A controversial resolution calling for a non-interventionist foreign policy – meaning a withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq – was shot down by the Alameda County Republican Central Committee last night, even as the committee’s chair changed hands between the party’s warring factions.

Former chairman Jerry Salcido – among a faction of “Constitutional Republicans,” a group often associated with former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex. – announced his resignation last week after just a few months in the post. He told me today he’s moving back to Utah to start his own law firm with his brother.

The Constitutional Republicans and the mainstream GOPers some call “neo-conservatives” have been embroiled in a battle for a year and a half. Committeeman Paul Cummings Jr. of Oakland has a lawsuit pending against several of the Constitutional Republicans, claiming their June 2008 election to the committee was invalid because they hadn’t been affiliated with the Republican Party for at least three months before their candidacy filing dates, and/or because they’d belonged to other parties within a year before filing, in violation of the state Elections Code. (A hearing on this is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 18.)

So with Salcido leaving, a struggle for control ensued: The Constitutional Republicans put up Brian Eschen, 34, of Pleasanton, while the neo-cons backed John Wyrwas of Berkeley. Wyrwas – a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering at Cal – narrowly prevailed, winning the county GOP’s chair one day after his 25th birthday.

“We’re all very excited about the next year,” Wyrwas told me this aftneroon. “I think starting in January our committee is going to be a lot more civil than we were in the past, and I think a lot of our problems will be behind us.”

He noted he ran as a moderate: “There’s a lot I agree on with both factions… We’re looking at a lot of potential.”

Salcido, 31, of Fremont, wished Wyrwas “the best of luck, he seems like a really good guy…. I’m hoping he’ll be impartial with the two factions that are there, because Lord knows we need it.”

Cummings, 53, of Oakland, said he’s thrilled and optimistic at the resolution’s defeat and Wyrwas’ election – he feels as if the good guys are back in charge. Walter Stanley III, among the Constitutional Republican faction’s leaders, isn’t so happy, knocking Cummings’ faction as “pro-national-offense Republicans… They don’t care about the Constitution, they don’t care that it’s an undeclared war, the just care about protecting George Bush.”

Salcido said he was “very disappointed” by the defeat of the foreign-policy resolution, which he co-authored and presented to the committee last night.

“It’s just an indication to me why the Republican Party is having such troubles nowadays, they just want to hold onto this pro-war, interventionist stance that is killing our soldiers and bankrupting our country,” he said, noting the opposing faction seems “more interested in power rather than principle. … They actually said the reasons why terrorists want to kill us is because we’re free and we’re prosperous, they actually believe that, and that’s incredible to me.”

(Note: A server-upgrade glitch has made my previous post about the foreign-policy resolution, from yesterday, temporarily unavailable; my tech people tell me they should be able to restore it and other posts tomorrow morning. UPDATE @ 1 P.M. THURSDAY: THIS HAS BEEN FIXED.)

Stanley said the foreign-policy resolution had 13 votes in favor and 20 against, but at least it was “an educational opportunity” that drew a few new observers to last night’s committee meeting – and expanding the party’s base of members and activists is supposed to be the committee’s goal.

“What they would prefer to do is absolutely nothing,” he charged of committee members such as Cummings and Dick Spees of Oakland, whom he described as “the leader of the ‘George Bushers…’ These guys couldn’t be doing better to sabotage the efforts of the Republican Party if they were Democrats.”

But Stanley said he’s optimistic that Constitutional Republicans will gain more ground on the committee in 2010. “We’ll keep doing things by the book… we’re going to be there, they’ll be forced to deal with us, and we’re going to attempt to get the Republican Party back on track.”

“We have nowhere to go but up, and that’s what we’re trying to do in Alameda County.”

Expect fireworks at tonight’s Alameda County Republican Central Committee meeting, as there’s a debate and vote on a proposed resolution endorsing a non-interventionist foreign policy – which in the short term means pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The resolution was introduced by committeemen Jerry Salcido, Walter Stanley III and David LaTour – the county GOP’s chairman, vice chairman and assistant treasurer, respectively. All three are “Constitutional Republicans” aligned with the Republican Liberty Caucus, a libertarian-leaning group often associated with former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. The county GOP’s executive committee last week voted 4-1, with one absention, to approve the resolution and send it to the full committee’s monthly meeting for a 2/3 vote.

