Courage of Conviction

US Rep. Todd Platts, R-19, has been actively in the news recently.  First as a supporter of the Stem Cell bill and second for his bill to increase the CAFE standards.  Back in January I saw an article about his thoughts about the Dem controlled House. 

There have been plenty of rumors going around - just read Grassrootspa’s comment sections for those. 

Here’s a guy who is typically pretty quiet when it comes to the media.  He doesn’t usually say much, and when he does it is usually about a recent trip to Iraq to visit the troops - all nice stuff to use in the next campaign. 

I would suspect the reason he stays quiet is because his voting record doesn’t correspond too well with the district.  This is one of the most conservative districts in the country and as one person put it, Platts votes like Specter.  I wouldn’t say he’s as far to the left as Specter, but with a Democrat controlled House, he certainly is showing that he is a moderate. 

Platts is a big supporter of Campaign Finance Reform and Sen. McCain.  He supported the Stem Cell bill. He’s a supporter of government mandates CAFE standards.  When he was in the State House he was not pro-life.  He garners the support of teachers unions each election. 

There’s more, but the real point of this post is simply to ask the question - what’s up with Platts garnering attention?  It’s very unlike him and his style - atleast the type of attention he is used to - all happy non-divisive press. 

Maybe he got word of a strong candidate running against him next year. Maybe he is gearing up for a run for Specter’s seat.  Or maybe he’s attempting to be important since the US House is so closely divided.  He can be a moderate vote and get a few things he wants.  I’m not really sure, but I am sure we’ll find out soon enough. 

Matt Miller of the Patriot News also did an article on the Keep the Team effort to change the Cumberland County Republican Committee. 

The biggest thing I take away from this article is the change in tone that GOP Chair Vic Stabile has in this article:

“The fact that a group of people is energized and has become part of the democratic process is good for us,” he said. “I could do without the attacks and the angst, but in the larger sense, it’s good.”

That’s a complete 360 degree turn from previous statements mad eby Stabile.  Either figured out that the writing is on the wall and that his head will be rolling, or someone told him that his candidate lost, or something happened that brought about a change of heart. 

The kids playing in the Cumberland County Republican Committee sandbox are whining because they aren’t getting their way.  That’s what all the fuss that Chairman Stabile is raising reminds me of.  My 4 and 2 year olds have better manners.

The Sentinel did an article on the changes that Commissioners Barclay and Eichelberger, along with the Keep the Team Committee, are going to be pushing.  Here’s the thing, when you win an election, or as John Hilton of the Sentinel so eloquently put it, “trounce” your opposition, it means you have a mandate from the people.  That mandate means the Republican voters are sick of the way the Committee leadership is doing it’s job and they want a change. 

This is no different than what the voters told the legislature following the pay raise fiasco.  The legislature still doesn’t get it and they will continue to pay the price until significant changes are made.  The committee will pay the price in this case, by being rendered completely irrelevent to the election process - or worse, start losing big races. 

Here’s the other thing I take away from the article - Stabile’s words: 

“It’s not the first time we’ve had to deal with opposition or with people who disagree with us,” says Stabile, chairman since 2000.

That should be a good sign that there are big problems with the leadership of the committee.  In 2001, Denny Lebo beat the endorsed candidate for County Cleark of Courts.  In 2002, Stabile was called on to resign by State Rep. Will Gabig during a congressional primary race.  That’s only two years after Stabile took over.  That disagreement subsided.  Then the committee showed how weak and worthless it was in 2005 in the Carlisle DJ race, losing to a Democrat by 2 votes.  Of course one could argue that the county committee doesn’t get involved in local races, but still, if they did a little work, they could have won - the Democrat committee got involved, worked hard and it paid off.  Now the 2007 primary trouncing in the commissioners’ race. 

Just to be fair, I should let everyone one that I was involved in the last three of these races mentioned above, so yes, I’ve been a thorn in the side of the committee leadership for several years now.  Or as I like to point out, I’ve been talking about the problems with the Committee leadership for several years now.  I’m thrilled that others are starting to see the problems.

