It’s Tom Del Beccaro, Chairman of the Contra Costa County Republican Central Committee, who, for all intents and purposes, has hijacked the party apparatus for his own self-aggrandizement.

The most recent e-mail blast from the Contra Costa Republican Party presents another sad illustration of what happens when a weak non-profit board and constituency that does not know how—or care— to provide appropriate organizational leadership, governance, or oversight, can be commandeered by an unchecked, enterprising chairperson bent on appropriating the organization’s resources willy-nilly to benefit personal agenda.

This newsletter isn’t at all about CCRP news. The first thing you see is Tom’s photo, not the picture of the new temporary and part-time Executive Director. The top news is not about upcoming events, but an appeal to leave the site and click through to the Chairperson’s personal website that hawks highly questionable predictions about the 2008 presidential campaign (he predicts Hillary is too formidable and will be the inevitable Democrat nominee) and his book that is still not available on Amazon despite the claims of his toadies in November that it would become a best seller overnight.

This is worse than sad. It is embarrassing. It’s time Tom’s Mickey-Mouse Club, doing business as the CCRP, find some weaker constituency to prey on. Hopefully, it will not be the California Republican Party.

Republicans should be aghast that the Contra Costa GOP website promotes the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as something that the GOP stands for in its META KEY TERMS of it website.

Here is the source for the home page of the site as of 12/20/2007;22:11.

What on earth is the Contra Costa GOP doing putting “define GOP” next to “Irish Republican Army” in the content of its META KEYTERMS of its HTML source code for its web site? To attract fresh recruits after all the sane people leave the party in disgust?

What sick, twisted ego would allow some webmaster, even if family, to list the bloody IRA as a keyterm in the hopes of attracting clicks? Is this some sort of black-hat Reaganism we didn’t hear about?

Furthermore, what business is it of the CC GOP website to promote Tom “Del Beccaro” as a keyterm, or his blessed book? This is madness, petty self-aggrandizement, and search-engine optimization lunacy.

Truth is, no one ever searches for “Tom Del Beccaro.”

Case in point: More than a few Contra Costa County Republicans have been grumbling lately about the sorry state of the Contra Costa GOP under the lone wolf leadership of Tom Del Beccaro, Esq. While Chairman Del Beccaro will brow beat anyone he can bully into a corner about increased Republican turnout for the Governor’s ill-fated ballot fiasco, he fails to address the more important bones of contention, including but not limited to:

- the much-touted “increased” turnout was lower in comparison to statewide trends
- the unforgivable loss of Richard Pombo’s Congressional seat (CD-11) despite a clear Republican registration edge
- the decline of Republican registration overall during his tenure as Chair
- questionable staffing decisions including Del Beccaro’s personal selection of the young and inexperienced Executive Directoress
- the lack of discernable profit from the much ballyhooed speaker series
- the rumored inability to scrape together the down payment for the venue and caterer for the local party’s annual Red White and Blue Ball.
- questionable reporting procedures including unreported in-kind value of donated auction items
- questions about the payment and use of “Bounty” money paid for voter registration
- failure to produce meaningful financial statements

The list, as they say, goes on.

Not that Del Beccaro hasn’t been busy, lately. His new book, a sophomoric rehash of Reaganesque principles, has been tentatively released to inauspicious reviews by anyone other than his book-tour scheduler and the well-wishes of hot-talk radio personalities. Meanwhile his website breathlessly touts self-important, minor-league punditry concerning national presidential campaign strategies like some obnoxious Anne Coulter high on inside dope.

Yet, while pushing his own agendas at the state and national party levels, Del Beccaro has forgotten Tip O’Neill’s wisdom that, “All Politics Is Local.”

Instead of local voter registration drives, Del Beccaro, has demonstrated more concern over turning his celebrity status as California’s #2 Republican and Chair of CoCo County’s GOP Central Committee into a statewide book signing tour.

Instead of developing prospective local Republican candidates, Del Beccaro has become a laughable Max Bialystock shamelessly shaking down Republican women of a certain age out of their precious time and resources for yet another electoral flop.

And somehow the County GOP leadership remained silent during the recent debate concerning Contra Costa County’s fiscal crisis; missing a perfect opportunity to translate Republican Principles into local action against profligate spending by County government. Instead of organizing opposition to the County’s OPEB debt that grows by a million dollars a day; the County GOP left the heavy lifting to the Grand Jury and the local Taxpayers’ group.

Any non-profit or local party organization whose board is dominated by hand-picked sycophants that can’t manage an out-of-control Chairperson or supervise a weak Executive Director is bound for trouble. The Contra Costa GOP oozes poor governance, negligent oversight, and lousy performance. Republicans can no longer afford to let the Contra Costa County GOP be the current Chair’s personal plaything. Republicans, Contra Costa Taxpayers, our Commonwealth, as well as those truly in need of legitimate County services, all deserve better.