Renegade

It will be very exciting to watch.

And I look forward to your commentary.

All the best,

Renegade

“In the end it is the choices of the candidate that usually cause them to win or loose an election. Especially if it is a competitive race.”

Very well put and you offer some great points.

This one will be interesting to follow and may take some interesting turns. This will be one to pay close attention to.

In the end it is the choices of the candidate that usually cause them to win or loose an election. Esecially if it is a competitive race. What do they say the fish rots from the head. But so far I don’t see the Wilson campaign failing. They have a campaign HQ. They have staff. They are putting mail pieces together. They have introduced the candidate to the world wide web. And very importantly they are raising money.

If we learned anything from the primary it is that Wilson is his own man and he calls his own shots.

I would agree that the stakes are high for Del Carlo. As a campaign manager you don’t want to many in the loss column. That said he will have a fire lit under his butt to win this race. I think this is the only race the local GOP has a chance to win. So the stakes are very high. The novelty of having an African-American republican runnning for a viable seat is going to be too much for the vaunted GOP Cacus in sacramento. Even though they are total losers they are not brain dead enough to see Wilson’s talent and the opportunity of a Wilson victory. They will spend what it takes to keep the seat. Not to mention saving the conservative legacy in the Tri Valley. It will be interesting to see if the Democrats mount a viable campaign down in the Tri Valley. They spend a lot of time in their strongholds in the central, east and west county. Not to say that it can’t change. I know Chuck Carpenter who is a very fine person and leader. He says he will leads his troops south to try and take the Tri valley. It would be very exciting to watch.

It looks to me that Wilson’s decision on Del Carlo is final. So lets see what happens and see where the campaign goes. If he fails it will be Wilson’s fault and Del Carlo will be exiled in disgrace. But if he wins then hey give him his due.

One thing I will say about Del Carlo is that after the Houston loss he could have taken a job in another county for another candidate. Instead he stood up licked his wounds and is fighting on. To me that is a comendable trait.

So lets see what happens. I look forward to your posts.

Thanks for the welcome -for the record I have been around you just have to look a little harder.

Where Del Carlo is concerned I assure you I actually understated my case-he is a train wreck. That is probably the nicest thing I can say about him. Wilson’s decision to run with Del Carlo is by many accounts a disaster and one that should have been avoided. I know he (Wilson) will not have the support he could have going with anyone else-but that was his decision win or lose.

I want Wilson to win but I think he sealed his fate and Del Carlo will have played a major part in that, come November. For Wilson’s sake I hope I am wrong but many insiders confirm this to be problematic.

Piepho has stated that she won in 2004 in spite of Del Carlo as her campaign manager. That should offer some insight to both you and I. I would also think that since he did not stay on with her after she won the election sends a clear signal about his value. If you have questions you should contact Piepho herself she does not appear to be shy about the topic.

I appreciate your position and that you believe Del Carlo will come through this with a win. I am not sure how you qualify that. He really has no winning experience but then again it is ok for us to agree to disagree.

Not to rub salt in the wound but didn’t Del Carlo also lose big in his bid for election to the Central Committee? He may have even come in last, but don’t quote me on that.

I don’t see your angle on Piepho or her “people” being sore winners. Discussing Mathew Del Carlo has little to do with Piepho and has everything to do with his personal shortcomings. I really can’t find anyone that thinks he is a good or qualified campaign manager which seems to resonate around the county.

Now let’s get back to the topic which is why this race is so important and perhaps the bigger question of why would Wilson go with Del Carlo? (Remember you said it; Del Carlo got his butt kicked). That should be peaking your interest. You seem to be insightful and I bet if you think about it you might just figure out that he wasn’t hired for his skills. Then again that might just beg for more questions than answers.

http://www.constitutionalrepublicans.org/documents/CR%20Press%20Release%202008-08-18.pdf

And if you would like to ‘email’ or ‘call’ Alameda County Republican Party Chairman, Paul Cummings to ask him why he is hurting the Republican Party by suing volunteers that the Party needs now, more than ever, here is his email address…

pdcummings@msm.com
or,
info@alamedagop.org

The Contra Costa Times, By Lisa Vorderbrueggen August 16, 2008

Alameda County GOP Chairman Paul Cummings is legally challenging the June election of 10 members to his party’s county Central Committee.