The Alameda County GOP has been torn by strife for well over a year now, with a lawsuit still pending over these and other Ron Paul supporters’ election to the committee.

The California Court of Appeal in September reinstated the case, in which committeeman Paul Cummings Jr. of Oakland claims Stanley, of Livermore, and several other Constitutional Republicans were ineligible for election to the committee in June 2008 because they hadn’t been affiliated with the Republican Party for at least three months before their candidacy filing dates, and/or because they’d belonged to other parties within a year before filing, in violation of the state Elections Code.

This resolution is likely to deepen the rift. Among its many “whereases” are that our foreign policy of the past century is deeply flawed and hasn’t served our national security interests; that “the terrorist threat is a predictable consequence of our meddling in the affairs of others and has nothing to do with us being free and prosperous;” and that “torture, even if referred to as ‘enhanced interrogation techniques,’ is self-destructive and produces no useful information and that contracting it out to a third world country or a corporation is just as evil.”

Incidentally, that’s not unlike the verbiage in a resolution approved last month by Berkeley City Council calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors for Afghanistan (or, for that matter, several other resolutions that council has approved in recent years).

Compare the county GOP’s proposed resolution also to an Afghanistan-withdrawal resolution approved Sunday by the California Democratic Party’s executive board.

And that’s not sitting well with GOP committee members other than the Constitutional Republicans.

“I’m certainly in knots about it,” Cummings said today. “I’m a retired Navy officer, and I’m shocked that while we have troops in the field, we would put together a document that is so disparaging of our policy in the war on terror. Some of the comments in it are beyond the pale.”

Read the full text of the resolution, after the jump…
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Haggerty

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty has been appointed chairman of the National Association of Counties’ Transportation Steering Committee. See full release below.

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Before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors tackled a lengthy, controversial hearing yesterday on whether to immediately appoint Nancy O’Malley to succeed imminently retiring Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff, they passed a resolution celebrating the 10th anniversary of the “sister county” relationship with Taoyuan County, Taiwan.

Supervisor Scott Haggerty, he of the recently shifting political allegiances, noted that during a visit to Taoyuan County, he discovered that the equivalent title to “supervisor” there is “governor,” and so he was being introduced around as “Governor Haggerty.”

“I really enjoyed that,” he said.

Death-penalty opponents have taken up a call begun by local officials last week for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to take more time and care in appointing a replacement for District Attorney Tom Orloff.

The Alameda County Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty — which includes local League of Women Voters chapters, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Death Penalty Focus, and various religious congregations — will ask the Board at its meeting tomorrow “to implement a fair, open and transparent process for selecting an interim District Attorney,” according to its news release. The Board has placed “consideration” of the appointment on the agenda but not made public what process, if any, will be used to select an interim appointee; Orloff urged the board last week to appoint Chief Assistant District Attorney Nancy O’Malley to succeed him, saying she’s the most qualified and knowledgable person to deal with the office’s issues.

“Our concern is with the process for filling a vacancy caused by an incumbent resigning a few months before an election,” Marion Taylor of the League of Women Voters in Oakland said in the coalition’s release. “By appointing someone now, they create a different race for the office when it comes up for election.”

“The interim District Attorney will have the authority to make key decisions, such as seeking the death penalty rather than permanent imprisonment, which costs the county millions of additional tax dollars,” said Stefanie Faucher of Death Penalty Focus. “The Board needs to consider the serious consequences of this decision for the people of Alameda County.”

“Appointing an interim District Attorney is one of the most important duties delegated to the Board of Supervisors and it is not a decision that should be made behind closed doors,” said Natasha Minsker of the Northern California ACLU. “We are asking the Board to implement a fair, open and transparent process to ensure that Alameda County residents can know how this critical decision will be made.”

The coalition says 67 community groups have adopted its resolution calling for the District Attorney to stop pursing death sentences, and more than 1,500 individuals have signed its petition.

As reported here earlier, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff announced his resignation this week, urging the Board of Supervisors to appoint Chief Assistant District Attorney Nancy O’Malley as his replacement as soon as this coming week. This, of course, would let O’Malley have more than nine months as in incumbent before she must win an election to keep the post next year.

But at least one local official isn’t comfortable with what some have called an “appoint-and-annoint” succession. I just received a note said to have been forwarded from Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks, urging people to come out and be heard on this.

