How Obamacare repeals would affect some Californians

Good morning. Happy Monday. It seems like both the country and state are in a holding pattern until January when Trump will be sworn in, a new Congress starts and the California legislative session begins. 

Democrats in the Legislature have made it clear in recent weeks that everyone should expect fights with the feds over immigration, while Republicans in D.C. are prioritizing an Obamacare repeal. But details are sketchy. 

One thing is for sure: Even though Republicans have taken control of D.C. on an anti-Obamacare platform, there could still be many upset people, depending on how the replacement system is structured. 

In fact, Bakersfield.com/Kaiser Health News talked to some of those upset people in the Bakersfield district of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. But no matter what happens, there will be people both upset and pleased. 

In other news:

• Fate of the CA GOP: “Many say the party needs to soften its posture on undocumented immigrants and social issues in order to attract more Latino, Asian and young voters. Others, particularly in the GOP’s traditional voter base, counter that Trump’s victory nationwide is proof that a stronger stance is called for. At stake is the very relevance of the Republican Party in California.” The Orange County Register has more. 

• Mismanagement of a gov’t program?: “The Metropolitan Water District’s massive $340-million turf rebate program — which helped thousands of Southern Californians rip out their lawns in favor of drought-tolerant landscaping — was plagued by poor planning and oversight by the agency, a new audit found.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

• Racial profiling: “Police officers in California will soon track the race of those they pull over for traffic stops or encounter in the street, according to proposed guidelines released Friday by Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris,” reports the Los Angeles Times. 

• Drought: “October was wet, November dry. And December? The soft but steady rains this weekend were enough to push the Sacramento region to 155 percent of normal precipitation for the season. … And there’s more to come. … So what does that mean for California’s drought, now entering a sixth year? While Northern California has seen a wet start to winter, the situation is more complicated across the state. Central and Southern California continue to experience unusually dry conditions. And even in the north state, it’s not clear how the rest of the rainy season will shape up.” The Sacramento Bee has more. 

Legislature:

• Gone till January. 

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced. 

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New followers: @SpokeAna

Trump, eggs and the CAGOP convention

Good morning and welcome to May.

California Republicans greeted all three remaining GOP presidential candidates over the weekend, a big deal for partisans in a state that rarely matters in the primary process. 

The main event, or at least the one with protests, was Donald Trump’s speech Friday. Compared to a situation where protestors were throwing eggs at police, busting through barricades and rerouting a candidate’s entrance through a hole in the fence along the 101, the appearances of Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich were quite tame.

Cruz’s VP pick — unsuccessful presidential and Senate candidate Carly Fiorina — also spoke. Like Kasich and Cruz, no one hurled eggs in her name either. 

California Republicans also changed the party’s rules to allow for up to two more terms for their popular chairman, Jim Brulte. CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• A new poll suggests that more than one-third of Bay Area residents are ready to leave within the next few years due to traffic and housing costs. The San Jose Mercury News has more. 
• Cruz has traveled the country criticizing the Obama economy. But at the CAGOP convention this weekend, he had to change his tune slightly in a state where the economy has improved during the Democratic administration of Gov. Jerry Brown, reports the Los Angeles Times.
• “The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is touting a new study that suggests people who see condoms in adult video are more likely to use them in their own sex lives,” reports LA Weekly.
• California voters may have to decide in November on whether to legalize recreational marijuana. But the $2.7 billion medical marijuana industry still lacks comprehensive oversight, reports The Orange County Register. 

Assembly:

• In at 1 p.m. 

Senate:

• In at 2 p.m.
• Packed Appropriations Committee agenda. 

Gov. Brown:

• At 10:30 a.m. on the west steps of the Capitol building, Brown will attend the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony. 
• At 1:30 p.m., Brown will attend a Wildfire Awareness Week event in McClellan.