US House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH gets a big thumbs up from me today.  He’s gathering a group of Reps and confidants together to work on rebranding the GOP.  This is long overdue and I commend Rep. Boehner for his efforts.  To many people this is a wasteful exercise.  What Boehner is doing though is no different than what any successful business does - get focused, develop their brand and work out a plan to sell the brand.  Rep. Boehner is taking a business approach to politics. 

Don’t expect immediate results though - branding takes time.  There are two ways to sell something.  You can sell a large quantity of something and recognize that next year you could be selling something different.  This produces short term gains and you have to hope that the next short term gain is significant.  A lot of businesses build themselves on this model.

The other way to build a business is by developing and building a brand.  This takes a lot longer.  When you begin your brand development, you don’t get much response or much success.  But once people identify with the brand, they become loyal customers who come back for more.  This is very much a long term strategy. 

What Boehner is doing is going for the long term strategy.  Don’t expect to see results of this rebranding effort during the next election cycle or even the cyle after that - which means that if everyone who drives the GOP gets on board with the branding method and sticks with it through the difficult times, we can start to see some results of their efforts in time for the 2012 election cycle.  Alot of that depends on the presidential election too though.  If Democrats win in 2008, then the GOP can continue in its efforts to rebrand.  If the GOP wins the White House in 08, then Republicans will have thier brand as determined by the President. 

Finally, finally, finally.  Fred Thompson has decided to run for President - or atleast create an exploratory committee.  Thank God.  I finally have a Republican to cheer for in the race for President. 

The Keep the Team Committee, which played a major part in ensuring Commissioners Barclay and Eichelberger won renomination to proceed to the fall election, held a meeting today.  This will probably be the first of many upcoming meetings.  There was great attendance and much enthusiasm.  I was also impressed with the caliber of people attending.  This group is serious about making changes to the party.  A very good open discussion was held with great ideas being presented. 

If ever there was a time to change the party establishment and reach out to the grassroots, it is now.  The grassroots are thristing for leadership, and the Keep the Team committee is providing that leadership.  Stay tuned…

The Patriot News ran an article about Gary Eichelberger’s call for changes with the county party - the most important change being the end of endorsements. 

Eichelberger is right - the endorsement process should be ended.  The Republican voters who voted on Tuesday agree - that’s what this past primary ended up being about along with the train. 

The grassroots has been left behind by the leadership in the party and the people finally said enough is enough. 

What is truly amazing is that no matter what level of government you talk about, the establishment refuses to get the message that the people want change.  You saw it in the outcome of the payraise.  Now you see it here at the county level post-primary.  How may times do we need to smack these people upside the head at the polls for them to get the message? 

Here’s the best quote from the article:

Cumberland GOP Chairman Victor Stabile said the election’s result doesn’t constitute a “catastrophic event” for the party, its influence among voters or the validity of the endorsements.

If losing by 5,000 votes doesn’t represent a “catastrophic event,” I’m not really sure what does.  Maybe you’d care to define that? 

Here’s the real deal with what is going on.  Pennsylvania is a nice state and so people move into certain parts of the state - like Cumberland County.  I’m a good example of that.  My wife is from the area and we thought it was a nice place to raise a family.  Well, as more people move into the area, it upsets the establishment.  Why?  People who move into an area are not part of the establishment, and do not benefit from it.  As with anything, a power sturggle ensues.  I’ll always put my money on the people moving in - why?  If someone is willing to move to a new area, they are willing to take risks.  They also have nothing to lose by challenging the establishment.  The establishment has everything to lose if the new people get a foothold, as we can see from Tuesday’s results.  Ultimately though, you run out of people who are from this area and who benefit from the establishment.  There is always a new crop of people moving in.  Then a new group of people become established and the cycle continues.  Maybe that’s what Thomas Jefferson was referring to when he mentioned that every generation should have a revolution. 