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will appoint a new District Attorney Tuesday, September 15, 2009, at 9:00 am. The item is #8A on their agenda. They appear set to appoint Nancy O’Malley at the request of Tom Orloff.

This is an elected position. While the Board has the authority to appoint; it should only do so pursuant to a public process. In the instant case they are making an appointment with less than a week’s public notice and without a public process.

We need to pack the Board chambers on Tuesday and demand a public process for the selection process. Please help turn out as many people as you can. This position is too important for them to make this appointment in secret.

Let me know what you can do to help.

Thanks so much.

Desley

Brooks was among a few local officials who have rallied with those protesting the New Year’s Day slaying of Oscar Grant III by then-BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle; Orloff took heat from those protestors for waiting two weeks after the shooting to charge Mehserle with murder, and is still under fire from some for not also charging Officer Tony Pirone, who also was involved the fracas that led up to the shooting. I see Brooks attended at least one meeting at which an effort to recall Orloff was discussed; it’s not surprising she wants to slow down his hand-picked successor’s appointment.

UPDATE @ 9:17 P.M. FRIDAY: Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan concurs, according to an e-mail I received from her about an hour ago.

I also agree, that it is essential that there be a rational and fair process to fill the position of Alameda County District Attorney. Particularly given that the D.A. is an elected position, and also how important the role of the DA is, for our ability to improve public safety and restore public trust of police and prosecutors here in our city, and ensure protection from crime.

My view, in support of a fair process, is NOT based on supporting, or opposing, any particular potential candidate for the job — but rather, given the extreme importance of this job, it seems essential to at least have a selection procedure that is fair and coherent.

We are talking about giving someone a job in which they literally hold the power of life and death over people — surely choosing someone for such a role should require NO LESS of a process than is required to get a job — any job. To just appoint someone on Tuesday, with no process, and without allowing anyone to apply, would mean someone is chosen for a role of incredible importance and responsibility without even as much process as it takes to get a job at Burger King — and without even as much process as it takes to get an endorsement from a political club when running for office.

In terms of Solutions to this problem, I could envision two options:

1) Like with Senator Kennedy’s seat, appoint a “caretaker” for the interim, on the basis of it being a person who WILL NOT RUN for the seat, and therefore, this would allow an open and fair election next year.

2) If option 1 doesn’t seam viable, then AT LEAST if the Board of Supervisors is going to take their Power to Select someone for this incredibly important position, there should at least be a reasonable application and selection process. People must be allowed to apply, be interviewed, etc, and then a selection made on a fair basis.

FOR EXAMPLE: When AC Transit Board fills a mid-term vacancy (as recently happened when I left AC Transit to join the Oakland City Council) there is a process which includes an application period and application packet and interviews, etc. This should be the least we should expect in the process of selecting a D.A.

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty of Dublin has switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat. He handed in his new registration card at the annual Alameda County Labor Council BBQ over Labor Day weekend.

To those who know Haggerty, this is not a major ideological shift. He is a well-known moderate.

The move also puts him in a far better political position to run for higher office one day. No Republican holds a partisan elected seat anywhere in the Bay Area and Haggerty has expressed interest in the past in running for the state Assembly.

Haggerty is one of several local elected officials who made the switcheroo along with the highly publicized political conversions of former Republicans U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and one-time Peninsula Congressman Pete McCloskey of Rumsey.

State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, left the Republican Party in 2000 and Contra Costa Community College District Trustee Tomi Van de Brooke of Orinda made the swap in 2008.

DeSaulnier and Van de Brooke both have said that they didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left them.

I have been trading phone calls with Haggerty the last 24 hours, so I don’t know yet his reasons. I’ll update this blog as soon as I hear from him.

UPDATE 4:33 p.m. This just in from the California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton:

California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton today welcomed Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty of Dublin, who switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat at the annual Alameda County Labor Council BBQ.

“I extend a personal welcome to Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty to the Democratic Party.  Scott has served Alameda County for nearly 15 years and has been active in several worthwhile community organizations in the bay area.

“The Democratic Party is proud of its longstanding commitment to serving those in need.  Scott Haggerty brings with him a wealth of experience and dedication to serving the public and we look forward to working with him.”

The Contra Costa Times reported today that Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff unexpectedly resigned and he has recommended the Board of Supervisors appoint in his place Chief Assistant District Attorney Nancy O’Malley.