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New followers: @CASenatorJim @robviglione

When California Republican activists converged on the Anaheim Marriott in mid-September, they experienced something they hadn’t felt in years.

Excitement.

“It’s an exciting time for the delegates as we embark on a journey in 2016 by selling principles of limited government and holding the line on taxes,” said Allen Wilson, a delegate to the state party and member of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee. “That resonates with millions of Californians.”

Since former State Senator Jim Brulte took over the helm in 2013, the state party has made steady progress in picking up legislative seats and rebuilt its party operations. Last November, California Republicans defeated two Democratic incumbents — the first time in two decades that a Democratic incumbent has lost re-election to the Legislature.

Brulte also put Democrats on the defensive in the Central Valley, forcing the state party to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to rescue Assemblyman Adam Gray in his re-election campaign.

CA GOP will be tested in 2016

Although Brulte deserves credit for a shrewd campaign strategy and effective fundraising, Republicans’ legislative gains in 2014 were aided, in part, by a record low turnout. The 2014 electorate also skewed heavily toward older, more conservative voters.

According to an analysis by Political Data, Inc., less than 10 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted last November.

“In California, an 18- or 19-year-old was more likely to be arrested this year than actually vote in one of the statewide elections,” Paul Mitchell of Political Data, Inc., told KQED earlier this year.

Next year, Republicans won’t be so lucky, when the presidential election is expected to draw more young people to the polls.

But, this time around, state GOP activists say that the party is doing a better job of reaching the younger generation as demonstrated by the turnout at the state party convention.

“The most exciting thing is to see the numbers of young people in attendance,” said Dr. Alexandria Coronado, a longtime Republican activist and former president of the Orange County Board of Education. “They are energized and ready to work for the conservative cause.”

CA GOP: “No Longer in Hospice Care”

Republicans have reason to be optimistic, but state political observers say the party still has a long way to go.

“The California Republican Party used to exist in the hospice care of American politics, but now they’re undergoing plastic surgery,” said John Phillips, an Orange County Register columnist and co-host of “The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips” on KABC AM 790. “Unfortunately, it’s the doctor that did Kanye West’s mom.”

Phillips believes that Republicans’ best chance is to embrace “tough on crime,” fiscal conservatives.

“If they want to expand the base, they need to run fiscal conservatives who are hard on criminals and are social libertarians,” Phillips said. “Otherwise, have fun handing over control of the state to the SEIU.”

That approach has worked in San Diego, where Mayor Kevin Faulconer has achieved sky-high popularity. There’s even talk that Faulconer won’t draw a major Democratic opponent in 2016.

Nearly one hundred delegates and guests made the short journey up from San Diego County and shared their optimism with their fellow GOP activists from around the Golden State.

“I’d say the convention was a success as we re-adopted a solid, conservative platform and adopted a common sense rule to skip two conventions in the ‘on’ year,” said San Diego County Republican Chairman Tony Krvaric. “A lot will depend on how the presidential race develops, but I’m very optimistic about our chances to have a ‘Republican wave’ in 2016 which will have reverberations all the way down the ticket.”

That positive attitude was echoed throughout the convention halls.

“This working weekend made me realize how far we have come,” former Downey city councilman Mario A. Guerra, who ran a strong but unsuccessful State Senate campaign in 2014, wrote on Facebook, “and how much more we need to do here in California.”

“My policies have never changed,” Huckabee said when asked whether he had changed his position on taxes. “I balanced the budget. You do what you have to do to balance the budget. I came in with a deficit of about $400 million; I left with a surplus of almost a billion dollars.”

An independent analysis by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in 2007 found that Huckabee’s governorship resulted in “a net tax increase of $505 million, a figure adjusted for inflation and economic growth, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration.”

The newspaper’s analysis also concluded that the average Arkansan’s annual tax burden was $2,902 the year Huckabee left office — nearly $1,000 more than his first year as governor.

