GOP picks Priebus to head party
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) - The national Republican Party, coming off huge election victories but facing a $22 million debt and an internal war over identity, ousted chairman Michael Steele Friday and chose Wisconsin party chief Reince Priebus to lead in the run-up to the 2012 presidential race.
The embattled Steele dropped his re-election bid halfway through the balloting when it became clear he could not win another two-year term after a first marked by verbal missteps and financial woes.
“We have to get on track. And together we can defeat Barack Obama in 2012,” Priebus, the chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, said in a brief victory speech, pleading for unity within the fractured 168-member Republican National Committee. “We all recognize that there’s a steep hill here ahead of us, and the only way that we’ll be able to move forward is if we’re all together.”
A former top lieutenant to Steele, Priebus promised to hire top-notch staff, restructure the organization and put it on solid financial footing so the next GOP presidential nominee will be prepared to take on Obama.
For the next two years, Priebus will serve as the top spokesman promoting the party’s agenda, countering Democrats, raising money to help Republicans and improving a get-out-the-vote effort that critics say languished under Steele.
Full Story Here:
GOP picks Priebus to head party, replacing Steele
I am glad to see Michael Steele GONE. I had NO use for him and I felt he was the head of the RNC simply as a gesture BY the RNC to show their diversity and to prove that the GOP/RNC wasn’t a party of racist White folks.
In other words, Michael Steele was *The Token Black*. There, I said it, and quite frankly, I don’t give a DAMN who likes it or doesn’t.
OK, Steele is gone and now we have Reince Priebus as the head of the RNC. Reince Priebus? Who the hell is Reince Priebus? And spell check has no idea either. 
In the wake of his candidacy for chairman of the Republican National Committee, Priebus has come under fire from conservative activists for his role in seeking federal stimulus funds during his time at the Michael Best & Friedrich law firm in 2009. Priebus was a member of the firm’s “Stimulus Legislation Team,” which sought to “identify opportunities, prepare appropriate proposals and make targeted contacts to secure [federal] funds.”[13] He has denied association with that team. SOURCE
There’s other information about Priebus at the Wikipedia link, none that I thought worth posting, but it’s there if you’re interested. What really bugs me is this piece of work I received today, right after the election of Priebus was announced.
The Tea Party and Advocates of Limited Government Should Oppose Reince Priebus for RNC Chair
We have about a week to mobilize opposition to Mr. Reince Priebus, frontrunner for RNC National Chairman.So take five minutes of your time to review the below information, write a polite letter to your RNC Committee members (or ALL of the members), and then forward this message to others who care about our principles.
I received this note from someone in Wisconsin yesterday: “Having experienced the power exercised by Priebus to reject my application to join the Marathon County GOP, I can testify fist hand to how tyrannical a party he would run if in charge at the RNC level. It would be catastrophic for the RNC for him to get the chair. He must be stopped.“
Who can stop him? The grassroots, that’s who. Here are some reasons to oppose Mr. Priebus. Below you will also find a sample letter, RNC Contact Information, and related links of interest.
1) The election results in Wisconsin had little to do with Reince Priebus. Wisconsin’s economy suffered under a long period of Democratic control. Voters — led by the 60+ Tea Party groups in the state — were ready for a change. Priebus happened to be in the right place at the right time. Check the 2008 election results in Wisconsin and you’ll see why Priebus had little to do with the 2010 results.
2) Mr. Priebus is not loyal to anyone except Mr. Priebus (and Paul Ryan). This is evidenced by the fact that Michael Steele appointed Mr. Priebus to an important, high-profile post in the RNC, yet Mr. Priebus repaid his friend/ally by stabbing him in the back. This type of behavior does not seem like that of a leader.
3) Mr. Priebus’s employer actively supports Obamacare and has lobbied to receive federal stimulus funds for its clients. Erick Erickson at RedState as well as numerous other authors have exposed Priebus’s support for Big Government. Priebus himself admits he supports REAL ID, a national identification program that will expand surveillance and government power.
4) Mr. Priebus is not qualified to be National Committee Chair. In 2004, he lost his bid for State Senate. In 2007, he became Wisconsin GOP Chair and happened to lead the GOP to success in the 2010 election. The 2008 election was a disaster for the Wisconsin GOP — also under Priebus’s leadership. He became a lawyer in 1998. Look at the other candidates for RNC Chair and you’ll discover why Priebus’s resume just doesn’t add up.
5) Mr. Priebus does not support the Tea Party. He will use the Tea Party to his own benefit, but there is no evidence that Priebus has shared values with the Tea Party.
6) Mr. Priebus will change Republican National Committee rules to strengthen GOP party bosses to the detriment of primary voters and Tea Party activists. Priebus supports a top-down approach where party bosses decide which candidates should receive support rather than a grassroots, bottom-up approach where voters decide which candidates have earned their trust.