I saw three articles today analysing the Cumberland County GOP Commissioners’ race. 

The best of the three is by Lowman Henry:

Gerald Morrison, Chairman of the Modern Transit Partnership (and attorney in a firm that could possibly benefit financially should the transit system be built) says the election was not a referendum on the issue. It was. Voters in Cumberland County, as would voters in other mid-state counties if they had the opportunity, voiced their opposition to the plan which would inevitably result in significantly higher county and/or regional taxes to fund if the system were actually built.

Cumberland County GOP Chairman Vic Stabile, whose endorsement of Gunnison blew up in his face, claimed the election was more complex than one issue. That is true, but it doesn’t mean Corridor One was not the main and dominant issue. In fact, the main political issue in the race is the fact the Cumberland County GOP has been taken over by special interests - and suffered a resounding repudiation at the polls on Tuesday as a result.

The Sentinel and the Patriot News each ran articles as well.  The Sentinel article is pretty balanced - John Hilton has always done a good job of giving both sides to any debate good coverage. 

The Patriot article on the other hand is lopsided.  It’s as if they didn’t realize that the election is over.  What’s the deal?  I actually find the article to be amuzing. 

Cumberland County Commissioners Bruce Barclay and Gary Eichelberger won resoundingly in Tuesday’s Republican primary, but does their triumph have a deeper, transit-related meaning?

Probably not, observers said yesterday.

Huh?  Gee, I don’t think all observers of the election were asked because other observers would have said the opposite.  In fact, as stated above Lowman Henry observed that the Light Rail was the dominant issue.  This whole thing with the observers reminds me about articles in which the reporter sites some “expert” in whatever field the issue covers.  It always turns out that the “experts” are surprised by something.  If they are experts, then why are they so often sited in the paper as being surprised about whatever topic they are supposedly experts about? 

Because of the type of candidates I like to work with - challengers to incumbents, open seat candidates, and unendorsed  incumbents - being part of the winning team is more thrilling than most races.  These are folks that are not supposed to win, and yet we find ways to do it.  Yesterday’s victory for Gary Eichelberger was one of those moments.  Especially winning the most votes.  I like Bruce Barclay too, so I’m glad he did well also, coming up just a bit shy of Gary at the polls. 

There’s plenty of coverage in the news about the race - here, here, here, and here.

The most amazing news to me though are Stabile’s comments saying that he doesn’t think the committee needs to be reorganized or change the way it does business.  Excuse Mr. Chairman, but didn’t you see the election results?  I don’t think you are any position to dictate anything, except how you resign as Chairman.  You obviously don’t get it, so I’ll spell it out - the voters rejected the arrogance of the county party leadership. They know a railroad job when they see one. 

Remember your own words Mr. Chairman?  Let me remind you of what was quoted in the paper:

During his public remarks to committee members, Stabile said the turncoats will be remembered post-election.

“I am proud to support our endorsed candidates. To those who don’t — raspberries to them,” he said to chuckles. “And there will be an accounting once this is over.”

The accounting is about ready to begin - get in line Mr. Chairman.  You can be first.  All things come to pass in their own, this will too.  There will be changes made in the county committee and with other selected officials.

I was on target for the Cumberland County GOP Commissioners’ race - Eichelberger and Barclay win big - Not quite 20 points as I predicted in terms of raw numbers, 14 points for Eichelberger over Gunnison.  What is really impressive is that Eichelberger beat both endorsed candidates.  Barclay was right behind him beating Gunnison by 12 points.

I haven’t really followed the other results, so I’ll have to comment on them after I’ve gotten some sleep.

The result for the Cumberland county race has a few meanings - first Stabile is done.  Second, those state reps who endorsed Gunnison have some kissing up to do - in a big way.  One Rep in particular took a swipe at me early on in the campaign saying that since I was a part of the Eichelberger campaign Gary was sure to lose - we see how that worked out. 

There are other repercussions, but they will have to wait until tomorrow.