Huckabee Tax Flip-Flop on Production Taxes

During Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, the former Baptist pastor said that he supported a Fair Tax plan that would eliminate all taxes on production in favor of more taxes on consumption.

“I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce,” he said during this week’s GOP debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “Why should we penalize productivity? And it’s why I’m an unabashed supporter of the “fair tax,” which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity.”

Yet, that view contradicts Huckabee’s past statements critical of Republican support for regressive taxes.

“One of my complaints with Republicans in my own party is that, true or not, we’re perceived as the people whose tax policies do tilt toward the people at the top end of the economic scale, with disregard to the people who are barely making it,” Huckabee said in 2006, according to the Washington Examiner. “And I think it’s in many ways a legitimate criticism.”

Most economists believe that consumption taxes, such as a sales tax, disproportionately affect the poor and working classes. The left-leaning blog Think Progress has pointed out that “Huckabee signed a 1996 sales tax hike, opposed efforts to reduce grocery taxes, and allowed a sales tax increase to become law in 2004.”

Huckabee renews feud with Club for Growth

When asked about his record of raising taxes, Huckabee also took the opportunity to levy a fresh round of attacks on the Club for Growth, who he dubbed “the people who hate my guts.” In 2007, the national network of limited government and free market advocates published a detailed white paper on Huckabee’s tax record.

“Club for Growth, there’s an organization that loves me,” Huckabee said sarcastically. “If you hear everything they have to say, you’ll have the most absolutely nuanced and inaccurate depiction of my record that you’ll ever be able to find.”

A spokesman for the Club for Growth disputed Huckabee’s characterization that the feud is “personal.”

“He often tries to portray his conflict with the Club for Growth as personal, when in fact, it’s only ever been about his terrible record on taxes and spending,” Club for Growth spokesman Doug Sachtleben told CalWatchdog.com. “While Tax Hike Mike was governor of Arkansas, the overall tax burden in the state rose by 47 percent and the net tax hike was $505 million.”

Huckabee: I Cut Taxes 94 Times

Huckabee’s record as governor of Arkansas has been heavily criticized by fiscal conservatives.

“During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent — at three times the rate of inflation,” Michael D. Tanner, the director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, wrote in December 2007. “The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state’s debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes.”

Although he refused to acknowledge his support for tax increases, Huckabee quickly pointed to taxes he’s cut.

“Ninety-four times we cut taxes,” Huckabee said at the CA GOP convention in Anaheim. “We rebuilt our roads. We did many things like cutting the marriage penalty, reducing capital gains taxes. I did that in the headwinds of the most Democratic legislature in America – more Democratic than even California, more Democratic than Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Oregon, New Jersey.”

The Club for Growth points out that those tax cuts don’t offset his tax increases.

“Huckabee’s substantial tax hikes far surpassed his modest tax cuts, and he has consistently and vigorously defended that record,” Sachtleben said.

On Tuesday, the 28 Republican members of the lower house selected Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley as their next leader. The caucus did not release the specific tally for the caucus vote nor indicate any other candidates for the leadership post.

“I am fortunate to inherit a Caucus that is united in its commitment to fiscal responsibility and meeting the needs of a 21st Century economy,” Mayes said in a press release following the announcement. “For California to thrive, legislative leaders must provide solutions that offer a pathway to prosperity. Too often politicians take actions that limit opportunity in the very communities they claim to serve.”

He added, “I look forward to working with our Caucus to make California a better place to call home.”

Mayes, who was elected to the state Assembly in 2014, will take over for current GOP leader Kristin Olsen when the Legislature reconvenes on January 4, 2016.

Second consecutive GOP leader to reject anti-tax pledge

Mayes said that he intends to carry on Olsen’s philosophy and approach to the post.

“I am humbled by my colleagues’ confidence in my ability to lead the Caucus,” Mayes said. “I plan to build upon Kristin’s vision of bringing the Caucus and its supporting operations into the 21st Century. She has worked tirelessly to position our Caucus and its members for maximum success.”

