governor toyed with the idea of leaving the Republican Party, but then figured that the people of the state didn't see him as a true Republican, rather as an "independent" Republican.  If the CRP is going to blast Abel Maldonado and the others, how do the party leaders look the other way at the governor's lack of respect for the party and its core beliefs?  He may have decided to stay at our party, but can't the hosts decide to turn the lights out and ask the guest to leave?

In today's SF Chronicle, the governor laughs at the party activists' efforts to send a message to the GOP legislators that voted for the budget. 

"I would not be too concerned about that if I would be those candidates because the Republican Party has no money anyway," he said.

The party has no money because we have no leadership from our elected officials.  Over the years of their governorships, Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian both gave the GOP tremendous amount of time and support (even in the face of the Wilson's fight with party conservatives in the early days of his administration). 

In the years since Schwarzenegger took office, he has not done anything to increase the number of Republicans in the state legislature or in statewide offices.  For goodness sake, he didn't even work to help Bruce McPherson, his own appointee, get elected as Secretary of State in 2006!  That same year, it was known throughout the party that the governor would not attend campaign events if he had to share the stage with other GOP candidates.

Not much changed this past year.  Here in the East Bay, we had an experienced GOP mayor (Abram Wilson) running in a tight race for a GOP-held seat and the governor didn't endorse him until a week before.  And campaign staff told me at the time that the governor and his people didn't do anything to help the campaign except that last minute endorsement. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Arnold Schwarzenegger is the devil.  I respect his commitment to his family and his church.  I think he has accomplished much in life.  But the man is not a Republican.  He's not committed to the success of the Californian Republican party—in fact, he mocks it.  Those of us who do care—party big wigs, are you listening??—need to take him off the CRP board and find leadership within our party to improve our "brand."  That will take money (perhaps the 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidates can step up and prove their loyalty now with some party fundraising?) and it will take a solid and sophisticated public outreach campaign.  But the party needs a divorce from our governor—that relationship isn't doing anyone any good.