Shawn Steel

Shawn Steel, an attorney, is a former Chairman of the California Republican Party.
Recent Posts
- AG to CalPERS: Divest from Iran Now
- NTLC's Lew Uhler Urges Rejection Of Maldonado As Lt. Governor
- CRA Statement on Maldonado Confirmation Vote
- Slate mailer racks up $84,000 fines
- Projections Moving Faster than the Trains
- Statewide proposition lineup
- Sunday San Diego: Napping in AD 77, Waking in AD 78, CalPERS says Pound Sand on Divestments, and More
- Carly Fiorina On President Reagan's Birthday
- CRP Chairman Nehring's Statement In Response To SacBee Story
- CTA Wants To Divert The "Payoff Benefits" That Got BigBiz Onboard With Higher Taxes, And Divert Them To Thier Own Purposes
Commentary Library
Authors
FR BlogScan
The Lite Guv Intrigue Continues (Source: KQED's Capitol Notes)
February 8 Open Thread (Source: Calitics)
As Some Hesitate, Laird Says He Can Win Maldonado's Seat (Source: Calitics)
The Lite Guv Intrigue Continues (Source: KQED's Capitol Notes)
Recount of Mission Viejo recall announced (Source: OC Register Total Buzz)
If GOP Doesn't Want Maldo as LG, Have a Primary (Source: Dem Majority Report)
Local activist behind impeach Obama site (Source: OC Register Total Buzz)
AG to CalPERS: Divest from Iran Now [By Barry Jantz - San Diego County - Flash Report] (Source: FlashReport)
Go To BlogScan PageFR BlogScan
The Lite Guv Intrigue Continues (Source: KQED's Capitol Notes)
February 8 Open Thread (Source: Calitics)
As Some Hesitate, Laird Says He Can Win Maldonado's Seat (Source: Calitics)
The Lite Guv Intrigue Continues (Source: KQED's Capitol Notes)
Recount of Mission Viejo recall announced (Source: OC Register Total Buzz)
If GOP Doesn't Want Maldo as LG, Have a Primary (Source: Dem Majority Report)
Local activist behind impeach Obama site (Source: OC Register Total Buzz)
AG to CalPERS: Divest from Iran Now [By Barry Jantz - San Diego County - Flash Report] (Source: FlashReport)
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Recent Comments
Katie Teague on CRP Chairman Nehring's Statement In Response To SacBee Story
Katie Teague on CRA Statement on Maldonado Confirmation Vote
Robert Bosich on NTLC's Lew Uhler Urges Rejection Of Maldonado As Lt. Governor
Robert Bosich on CRA Statement on Maldonado Confirmation Vote
JIm Lacy on Statewide proposition lineup
Tom Kaptain on Statewide proposition lineup
Larry Urdahl on Money "Trail" in Open Joel Anderson AD 77 Seat
Matt Munson on Statewide proposition lineup
JIm Lacy on Ballot Designation Junkies Get Excited
Cliff Unruh on Rest In Peace Ethie Radanovich
Chris Lauer on Chief of Staff for Senate Republicans Off To PG&E
JIm Lacy on Ballot Designation Junkies Get Excited
Ken Hunter on An Open Letter to Senate Republicans
Howard Epstein on Today's Commentary: South Lake Tahoe Transit Chief Embroiled In Controversy
Sean Loranger on Sheriff's union biggest loser in Mission Viejo recall election
FlashReport Weblog on California Politics
GOP registrations for hourly fun
by Shawn Steel - Statewide (bio) (email)(print)
The California Republican Party, in conjunction with the Governor's campaign embarked on a bold experimental Registration campaign in 2006.
All professional vendors were paid $13.00 an hour whether they produced or not. This effort was led by a Nathan Sproul of Arizona with his dba California Grass Roots Mobilization. Sproul was paid over $2,100,000 last year.
This bold initiative was designed for three reasons: a ] to go to places where GOPers generally don't , such as San Francisco. [ Sproul's team never made it there ] and make it worthwhile to go door to door , b] to avoid the nasty publicity two criminal investigations in San Bernardino and Orange County DA's were conduction against fraudulent registrations, and c ] a new state law required, adding a considerable burden, that all registrations contain either a social security number or a driver license number. Who knew? . At $13,00 a hour how could this not work.
The Governor's people, from the Bush 2004 campaign, insisted on the services of Mr. Sproul.
Sproul's method of hiring was no different than anyone else in the registration business. He hired the usual suspects: nationwide nomads traveling from state to state, demanding weekly payments, some possibly having interesting personal lifestyle issues---folks generally hard to track or track down. But at $13.00 an hour...without any quota...it was the deal of the decade.
The results? As of two weeks ago, Sproul delivered a total of 125,469 GOP registrations. At a cost of only $ 16,74 each. But there was a problem.
Sadly, the CRP verifying the "new" registrations [ most were change of address] by calling, checking for duplicates and sending letters, discovered an "error" rate of of 33.33 %. Ouch.
Figuring that of the 125,469 gross GOP registrations, about 83,464 were valid. Meaning that the average cost escalated to $25.11 a card. On the average, the vendors were getting one reg in TWO hours.
All this rather breathtaking. CRP officials are still wondering if they were trapped in a bad dream. Last August when party officials suggested dramatic changes in the program , the Governor's political team...wanted to stay the course. At least something was coming in. Oh well, they were paying 100% for the registration effort.
When I served as Chairman from 2001 to 2003, our paltry $3 dollar bounty brought in 405,000 registrations, closing the gap between both parties. i know 405,000 is accurate, because the party actually paid $ 1.,200,000 for the registrations from women federated to county organizations. Watch out for those volunteers!
The CRP's very limited existing Bounty Program, in 2006 , brought in a 37,500 registrations. Less than 5% were invalid.
Registration stats are strictly for the most serious afflicted political geek. But my guess is that future CRP leaders will avoid the hourly pay like the plague.











































Comments
Did any of these "new" registrants voted?
Posted by Douglas Johnson at January 25, 2007 9:00pmAnd why pay for a "change of address" re-registration of a Republican? When those people go to vote the County would have handled it for free. Sounds like we shouldn't count those when calculating the effectiveness of the program.
Sounds like a $2 mil payoff to an old friend. I wonder how much McCain is paying him?
Don't forget the added bonus -
Posted by Cathy Sippel at January 30, 2007 8:02pm12 people charged with voter registration fraud under the Grassroots leadership. This doesn't help the CRP much in the credibility department.
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