How Much Power Is Enough?

I am currently going to be on the ballot for the Republican Central Committee for the 73rd district.

What the heck is that you might ask? Well, per the party documents, the Central Committee shall:

A. Control all its business and activities under its official name;

B. Encourage Republicans in Orange County to seek public office;

C. Support all Republican nominees and endorsed candidates in Orange County;

D. Contribute funds, leadership, manpower, facilities and prestige to the campaigns of all Republican nominees and endorsed candidates in Orange County, to the extent of the Central Committee’s ability;

E. Provide effective public relations education programs designed to bring the general public the underlying principles of the Republican Party in general and the position of the Party on national, state and county issues as set forth in the national and state platforms and policy and/or resolutions of the Central Committee;

F. Establish, encourage and foster local volunteer Republican clubs in Orange County, to develop manpower and leadership from these clubs and to broaden the scope of the Republican Party;

G. Build and maintain countywide precinct organization based on dedicated precinct teams and citywide organization. The precinct operations are dedicated to registering Republicans and getting them to vote.

H. Endorse Republican candidates for local non-partisan and voter-nominated Offices.

There are semi-autonomous county central committees for each of California’s 58 counties. At every direct primary election (presidential primary) or when district boundaries are redrawn, their members are either elected by supervisor district or Assembly district depending on the county. For Orange County, there are six elected members per State Assembly district and each party has its own committee. There are currently 17 people who have expressed interest in running for the 73rd with four (including me) so far qualifying, the deadline is December 6 to get all your signatures in and the associated paperwork and more could decide to jump in between now and then, so we don’t know how many will be on the ballot yet.

So now let’s talk about how much power is enough. The Central Committee needs to have some people in it that know the ins and outs of the rules and laws of the parties and the state, and federally elected officials to the House for those districts are automatically on the committee as I understand it. Of the 17 people that have currently expressed interest in running, 7 of them are currently elected officials with 3 of those also running for higher office at the same time as they hold those positions and are running for the other positions, so running for two positions at once. This just seems absurd to me, our politics are far too insular, we have people moving around between city councils, board of supervisors, the state senate, the state assembly, other state positions and then federal positions. Let’s get some fresh perspective into the mix instead of constantly moving the same people around the seats as they get term-limited out.

Here is the list of current and recent office holders that are also running for the central committee. I’m calling on all of them to drop their run for the central committee and get some fresh blood in there, it doesn’t have to be me, we just need new people that can devote time to it that don’t have potentially divided loyalties because of their other positions. I like some of these folks and dislike others, it isn’t personal, it’s just about spreading the decision making out to more people.

• Lisa Bartlett is currently the Supervisor for the Fifth District
• Laurie Davies is Mayor of Laguna Niguel and running for State Assembly
• Ed Sachs is on Mission Viejo City Council and running for State Assembly
• Mike Munzing is Mayor Pro Tem for Aliso Viejo
• Greg Raths is Mayor of Mission Viejo and running for House of Representatives
• Elaine Gennawey is on Laguna Niguel City Council
• Diane Harkey is former State Senate, State Assembly, State Board of Equalization