I took a brief hiatus following the 2010 election. I needed to get way from politics, take stock of my experience on the campaign trail, focus on my family, and get to work building my business back up. Now, it's time to get back at it.
My last post focused on the abysmal performance of Republicans in Washington State during the 2010 election. Although (as one commenter stated) a focus on an effective ground game won't be a cure all for what ails Washington Republicans, it sure will help. To that end, I've accepted a request by Ralph Reed to help build a ground game here in Washington. For the 2012 election cycle, I will be serving (in a volunteer capacity) as the State Chair of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the Washington State chapter of Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition (http://bit.ly/dIjqd) (editors note: Ralph Reed's organization is in no way affiliated with Gary Randall's organization here in Washington State). I'm not sure what we'll be calling "Washington Faith and Freedom Coalition", but know this: My sole focus will be on building an effective grassroots organization in which people of faith will have an opportunity to be heard at all levels of government. If you're interested in learning more, send me a comment through this blog or get in touch with me on Facebook.
There has been a change at the top of the Washington GOP since my last post. Congrats to Kirby Wilbur. You have your work cut out for you! I'm sure Kirby will do a great job. He's an extremely effective messenger and that will be half the battle. Congratulations are in order, as well, to all the new members of the Executive Committee and the newly elected county chairs throughout our great state.
I couldn't be more proud of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the brave Republicans who stood against union thuggery and for the people of Wisconsin. They did America a real favor by exposing the self-interested, selfish, leftist agenda of the public employee unions. At the end of the day, those union thugs weren't interested in "rights", they were interested in holding on to power. The absolute best component of the Wisconsin legislation? No more forced payment of union dues - it's now voluntary. That's what scared the heck out of all of those out of state "protesters" and that is what have public employee union sycophants scared to death. Oh to be able to do the same thing in Washington State!
Here's a quick thought on a completely unrelated topic. Wouldn't it make sense to require a county GOP chair to field Republican candidates in contested races in their county in order to keep the position of county GOP chair? I figure if you can't get anyone to run as a Republican then you probably shouldn't have the job. Additionally, shouldn't there be some threshold of success? Perhaps just ONE victory in a contested county race in order to keep the job? Lori Sotelo (King County chair) did a pretty good job of recruiting candidates and winning a contested race in one of the most liberal counties in the state. That begs the question: Why couldn't we win seats in other counties? I'm just saying.
Is anyone as nervous as I am about the current crop of Congressional Republicans? With a few exceptions (Allen West, Paul Ryan, Michelle Bachman) there seems to be a lot of the same old same old. I'm hearing a lot of backtracking on the no earmarks pledge. Many of the new Freshmen seem to be embracing the "perks" that come with the job. These are the same people who railed against all these perks while on the campaign trail. This budgeting by continuing resolution isn't going to get the job done. The future is now. We are broke and it is time to make some very difficult choices - choices that might cost some of these men and women their jobs. Do they have what it takes?
I've rambled on long enough. It's good to be back and I hope to actually contribute something meaningful to the conversation.
Please pray for the people of Japan, persecuted Christians in the Middle East, and all those who TRULY long for freedom.