Since taking over as minority leader, Olsen has embraced a more moderate approach and rejected the anti-tax rhetoric that is considered orthodoxy to traditional conservative Republicans. In 2012, Olsen publicly criticized the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a promise by elected officials to oppose higher taxes.

“The problem with the no-tax pledge is that entrenched special interests interpret what is or is not a violation of the pledge in order to serve their own agendas – and sometimes their interpretations defy logic,” Olsen wrote in a Sacramento Bee opinion piece before taking over as leader. “To grow the Republican Party, we have to get away from relying solely on ‘No’ messages. We are better than that, and Californians deserve and desire solution-focused leadership that will help bring legislative Democrats over to our side on the need for lower taxes and substantive reforms.”

As a candidate for State Assembly, Mayes similarly rejected the anti-tax pledge. Mayes told the Desert Sun last year that “he’s not the kind of Republican who is out to blow up government … and said he declined to sign the taxpayer protection pledge.”

Mayes brings experience from more than a decade serving at the local government level. He was first elected to the Yucca Valley Town Council in 2002 and was twice re-elected. During his time on the town council, Mayes served as president of the Desert Mountain Division of the League of California Cities.

He also worked as a political staff member at the county-level, serving as chief of staff to San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford.

Olsen’s tenure as leader

Olsen earned praise from her colleagues for her tenure as leader.

“Kristin may have been a transitional leader in terms of time, but she has been transformative in her impact on Caucus operations,” said Assembly Republican Caucus Chair Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita. “Her changes set a pathway to Republican relevancy and she worked to lay the foundation for a Republican majority in the near future. Thanks to Kristin, our Caucus is united, focused, and motivated.”

Olsen, who is termed out of the state Assembly next year, welcomed the leadership transition and said she’s proud of her accomplishments, which included a major staff shake-up as part of an effort of “modernizing caucus operations.”

“My goal as Assembly Republican leader has been to unite our caucus and advance core principles that resonate with Californians and will revitalize our state: good jobs, great schools, and a more transparent, effective, and citizen-driven government,” Olsen said. “I am pleased that we have been able to accomplish this while modernizing our Caucus operations, hiring top-notch staff, and becoming pro-active and solution-focused.”

Mayes will have company learning the ropes as a new Republican leader. Last week, the Senate Republican Caucus announced that Sen. Jean Fuller of Bakersfield had unseated Sen. Bob Huff as Republican Senate leader.

Huff is running for an open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to replace longtime Supervisor Mike Antonovich. Other candidates for that seat include gang prosecutor Elan Carr, Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander and Kathryn Barger, Antonovich’s chief of staff.

Consensus in Sacramento is that the roads are in bad shape and revenue is needed to attack the problem. In announcing the special session, Brown noted that annual available excise fuel revenues for roads are billions short of the revenue needed. Deferred road maintenance requires billions more.

Democratic solutions are focused on tax and fee increases. Discussions have revolved around an increase in the gas tax, vehicle license fee, and per mileage fee, among other ideas. One approach on the tax and fee front is Sen. Jim Beall’s Senate Bill 16, which would raise $3.5 billion through a combination of taxes and fees.

Republicans have taken a different approach. Noting that the state budget increased a whopping $7.5 billion over last year, they ask why hasn’t more revenue been dedicated to the roads. Priorities dictate that transportation needs must be cared for so that the California economy can thrive, which in turn would bring in added revenue to the state.

Assembly Republicans issued a nine-point proposal this week that they say could direct $6 billion in existing state funds to transportation infrastructure. Senate Republicans similarly have introduced legislation into the special session to use current state funds for roads.

Republican opposition could thwart attempts to raise taxes for the roads because it takes a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. Republicans would be in no mood to raise taxes if GOP ideas are given short shrift.

That’s where the pressure from Republican allies in the business community might come into play.

