Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today announced that California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring will chair the RNC State Chairmen’s Committee, which aims to build the GOP state by state by serving as an information clearinghouse on what’s working best.

“Ron’s experience and dedication makes him a valuable member of our team,” Steele said in a news release. “I have no doubt that he will help bring the voice of every Republican state party to the national table.”

Nehring said the mission “is to promote the rapid growth and expansion of our party by sharing ideas and best practices across all of our state parties so innovation in one state can be quickly picked up in others. Whether it’s making the Republican Party the national leader in the use of new technologies, building coalitions into communities that don’t yet benefit from Republican leadership, or training a new generation of Republican activists, our vision of strong party organizations in every state and territory will be our focus.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, not terribly popular with his own party these days, praised Nehring’s appointment nonetheless: “He is committed to moving this party forward and will represent California Republicans well in this new role.”

Yet there are those who believe Nehring’s California GOP hardly epitomizes best practices in party-building. American Prospect editor-at-large and Washington Post op-ed columnist Harold Meyerson wrote a piece in today’s Los Angeles Times likening California’s Republican lawmakers – who voted against the economic stimulus package in Congress, and held up the state budget to the brink of disaster and perhaps beyond in Sacramento – to Wile E. Coyote, saying there’ll come a moment when they’re “looking down and realizing that they’ve run off a cliff. But Wile E. Coyote moments always come too late.”

Meyerson’s point is that voter-registration growth among traditionally Democratic demographics, combined with suburban sprawl, mean these lawmakers might not be as safe as they think as they stick to staunchly conservative ideology.

Nehring has encouraged that avoidance of moderation. And Nehring himself hasn’t had a cakewalk as state GOP chairman, publicly taking flak for the party’s GOP’s financial and staffing woes.

Best practices? I guess we’ll see.