Jun 02 Two Cents plus Tax: My Endorsements for GOP Chair and Deputy Chair

Men and women are great leaders for any number of reasons, but a common trait among the greatest leaders is they never sought leadership for its own sake or to satisfy their egos. Great leaders cannot be manufactured, something John Kerry found painfully evident when his life-plan for the presidency failed in 2004. Great leaders do not arise “when it is their turns” as we Republicans should have learned from the Bob Dole and John McCain presidential runs. Great leaders arise out of the necessity of the times; the necessity of these times for the Republican Party of Minnesota has given rise to Dave Thompson.

I support Dave Thompson for State Party Chair.

As one of the first people to suggest to Dave that he run, I can attest that Republican Party chair was not on Dave’s “bucket list.” He was truly surprised and humbled that I and others independently considered him a strong candidate to lead the Republican Party. A man of integrity, Dave did not immediately consume the ego candy of running for party office. He took time to evaluate the impact running and serving full time would have on his personal, professional and family life. I am grateful Dave decided to run. He has already made a positive difference for the party.

When the campaign for state party chair began, before Dave entered the race, it was a campaign about “platform conservatism.” The common meme that the party needed to “return to its core values and fundamental principles” was accepted uncritically as meaning unconditional support for the party platform – 5,100 words of often philosophically contradictory planks, which is not used to hold either candidates or office holders accountable. There was much rah, rah about the need to win elections, but little was being said about what was going to change so Republicans deserved to win elections.

The party was divided between those who were part of the existing power structure and a significant minority casting about for a leader to give voice to conservative principles more substance than slogan. The “old guard” of the party held the upper hand and pursued a consequent strategy of making inevitable leadership transition look like a plan, new leadership look spontaneous. Outside the party inner circle, however, there was little enthusiasm for the GOP. New people to the party were angered and disillusioned by the 2008 convention. They put more effort into a plethora of conservative splinter groups than into a Minnesota GOP that would do anything for unity except become inclusive. Many rank and file long-time activists not on the leadership A-List joined them.

Enter Dave Thompson.

Since Dave has been in the race the debate has changed. We don’t hear as much anymore about “platform conservatism”; instead we hear about “revitalizing the grassroots.” The discussion of principles has expanded from simply a checklist on conservative issues to some soul-searching over how principles ought to be applied to running party business, choosing party candidates and holding endorsed officials accountable. The party is having discussions about open communications. Grassroots activism is on the rise -- evidence the turnover in leadership and makeup in the BPOUs and Congressional Districts in recent weeks. There is new enthusiasm in BPOU meetings and in meetings sponsored by splinter conservative groups that have suddenly taken new interest in the state party races. It's okay again to debate, discuss and disagree on specifics while unifying on principle.

Not that Dave will claim he directly instigated any of this renaissance in Republicanism (he is more likely to give credit for his work to others than to credit their effort to himself), but Dave’s candidacy is certainly a catalyst. Campaigning for party chair, Dave has already begun to lead. Dave has changed the debate. He has set the parameters and defined the issues. He has led the conversation. By running for chair, Dave has already done more to inspire future election success of the Republican Party than those entrenched powers who, at worst, fostered the divisions within the party and at best failed to mend them.

That is leadership. That is Dave Thompson. That is why he has earned my support.

One final note: In the closing weeks of the campaign, the preferred endgame of some is creating FUD – fear, uncertainty, and doubt – about Dave’s lack of experience running a political party. Indeed there is an arcane complexity to running a political party. Even the collective expertise and experience of the current officers couldn't keep the party from running afoul of financial compliance rules, which leads to one definitive thing Dave does not understand about the Minnesota GOP – Dave does not understand why a party that manages as much money as the Republican Party of Minnesota would not routinely conduct an truly independent audit of its operations.

That Dave is the less politically experienced candidate is undeniable; however, that becomes significant under only one circumstance – that should Dave win the election, those Executive Committee members with institutional knowledge pull into a shell and refuse to share what they know, that they withdraw from battle in hopes of riding out of the hills in two years and shooting the wounded as the path to “glory.”