Business interests in Sacramento have been calling for transportation improvements for a long time. They are concerned that political gridlock would lead to more delay. Business community leaders have expressed openness to tax increases or new funding sources for roads under certain conditions.

California Chamber of Commerce president Allan Zaremberg told the L.A. Times’ George Skelton, “If Republicans want to vote for taxes for transportation, I’m absolutely fine with it. I just want to make sure the money is spent on transportation.”

Jim Wunderman, who heads the Bay Area Council, stated, “We’re open to funding ideas on transportation.  Our region is at a standstill.  That said, we don’t have anything specific to work with, so I haven’t asked the members.  But some of the bigger employers are desperate for transportation fixes, given the state of things.”

Business might conceivably try to influence a wider tax discussion when it engages on road taxes. Support the administration in a road-funding scheme while demanding that the administration vocally oppose other tax plans aimed at business currently under discussion such as increased property taxes on commercial property and an oil severance tax.

Like those troublesome dinosaurs in Jurassic World, the tax discussion in the special session may go beyond the fences intended keep them in and focused on the roads.

“Around the globe, blue is identified with conservative, free market parties, while red is identified with social democratic parties,” points out Shawn Steel, a former chairman of the state party who now serves as its representative on the Republican National Committee. “It is why conservative-leaning Democrats in Congress were called ‘Blue Dogs.’ Everyone knew what it meant.”

Steel is among a group of Republicans that have introduced a resolution calling for the California Republican Party to adopt blue as its official color in branding materials. The informal coalition of “Republicans, Red No More” says that it’s time to conform to proper historical and international standards for political ideology, correct a 14-year-old mistake by the mainstream media and, in the process, confront “the idea of a hopelessly divided nation.”

The group has some high-profile backers, including two members of California’s congressional delegation.

“Should the Republican Party choose its own principles and symbols, or should we let the national media do that for us?” asked Rep. Doug La Malfa, R- Richvale, in an email to delegates. “Well, the answer should be obvious.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, pleads, “Will you join with me in taking back our Reagan Blue?” He was a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan.

No Red States and Blue States

Think the whole color conundrum is trivial? Wayne Johnson, one of the state’s most successful political consultants, believes that the media’s emphasis on red states vs. blue states increases public cynicism about the political process.

“The very notion that there are ‘Blue States’ and ‘Red States’ not only signals to people that their votes are a meaningless formality, it also feeds the idea of a hopelessly divided nation,” said Johnson, the president of The Wayne Johnson Agency. “Both assumptions also happen to be profoundly untrue. There isn’t a state in the union that couldn’t go Republican or Democrat in any given election given the right candidate and the right timing and issues.”

Last month, California Republicans proved that to be true: the right candidate, Councilman Kevin Faulconer, with the right timing, a special election, won a decisive victory in San Diego by focusing on right-of-center issues. Without compromising the party’s core conservative values, Faulconer sought to minimize the divisive red vs. blue rhetoric and build on a “theme of inclusion.” And as the UT San Diego noted, “He even used blue campaign signs.”

Bush vs. Gore: NBC News, New York Times and USA Today’s color-swap

Faulconer’s blue signs were a departure from recent norms, but not historical traditions. Dating back to at least the 19th century, the United States has followed the international standard of associating blue with right-of-center political parties and red with causes that lean left. That tradition, Johnson says, “reached its zenith in 1980 with the landslide election of Ronald Reagan.”

“In 1980, David Brinkley described the nearly all-blue map of the Reagan landslide as a ‘suburban swimming pool,’” said Johnson.

That all changed in 2000, when a trifecta of media powerhouses flubbed the traditional political colors. Among a slew of mistakes in its election night coverage, NBC News used red to fill in the map of states won by George W. Bush and blue for those won by Al Gore. Two days later, the New York Times and USA Today repeated those colors in their first color-coded maps of the vote. The graphics editors for both papers have said there wasn’t much thought put into the decision. However, the ensuing drama and Supreme Court case helped solidify the colors in the public’s mind.