He says the county failed to enforce rules that say Central Committee candidates who were previously registered in another political party must have been Republicans for at least a year and those registered “decline to state” must have been in the party at least three months.

The court case lists six people identified as former Libertarians or American Independents and four who declined to state.

Walter Stanley III of Livermore, named in the lawsuit, says they were unfairly singled out because they formed a group called the Constitutional Republicans, of which some members support presidential candidate Ron Paul. Eighteen of its members ran for the Central Committee in June and a dozen were elected.

Cummings concedes he was unhappy to learn of the group’s success at the ballot but insists his chief concern is the legality of the election.

“I visited the (Alameda County) registrar of voter’s office three times and told them about this, but they said they would only respond to a court order,” Cummings said. “This was our only option, unfortunately.”

On the other hand, Stanley makes a good point: The Alameda County Republican Party, with only 16 percent of registered voters, can ill afford to turn people away.

Not only is Assembly District 15 up for grabs, but the party would dearly love to reclaim the seat held by Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney.

But as it turns out, serving your volunteers with subpoenas is a big turn-off.

“We’re boycotting all events that aid the Republican Party,” Stanley said. “We’re not going to take a lawsuit quietly.”

-Republicans Battle Among Themselves- Aug.16,2008

*Chairman files suit to remove seven elected members on committee, By Matthew Artz

Two months after a coalition of Minutemen and Ron Paul supporters nearly won a majority of the seats on the Alameda County Republican Central Committee, the committee chairman is filing suit to keep them from taking their seats.

In court papers, Chairman Paul Cummings alleges that 10 members of the upstart Republican group, including seven of the 13 who won seats in the June election, hadn’t been registered as Republicans long enough to hold membership in the committee.

The lawsuit, which names Registrar Dave MacDonald and the 10 candidates as defendants, asks that the elections of the seven victorious candidates be voided and their seats declared vacant.

The victors had been participating in committee affairs even though they won’t officially join the committee until November.

The inter-party battle could hurt local Republican candidates in November. The defendants, and their supporters, have decided to boycott all activities for local Republicans, said Walter Stanley, one of the committee members named in the suit.

They are also planning to protest at the next committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Stanley said.

The two Republican camps fought publicly during the June campaign.

Cummings said the candidates needed to put in more time with the party before running for central committee, while Stanley’s contingent said committee incumbents were too supportive of big business and unwilling to take strong stands against illegal immigration and free trade agreements.

However the shotgun marriage had been working reasonably well, with the newly elected members proving to be excellent volunteers, Cummings said. He even said he would appoint most, if not all, of them to the committee if he wins the lawsuit.

Asked why he bothered to file suit if he planned to let them back on board, Cummings said he needed to hold the registrar of voters accountable.

“This is between us and the registrar, ” he said. “(MacDonald) is basically capriciously enforcing the election law.”

Stanley questioned Cummings sincerity.

“He just wants to appoint his buddies to fill the vacancies,” he said.

The registrar’s office did not return a phone call Friday afternoon.

Central Committees don’t make policy or endorse candidates in party primaries. Their primary mission is to raise money for candidates, get people registered and turn out the vote.

Committee candidates must be members of that party for at least three months before filing if they previously had been independents, or for one year if they had belonged to a different party.

Cummings said he realized after the election that many of the candidates might have switched over to the Republicans to vote for Ron Paul in the February primary.

Of the 10 candidates Cummings has sued, four were independents and the rest belonged to either the Libertarian or American Independent parties. They registered as Republicans last September and February.

The Minuteman/Ron Paul coalition won a majority of seats in precincts that represented parts of southern and eastern Alameda counties, including the Tri-City area, where Cummings struggled to find people to even run for the committee.

Even with the new blood, the committee struggles to reach a meeting quorum, Stanley said.

“It’s counter-productive to the party’s needs,” he said, to oust seven members who always show up and had been scheduled to work on behalf of Republican candidates such as Dean Andal, who is challenging Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton.