In an unprecedented move of pure arrogance, the California Republican Party (CRP) crapped on every other Republican candidate running for CD-10. In a kangaroo court conference call Tuesday, the Olympian GOP leadership swept its own rules aside and endorsed the candidacy of David Harmer for the Congressional District 10 (CD10) special election.
I guess the candidacy of the other Republicans matters not to the CRP when Harmer, who has fallen under the spell of the CRP Vice Chair, can pay for his political fame with his own cash for voter registration.
As an aside, Just wait til Harmer discovers that the Contra Costa County GOP is up to their necks in debt ($15,000) and they start calling to beg him to let Patty O’Day use the money to keep the lights on instead of Phone Banks, Voter Registration, and GOTV.
CCRP Treasurer Darcy Linn is welcome to prevaricate all she wants, especially as she under reports unpaid obligations like the rent, and David Harmer’s campaign manager’s salary thru July.
The truth is, Harmer has absolutely no more hope of winning this election than the other Republicans who have already announced their candidacies. So any honest appraisal cannot help but conclude that the CRP endorsement is just a way to cover the butt of Vice Chair Del Beccaro who saw easy pickings when Harmer walked through the CD-10 door.
What a perfect patsy with which to create the kool-aid induced impression that Harmer can win so other fools and true believers in faeries and all things Tom will contribute cash that will keep the financial ponzi scheme that is the Contra Costa Republican Party alive until the 2010 election cycle.
The facts are that no Republican is going to win CD-10. The registration numbers don’t lie. The really sad fact is the total corruption of the California GOP leadership in debauching any type of fair vetting process by the voters of Republican candidates for CD10. So now we have the Del Beccaro-Nehring candidate who will part fools from their money to bail out the failed Contra Costa Republican Party.
The GOP Circular firing squad continues……
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The info was given almost word for word in my previous comment. Title: Correction to the California Republican Assembly Endorses Chris Bunch for Congressional District 10 Special Election. The announcement of the CRA endorsement was in error…
Golly, can’t people just simply share the info they have instead of making some kind of teen age mind game out of everything? I swear, it’s like pulling teeth around here some times.
I have my clarification in hand. Perhaps you should ask Chris Bunch or the Solano County CRA.
Can we be sure that statement came from the correct poohbah, or will there be even further clarification?
LOL
Laugh all you want. That is what they stated.
“proper authority didn’t handle the endorsement process” ??
This is beyond comical.
You are pulling something out of a hat that happened 15 years ago. I don’t know enough about it to comment on it. Why don’t you ask Harmer to explain? I’m sure there are things that all of us wished we could go back and change or do differently. Maybe he does too or maybe he doesn’t.
I heard that there was an error in the CRA endorsement for Chris Bunch that was stated on the Barbara Simpson Show. It says that the proper authority didn’t handle the endorsement process, thus their endorsement didn’t meet the standards set forth in their bylaws. There will not be an official endorsement by the CRA in this election.
Bunch was incorrect on the part about the David Harmer who worked for the Governor of Utah in Economic Development.
But he was correct about this David Harmer in the 10th Congressional race, who worked as Campaign Manager, and then Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Enid Greene Waldholtz of Utah, back in 1994, even after others had resigned from the campaign following a financial scandal involving both the Congresswoman and her husband.
Google it yourself and read the articles.
Here’s a direct quote from one in the Deseret News, 2/21/96 during Harmer’s unsuccessful campaign for Congress, back then.
“Harmer stuck with Enid’s 1994 campaign, he said after the scandal broke, even
though Joe and Enid wouldn’t let him see the campaign’s financial books. He went to Washington, D.C., to be Enid’s chief of staff…”
Willing to act like something’s not happening speaks volumes about Harmer’s integrity.
Combine that with knowingly hiring the Executive Director of the Contra Costa Republican Central Committee – a conflict of interest – and then using the ballot designation “Independent Businessman” when he’s really an attorney, shows Harmer’s challenges with integrity continue today.
No matter who wins on the Dem side, Harmer’s gonna get hammered.
Mr. Bunch has admitted to me that he made a huge mistake at the forum. Not so much what he said but when. It is bush league to use your five minute “introduction” to bash another candidate. You can’t win elections by simply saying “don’t vote for this guy!”. You win elections by saying why YOU are the better candidate.
This is a good learning experience for Mr. Bunch, who got bad advice and didn’t follow his gut. From speaking with him, I feel Mr. Bunch is a good guy and I don’t expect we will see anything silly like that again.
His campaign manager is a hack, I don’t care how many “elections” he has won.
I am completely baffled as to why you justify your argument by claiming that “the majority DO like Tom and Patty” A) as if it’s true; and B) as if it’s a popularity contest that should decide whether their leadership has been effective or not in registering voters, developing and supporting all candidates equally instead of choosing sides, and WINNING elections. And on all three counts Tom and Patty are losers. That’s a fact.
The reason Tom doesn’t comment here is because he is the glass jaw of the Contra Costa GOP. He swings wildly but can’t take a punch so he hides behind the skirts of the few women left in the CCRP that still think their role in the party is to serve Tom at all costs.
A caller brought Chris’ Harmer accusations up on the radio and Chris still didn’t take the opportunity to clear it up. Apparantly that caller saw the same thing I did. Patty has a right to her opinion just like everyone else. If she is attacked, she is going to defend herself. Whether or not Tom sounded defensive is not at issue. He took the stand to state the truth so that the listeners would here the real story. Bottom line is that the majority DO like Tom and Patty and that will never change. Note, how often do you see Tom or Patty initiating an attack on Halfway?? The answer is never.