The veiled threat in some corners that party insiders would be “upset” were an outsider elected chair, is cause for concern, but not cause to be intimidated in one's vote. Were Dave seeking leadership to satisfy his ego or because it was his turn to lead, that tactic might work. But Dave has the intelligence to know what he doesn’t know, and the personal integrity and self-assurance to take counsel from others on detail he has yet to acquire. Many would be surprised at the places that expertise lies dormant in the party, dormant simply because no one ever cared to ask. Dave will ask. Dave will listen. And Dave will get'er done.

That is leadership. That is what the Minnesota Republican Party needs. And that is Dave Thompson.

I support Dave Thompson for State Party Chair. 

For State Party Deputy Chair, I support Dorothy Fleming.

In the 2008 Minnesota Senate race the Democrats handed the Minnesota GOP a perfect storm of a Hobsian candidate – Al Franken is a staunch supporter of Leviathan government, and he is by reputation nasty and brutish (and coincidentally short). The GOP threw every bit of mud it could in Franken’s direction and most of it stuck.

How’d that work out for us?

Make no mistake – there is a place and a necessity in the Republican Party for opposition research and boosting the negatives of Democrat opponents. But in recent years negativity has become the de facto brand of the Minnesota Republican Party. The irascible Mike Hatch notwithstanding, the Minnesota GOP cannot build any kind of a following or consistently win elections with a strategy of trashing the DFL and hoping its candidates implode. If that strategy were working, if the GOP were winning elections, that would be one thing. But we’re not. We’re losing elections and losing our credibility as a party of ideas at the same time.

It is not enough anymore (if it ever were) to know where the bodies are buried; winning elections and building true party unity requires knowledge of where the seeds are planted – where the grassroots of the party is thriving and where the grassroots is in need of nourishment; of how to husband the grassroots of the party and help BPOUs build strong organizations that topple one-by-one for Republican candidates.

Dorothy Fleming knows where the seeds are planted – she sowed many of them herself.

Dorothy’s is the face we need on the Republican Party and the heart we need at its core. Much has been made about the lack of a job description for the Deputy Chair position. Certainly the skills a person brings to the office should be used to their fullest, but while the hardest working individual is limited in what he can accomplish alone, certain people have the ability to make other people want to get involved, want to share their skills and take ownership for their results – the ingredients without which the latest and greatest technology is as useful as two soup cans and a really tight string.

Dorothy Fleming is that person.

Dorothy’s strength is reaching out to the grassroots of the party, getting people involved and putting people in touch with one another and then stepping back and letting them take real ownership of their local organizations. In the command and control environment in which she has served, that has not been an appreciated skill. It’s no secret there have been conflicts between Dorothy and some members of the Executive Committee, but conflict like competition doesn’t build character, it reveals it. Dorothy has shown that she is not one to go along to get along when going got tough.

While other executive committee members are just now distancing themselves from past Party practices – riding out of the hills after the fighting to shoot the wounded -- Dorothy was taking bullets for we the people of the party when it really mattered. That is a level of integrity and courage that is sorely needed in the Minnesota GOP.

Dorothy Fleming has that integrity and that courage.

The Minnesota GOP is changing. At the BPOU and Congressional District level, the grassroots of the party is electing new leadership. There is turnover on the State Executive Committee. This will only make the Minnesota GOP stronger. But along with change, there is a need for constancy, a need for retaining institutional knowledge. The incumbent Deputy Chair, Dorothy provides that constancy. She, better than anyone, understands the need to move the party from the command and control, the negativity of the past, to a positive, grassroots-driven future.

Technocrats, political strategists, opposition researchers, the Minnesota GOP has no shortage of people to fill those roles, but there is only one Dorothy Fleming. And she has my support for State Party Deputy Chair. 

Craig Westover

SD 57, CD 6 1st Alternate At-Large