Is the law a genetic condition?

O’Malley is the daughter of former Contra Costa County Judge Bill O’Malley, the sister of Contra Costa District Attorney candidate Dan O’Malley and sister-in-law to Contra Costa Presiding Judge Mary Ann O’Malley.

This morning I visited a site in unincorporated Ashland where American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money is paying for the environmental cleanup of a former fuel depot that’s being converted into a park and youth center.

The roughly two-acre “Ashland Youth Campus” site along East 14th Street at 163rd Avenue has mostly lain fallow, but for some sporadic used-car sales, since the fuel depot owned by Jack Holland closed in 1998; the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District has had its eyes on it for a long time, but only managed to buy the plot out of probate last year in partnership with the Alameda County Community Development Agency, according to HARD Park Superintendent Larry Lepore.

But underground fuel tanks have leaked into the soil there, meaning there was costly environmental remediation to do before the land could be used for anything; Lepore said Holland’s estate had no money to cover the costs, and so the land became what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls an “orphan site” with no financially responsible party left to pay.

ARRA contained a $200 million allocation to the EPA for underground storage tank cleanups, and California’s State Water Resources Control Board won a $15.6 million chunk of that. The Holland Oil tract remediation is the first project to proceed, with $180,000 of that money. The air was redolent of fuel today as a grinder removed the top foot or so of soil, and a digger excavated a particularly polluted spot to about 10 feet down.

Once the cleanup is completed, construction can begin. Lepore said HARD should have final plans for Holland Park completed this month and the project should go to bid in October, with work to begin as early as January with a target opening date next May. Construction on the Ashland Youth Center will start later on, targeted for opening in 2012.

About half a dozen workers from Berkeley-based contractor O.C. Jones & Sons Inc. were on site today, but Judy Reid – underground storage tank program administrator for the State Water Resources Control Board – noted more jobs will be created during construction, and more yet for maintenance and management of the facility once it’s done.

“We are so happy to see this happen on this site – it’s been empty for so long,” said Darryl Stewart, community liaison for Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley. Eileen Dalton, redevelopment director with the Alameda County Community Development Agency, called it “the biggest, newest, greatest thing that’s going to happen in Ashland” in recent memory.

Members of the Alameda County Republican Central Committee will be arguing against each other this afternoon in the First District California Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

County committee member and former chairman Paul Cummings Jr. of Oakland is appealing an Alameda County Superior Court judge’s decision to throw out his case contesting the election of several other county committee members in June 2008.

Cummings has claimed committee vice chairman Walter Stanley III of Livermore and six other “Constitutional Republicans” were ineligible for election to the committee because they hadn’t been affiliated with the Republican Party for at least three months before their candidacy filing dates, and/or because they’d belonged to other parties within a year before filing, in violation of the state Elections Code.

But that’s not actually what this appeal is about. The Superior Court judge tossed the case, ruling Cummings hadn’t filed it within the five-day period required after a primary election; Cummings argues that this wasn’t a primary, as there’s only one election for party committee posts, and wants the appeals court to reinstate the case and order the county court to review it on its merits. The California Republican Party has filed an amicus brief on Cummings’ behalf.

Besides Stanley, the other defendants in this case are committee members Casey Fargo and his wife Lea Smart of Livermore; David Latour of Hayward; Deslar Patten of Hayward; Christopher Kuhn of Hayward; and John Bartlett of Livermore. All of seven are affiliated with the Republican Liberty Caucus, a libertarian-leaning group often associated with former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. Fargo also is a former president of the Golden Gate Minutemen, an anti-illegal-immigration activist group, and Latour is a former president of the Castro Valley Minutemen.

Stanley et al – represented by attorney and fellow GOP committee member Jerry Salcido, who just a few weeks ago was elected the committee’s chairman – argue not only that it was a primary and Cummings sued too late, but also that the courts don’t have jurisdiction to police party committee elections.

I’ll be watching for the appellate court’s ruling over the next few months, and will report it here.

(UPDATE @ 10:10 A.M. WEDNESDAY 9/9: Cummings wins this round.)

To put this battle in context, 15.13 percent of Alameda County’s registered voters were Republicans as of May 4, while 57.82 percent were Democrats and 22.48 percent declined to state a party affiliation. The county GOP’s registration has slid by almost four percentage points over the past five years (data after the jump).

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