Chris Bunch didn’t bash anyone on Barbara Simpson’s show. He delivered strong statements as to what he’d do if he won and why.
Patty O Day’s known for her attacks on people and I’m sure she has never apologized for anything she’s said. There’s a reason her name appears often on this site. She made such a fool of herself on Simpson’s show with her pettiness that Simpson hung up ono her. Tom Del Beccaro sounded defensive. If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
It’s the Democrats saying keep up the good work Tom and Patty!
I’m still waiting for Chris Bunch and his campaign to apologize to David Harmer for their false accusations of him at the Walnut Creek Forum. There was an email passed around from Chris Bunch’s campaign acknowledging that they had the wrong David Harmer but have yet to apologize for causing such a ruckus at the meeting. It would be nice to hear Chris actually promote his campaign versus continually bad mouthing Harmer and the CRP. Stop whining and start campaiging! I won’t be voting for him solely on the fact that I haven’t heard him say anything other than negativity towards the party. Tom Del Beccaro and Patty O’Day are 2 of the hardest working Republicans in the party and we need more people like them. Keep up the good work Tom and Patty!
Yes, indeed, Barbara Simpson was in fine form on her Sunday afternoon show! It was refreshing to hear a KSFO show host acknowledge the honest-to-God reality of the CA GOP on its airwaves – for a change.
Mr. Bunch made a good showing, as well.
The whole show was talkradio at its finest. And the fact that the Bunch interview lit up the phone boards on Simpson’s show suggests that there is a strong appetite for his straightforward, honest message.
A good time was had by all. Go Barbara!
Mr. Bunch, I heard you on Barbara Simpson yesterday. I was very impressed with your command of the issues and your conservative approach. You are what the party needs to bring us back into competition. I truly believe that people are waking up and looking for someone who stands for and runs on a platform of conservativism.
I heard Mr. Harmer on KSFO and the only thing he talked about was his family. Yawn. He didn’t articulate the issues, but apparently he can raise money…and that is supposed win the race!
Tom Del Beccaro and Patty O’Day are the cancers on the CRP. Their attitude and arrogance are what is wrong with the CRP. They need to go!!!!!!
And what’s even sadder was listening to Barbara Simpson hanging up on Patty O’Day and bitch slapping Harmer and Tom Del Beccaro around the air waves on KSFO this evening!
What is a sad fact is this blog.
Rather than a ‘viable candidate’ maybe the GOP should work on having a viable party and look at their positions which have alienated so many people.
I agree that no GOP can win in District 10, but the idea that the party must simple stay quiet because more than one candidate is in the race is just as ridiculous.
No matter how you feel about Harmer, he is the only “viable” candidate.
The CRP has directly violated it’s own by-laws per the following excerpt from their by-laws.
3.02.03 Pre-Primary Endorsements for Partisan Elective Office in a Special
Primary Election or Recalls
(A) Where there is more than one Republican candidate for nomination for
election in a special primary election, the Committee shall not endorse,
support or oppose any candidate for the Republican nomination or election
to any partisan elective office in such a special election, or in a recall or
recall replacement election, except in the following manner and
circumstances:
(1) Written notice of the proposed action has been given at least 24 hours
in advance of the meeting of the Board of Directors to all persons entitled
to vote.
(2) A hearing is held and the candidates affected are given an opportunity
to appear.
(3) A candidate, or a yes or no position in a recall election, receives a
two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the members of the Board of Directors
present and voting, which votes must be in concurrence with any previous
vote of endorsement, support or opposition by the Republican county
central committee or committees having jurisdiction over the affected
district office or recall election, as provided in section 3.02.04.
First and for most, at least three of the four counties did not concur with this action, thus creating the need to skirt the up and up route. The CRP has chosen to re-name this as a Special General Election in order to skirt these laws, a move that is highly misleading.
This move has officially elevated Harmer to the position of “Fair Hair Child” of the Broken and Corrupt California Republican Party. The same one that gave us Arnold Schwarzenneger, that gave us the biggest in state loss for a republican presidential race in forty years, and has not ran a competitive campaign for CD-10 since 1996.
As one of the disfranchised candidates, I would like to thank the CRP for drawing a line in the sand, and saying that “YES WE CAN” be the party of moderates and liberals, and “YES WE CAN” tell you silly conservatives to sit down and shut-up!
Mr. Harmer will be annihilated by the Dems in the general, he is running a campaign that is sure to leave the conservative base uninspired and unclear as to where he stands, but no matter what will draw the usual attention of the left wing media, and once you add the history of ethics issues surrounding this and previous campaigns in the State of Utah in the 2nd Congressional District, you have one sure loser and yet another embarrassing episode for the party.
Oh, by the way, a special thanks to CRP Vice Chair Tom Del Becarro who orchestrated this perversion of principles, and who will likely take the helm of this sinking ship soon enough.
It’s sad really, here we had a chance to build the party, show that there is vibrancy and excitement across the spectrum of the republican party and that conservatism still matters, but instead selected the path of elite selection.
As for this conservative, this has only strengthened my resolve, I intend fully to hammer Harmer and the party for their weak kneed moderate approach to rebuilding the party; an approach that has proven to fail repeatedly, even in California! So if your reading this and your done with the RINO’s please visit http://www.bunch4congress.com and plug in.
Thanks,
Chris Bunch
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