7) Mr. Priebus believes in a GOP “unity pledge” and hopes to use his authority to boot out those who disagree. “A Republican must believe in something,” says Priebus. I don’t think we should leave it up to Priebus to decide who should and should not participate in the Republican Party.
8.) Mr. Priebus re-directed Wisconsin GOP donor monies to his favorite candidates, a clear misuse of donor money. Two candidates for Governor and US Senate in Wisconsin (Scott Walker and Ron Johnson), despite having GOP primary opponents, were endorsed at the 2010 GOP Convention by party insiders — four months prior to Wisconsin’s primary. Wisconsin has a tradition of allowing primary voters to pick its nominees. Under Priebus, this system fell apart — to the detriment of grassroots conservatives and Tea Party voters whose candidates were not given support by party insiders. The establishment candidates selected were given over $700,000 in monies directly sent to the state GOP. Can a state Republican Party redirect money directly to candidates in a contested primary without consent from its donors?
9) Mr. Priebus is not a good spokesman for the Republican Party. His performance in the RNC debate was lackluster and awkward. The audience barely responded to a word he said.
10) Mr. Priebus is the choice of the political establishment — the same people who got our country and our party into this mess. Look who is supporting him.
11) Mr. Priebus will use RNC money to lobby for REAL ID, a de facto National ID card that many states have already opted out of. He admitted this in the ATR/DailyCaller RNC debate.
12) Mr. Priebus is an unapologetic advocate of pre-primary State Party and potentially National Party endorsements. This policy will strengthen party bosses and disempower grassroots activists and Tea Party voters. It also will increase the likelihood that non-conservative establishment candidates will be chosen in GOP primaries, and, as a result, General Elections. SOURCE
Yeah, I know, kinda like closing the barn door AFTER the horse is gone… And you’ll notice, the TEA Party was supposed to be involved in this effort to keep Priebus from being elected Chairman of the RNC?
I know that BEFORE I resigned from the TEA Party, I heard not ONE word about this from the leadership. AND, here in Texas, Joe Strauss as Texas House Speaker was supported BY the Rowlett TEA Party President, or, maybe not actively supported, but he damn sure wasn’t spoken out against.
And they wonder why I walked away…
Never heard of the guy myself and I consider myself pretty involved in politics… What I find strange is these two items.
1. He stabbed Steele in the back.
2. He supports and National ID.
Okay, stabbed a token in the back who didn’t do a damn thing to limit government other than oppose it’s expansion WHEN he was not in power.
National ID card might not be such a bad idea. We may have to do something to stop the illegals from voting in 2012 or we will have another 4 years of crap.
I wish it wasn’t needed but damn, something has to be done to stop the democrat voter rolls from growing, they already got the dead vote and the multi-vote, we better stop them from the Illegal vote.
I don’t think I’ll jump on the complain about him bandwagon just yet, I’ll wait to see how he performs… He’s on notice though.
Another reason not to give the RNC a penny of your money.
The RNC are a bunch of dumb asses. They still haven’t figured out that the “Tea Party” won the election for them and that the majority of Tea Party voters consider themselves conservatives and not Republicans. Stear away from a conservative agenda and they will be sunk. I, like BobF will give the RNC no money until they prove their conservative worth.
I stopped writing checks to the RNC when two things occurred:
1. Bush, in his second term, continually refused to act like a Conservative. When he mentioned “vigilantes” and “Minutemen” in the same sentence I was done.
2. Steele was the death-icing on the cake, when he too proved to be a RINO.
Now, I specifically TARGET my cash (zounds, did I just write the HORRIBLY VIOLENT WORD “target”??? How UNcivil of me!!) to individuals who are Conservative. The RNC won’t get ANY more money from me to be squandered — as did the RNC under Mr Steele.
I heard this guy on the radio; that’s all we need, another high-pitched nasal whiner proffering pull-quotes.
Jesus, GOP, are you EVER gonna get it together?
BZ
Well, this is discouraging news on the heels of what should have been good news-the ouster of Michael Steele. I guess we are just going to wait to see how this plays out, we may be on our own again, but we did alright in 2012 on our own.
Fred, the RNC is a “lame duck” organization. It may have served a useful purpose at some point in the past when there was a big push for “big tent” Republicanism. I know those days are behind us for now, and I hope they are behind us forever. We don’t need “big tent” Republicans (today we spell that RINO, by the way). The RNC was a way for the Repubs to raise money after the legal limit had been given to candidates. They then (supposedly) funneled the money to various candidates around the country. Of course, under Steele, they must have thought a lot of the candidates would be found in strip clubs.