“For weeks, the maps were ubiquitous,” observed Jodi Enda in her history of the controversy for Smithsonian Magazine. “Perhaps that’s why the 2000 colors stuck. Along with images of Florida elections officials eyeballing tiny ballot chads, the maps were there constantly, reminding us of the vast, nearly even divide between, well, red and blue voters.”

International standard: Red for left, blue for right

Elsewhere around the world, from the red Social Democratic Party of Croatia to the blue Tories in the United Kingdom, countries that never experienced the mainstream media mistake follow the historical norms.

Ilkka Ahtokivi, president of the International Association of Political Consultants and a prominent European consultant, says that the United States stands alone in its political colors.

“Blue is often considered the traditional color of center-right and free-market parties around the world,” said Ahtokivi, where the conservatives in his home country, Finland, have been using blue since its foundation in 1918. “It has always seemed counter-intuitive that in the U.S. the center-right party is assigned the color red, while the center-left party is assigned the color blue.”

As American parties have departed from the international norms in color usage, there’s arguably been a decline in party ties with other nations.

“It was during the 1980s that our relationships with conservative and free-market parties really began to blossom,” said Johnson, who has served as an American representative on the Board of Directors of the IAPC. “The close ties between Reagan and Margaret Thatcher strengthened the association of American conservatism and Thatcher’s Blues.”

CA GOP Convention Resolution: The first step

But, it isn’t just the prospect of global cohesion that has some California Republicans seeking to go from red to blue. There are also subtle consequences as the state party courts new immigrants. According to a report released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau, a quarter of the nation’s foreign-born residents live in California. That’s 10.2 million Californians who were born in another country, where blue means conservative and red means liberal.

Steel, who backs the change from red to blue, has led the party’s effort to expand political support among minority voters, especially Asian Americans. “They should be coming to our party en masse,” Steel told the Los Angeles Times last December.

For new voters that hail from anywhere else in the world, it becomes an issue of clarity.

“Let me begin by saying that the symbols we choose as a party pale in comparison to the principles we embrace,” Steel wrote in his message to delegates. “Yet, symbols are nevertheless important. It is a visual shorthand that people around the globe understand.”

A decade ago, political analyst Clark Benson similarly argued that it’s an issue of clarity.

“The key issue here is not the color chosen for the maps. The key issue is how states, or areas, are described,” Benson, publisher of Political Data Analysis, wrote in 2004. “What is needed is a return to clarity. Texas is not a ‘red state,’ it is (at least now) a generically Republican state. New York is not a ‘blue state,’ it is a generically Democrat state.”

Not everyone is optimistic that the colors can be corrected.

Glen Bolger, one of the Republican Party’s leading political strategists and pollsters, defied the dominant color choices for years. Until 2012, he used red for Democrats and blue for Republicans in his presentations, but finally threw in the towel due to the frequent confusion.

“I don’t know that it will ever go back,” said Bolger, a partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies.

By Katy Grimes

SACRAMENTO — The 11th Commandment, according to the gospel of former President Ronald Reagan, is an unwritten rule in the Republican Party discouraging public attacks on other Republicans, particularly GOP candidates. “Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican,” is not intended to discourage debate over ideology, philosophy or policy, but to prevent GOP candidates from launching into personal attacks on each other.

For the most part, the California Republican Party convention held last weekend in Sacramento may have started with an attack on one party candidate, but continued and ended on an upbeat, positive note.

A rousing convention — for CA Republicans

By the last day of the three-day convention, most of the women attendees — except the under-30 crowd — were worn out and had kicked off the killer high heels and slipped into sensible flat shoes. Jeans and Sperry’s replaced the men’s dark blue suits. But even on Sunday, after all-day working sessions and late-night parties and receptions, the 1,300 attendees were still enthusiastic and working hard.