At any rate, I would never ever again ever in my life either give money to the RNC nor stand silently by while a friend gave money to them. Friends don’t let friends give to the RNC. There are candidate election committees for the kinds of candidates we can get behind. There is Jim DeMint’s political committee where he seeks out gifted and conservative Senate candidates (hear that Roger Williams or Michael Williams?) The RNC is about to go the way of the dinosaur. The difference is that while it will fossilize, it won’t have the decency to lie down and die.
I watched the debate between the various candidates for RNC chair. Why would I do such a thing? Well, all the paint was dry, so I could no longer watch that happening. Priebus was the LEAST inspiring candidate on a panel that included Maria Cino for crying out loud! Cino, a supporter of and lobbyist for Obamacare was running in the final round for RNC chair…and actually polled more of the RNC “bigwigs” than did Saul Anuzis or Ann Wagner. Frightening stuff.
Bottom line: our work has only begun. We need to pull the plug on “big tent” Republicanism because it is simply “me too” Democratism. Tom Dewey ran against Harry Truman in 1948 on the platform that the Republicans could run the “new deal” more efficiently than the Dems. WHAT!! The last thing I want is efficiency in government. As Milton Friedman said, the reason we have the few liberties left today that we have is because of the INefficiency of government.
No, we want a party that offers (ready the fanfare): a Choice, not an Echo.
Keep your powder dry,
Texasperated
Hmmmm….
I don’t know a thing about this fellow. Never heard of him! Furthermore, some points about him, points I learned just today, don’t seem to bode well for true conservatism.
I don’t see the GOP getting its act together for 2012.
Tea Party/Conservatives will need to dictate to the GOP as to who they run for POTUS in 2012 or its Katy bar the door with those wimps.
Anybody, in my opinion, would be better than Richard Steele. Steele was a “high-roller” on other people’s money. This Priebus fellow, know nothing about him at all.
I’m just glad now that Steele is outta there.
The Republican Party is just a name to me.
I am a Conservative/ Constitutionalists, part of the Attila the Hun branch.
I have specific names that I will vote for, if they decide to run for the Presidency.
I will NOT vote for McCain!
Fred,
It is very unlike you to change the facts to fit your storyline. You know good and well that the local Tea Party did not favor Straus. We chose to stay out of the Speaker’s race altogether. And you as a board member at the time had every chance to call for a vote on the matter.
What you have done in this post borders on libel. Please identify any record or document that shows where the Rowlett TEA Party *supported* any candidate.
You seriously need to consider a retraction, sir!
And while I’m at it. The TEA Party is a non-partisan organization. Why would we even want to meddle in a particular party’s politics? Please explain that one to me.
I couldn’t give a good goddamn what the GOP, the Dems, the Libertarians, the Constitution Party or the Rent is too Damn High Party does to organize itself. That is party business and our little group does not invest itself in party business. When a candidate/party is in line with our core principles they get our support, when they are not, they do not.
Jerry, I considered it, here’s what you can do with your retraction, go screw yourself…
You know as well as I do, there is NO record of it being said, not an official record, you also know that YOU called me and we held several conversations regarding Strauss and that YOU said, in NO uncertain terms, that YOU had NO reason to oppose Strauss and that the Rowlett TEA Party was NOT going to bring it up…
You Sir, can go to hell… The Rowlett TEA Party is now, and always has been, a sit around and talk about it group, not much more… There was one very successful event, and it was the candidates forum… Prior to that, Rowlett was very ineffective, since then, the TEA Party has been dormant…
Jerry, you REALLY don’t want all the private conversations we had brought out, I’d hate to see you become a liar in your denials of what was said… Even if there is NO record, the accusations alone will set heads to spinning…
Fred,
You are an honorable man, so to see you react this way is disheartening.
I told every officer and all but one board member that I did not favor being involved in the Texas Speaker race because I thought it would be ineffective and potentially damaging to the things we wanted to try to accomplish later. That was not a conversation I had exclusively with you.
You do whatever you feel you need to do.
I always do Jerry, I always do…
Since you brought it up, how’s this for a record of documentation?
The Rowlett TEA Party endorses Rep. Joe Driver for Texas House District 113
The Rowlett TEA Party endorses Sen. Bob Deuell for TX 2
The Rowlett TEA Party Endorses Jerry Pittman for Dallas County Constable Pct. 2
The Rowlett TEA Party Endorses Amie Parsons for State Board of Education, District 12
The Rowlett TEA Party Endorses Danny Clancy for Dallas County D.A.
The Rowlett TEA Party Endorses Jeff Weems for Texas Railroad Commissioner
Rowlett Tea Party Announces Candidate Endorsements
The Rowlett TEA Party Candidates Forum
Some Dems, some GOP, some Libertarians, but don’t try and say it didn’t happen when it damn sure did…
Well I guess “Proof” has been rendered… Next.