The election of new party Chairman Jim Brulte ushered in a new, distinctive feeling of cohesiveness missing in the party for several years, along with a sense of a new era of leadership.

Brulte’s overwhelming election on Sunday, to loud cheers and visible relief, is a message to the state. Brulte isn’t just any CRP Chairman — he’s a former Assembly and Senate leader, and a well known down-to-business butt-kicker.

The state Republican Party has not only suffered devastating losses in recent years. There has been a glaring lack of cohesiveness, spotty communication, dismal voter registration and lackluster outreach and inclusiveness.

Who is Brulte?

A former assemblyman and state senator, Jim Brulte served 14 years in the California Legislature. He was in the Assembly from 1990-1996, and the Senate 1996-2004, term-limited out both times.

After the Republican Party election Sunday, Brulte promised to step up communications, make sincere connections with California voters and make the party more competitive in upcoming elections.

Brulte has a daunting job ahead.

“The Democrats are borrowing 46 cents of every dollar,” Brulte said. “This has to stop. We Republicans have to get outside of our comfort zone and deliver our message of individual liberty and responsibility.”

Nasty infighting

While there was plenty of support for Brulte and a new and much-needed cohesiveness, there were also problems in paradise.

The good news was San Francisco County Republican Party Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon was elected as the CRP Vice-Chairwoman — the first woman in the history of the California Republican Party to be elected to the office. But the bad news was her ascension was not without nasty party infighting.

Dhillon, a San Francisco attorney, was widely supported by many California Republican leaders for the vice-chairman’s seat. However, she was recently viciously slurred, and called a “Taj Mahal princess” and Muslim terrorist sympathizer — by a Republican.

“Vera Eyzendooren, the president of the San Bernardino County Federation of Republican Women— an official party group — slammed Dhillon in a recent Facebook post, which included a photo of an Islamic terrorist who beheaded two people,” Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“I was told by one of Harmeet’s friends that because of her religion, her loyalty is to the Muslim religion,” Eyzendooren wrote on Facebook. “So she will defend a Muslim beheading two men without any hesitation……she is not a Republican.”

Dhillon, a devout Sikh, immigrated from India when she was a child.

Fortunately, Eyzendooren’s outrageous and ignorant comments were vehemently denounced earlier in the week and again during the convention by Republican leaders. “Blatant racism has no place in the party of Lincoln,” said a joint statement from outgoing California GOP Chair Tom Del Beccaro, Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff and Assembly Minority leader Connie Conway. “We strongly denounce this hateful speech in this and any other venue.”

Brulte denounced the slur as well.

This is a teaching moment and an important opportunity for Brulte to put an end to the flame-throwing, ignorant, power-seeking faction of the state’s Republican Party. Far too often, this faction seeks opportunities for power, although most of them tend to be moderate crony capitalists. The infighting and vicious attacks have been a problem for many years, but have escalated in recent years through vociferous bloggers and local Republican groups. Perhaps under Brulte’s leadership this divisive faction will be exposed and marginalized.

Looking ahead

“We have to stop talking to each other,” Brulte said. “If we are going to be successful at winning elections, we have to get out of our comfort zone and stop only talking to the choir and going and talking to the people who don’t necessarily share our views, because if we share not only our head, but we share our heart, we will make converts.”

“Twenty-nine percent of California is Republican,” Brulte told delegates after his election. “But 100 percent of 29 percent does not get us to 51 percent.”

Brulte promised to help Republicans regain seats in the state Legislature, saying Democratic control of both houses and the governor’s office “is a recipe for disaster.” Brulte asked delegates to close their eyes and imagine the California they want to see 10, 15, 20 years from now, “And imagine the America you want to see. Is there anyone in this room that actually believes Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom can make that happen?”

“There is a fundamental difference between their vision and ours,” said Brulte. “Because the state run by Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom is a recipe for disaster.”