Iowa GOP: Divided We Stand…and Proud of it
June 28, 2010 18 Comments
After the Republican primary on June 8 I had sworn off attending the state GOP convention which would have only been my second convention as I am fairly new to the process. During my first convention in 2008 I had to control my gag reflex from the realization that John McCain was our nominee and I wasn’t about to endure the same self-inflicted pain by attending this convention with our newly (but yet repeatedly) elected gubernatorial nominee. I had given up a lot of personal time during the primary and I was going to sacrifice no more of it, especially for a party that was STILL headed down the tubes and too stupid to know any better.
But what got me up on Saturday morning from my family’s camper and made me drive to downtown Des Moines unshowered and unkept was not for the party but to help my fellow patriots send another message to the GOP in Iowa that I knew would once again land on deaf ears, and also to line up behind warriors like State Representative Dwayne Alons in his very lonely quest for principles in the party.
I realized the unprecedented move to nominate Bob Vander Plaats for Lt. Governor from the floor and override Terry Branstad’s choice of Kim Reynolds was a bold one but I had no idea what the outcome would be. This nomination happened less than a month from a bitter primary in which a former four term governor and standard-bearer of the Republican party spent over 2 million dollars to only get 50% of the vote in a high turn-out primary. What many Branstad apologists don’t want to admit is that 100% of the voters who went to the polls on June 8 knew who Terry Branstad was and half of them still rejected him. Bob Vander Plaats did not have the luxury of millions of dollars and high name recognition but he pulled 41% of the vote because of his stance for the Constitution, God’s law, and conservative principles while rejecting politics as usual.
While it is true that Vander Plaats most likely had the most support from convention delegates to be the next governor of Iowa, I thought it would be interesteting to see how the Lt. Governor vote would go since Bob has never really shown a desire to be on the ticket with Branstad unless the former governor would champion some of his issues and Bob never campaigned to the delegates to vote for him for this position. I also was curious about the outcome of the vote because most of Bob’s supporters don’t want to see him anywhere near Branstad and would rather he run third party. I can also bet that many of his delegates were fed up with the party and did not attend convention, which was what I was almost guilty of.
When the final tally came in for the choice for Lt. Governor I was shocked to find out that out of over 1,300 votes Vander Plaats only lost to the hand-picked Reynolds by under 200 votes. This was astonishing because the effort to get Vander Plaats forced on Branstad’s ticket was a small grassroots effort with no money and the party fought back fiercely by pushing Kim Reynolds with numerous robocalls and emails to delegates. Unprecedented, indeed. A divided party, indeed. A message that will be 100% ingnored………..100% likely. I am told that about 40% of the delegates left before Branstad gave his speech. I wouldn’t know since I was one of them.
Of the short time I attended the 2010 Iowa Republican Convention here are some observations:
1. When the gray-haired people pass on there will be no one left except for the college kids working for the establishment, which are not very reliable since they may go work for the Democrats also if the price is right.
2. One of the few not white people in the room was heard to be saying, “The unions screwed me, the Democrats screwed me, and now the Republicans screwed me. Where do I go now?”
3. I regret my vote to put Steve Scheffler and Kim Lehman in the position of National Committeman and Committeewoman. One cannot serve two masters.
4. Steve King, the champion of the Republican base, is slowly becoming what he has been fighting against.
5. As suspected with John McCain and proven with Terry Branstad, the second place on the ticket is just window dressing to be shaped and molded and for photo-ops.
Because the old guard of the GOP fails to see that the political climate and this next election is not about who endorses who or a single candidate but instead about the issues and preserving our republic for our children, they will continue to drown in their own irrelevancy while most of us move on. When Terry Branstad was asked if he was worried about the base not falling in line he responded, “Who else are they going to vote for?” What he doesn’t realize that the decision looming ahead of us is not who we are going to vote for but how we are going to change our voter registrations. “Independent” or “no party affiliation” is the tough choice I have to make next and not who I am going to vote for in November because whoever wins, we still lose.
You summed it up quite well. I think the biggest disappointment of the day was Steve King’s endorsement. Sad.
At convention I saw one college-aged BVP staffer with a TEB sticker on. He was downcast, as a senior BVP staffer had just called him a traitor in front of others. Why aren’t you joining in the BVP-for-LG move, I asked him? He looked at me, sadly, and said, “If BVP had won, he wouldn’t want Branstad to do this to him. Am I doing the right thing, or is it different in politics?”
I heard that succinct rephrasing of the Golden Rule, and I assured him that he’d never regret treating other people with that dignity.
I had much respect for BVP’s ability to stand for his convictions. I despise the LG stunt, which would cause a college kid to wonder if Jesus’ words didn’t apply anymore. Who needs those so-called “liberal college professors” to make kids believe Christianity is a sham, with that sort of life lesson from so-called “Christian leaders.”
KarmaK, did you know that the Vander Plaats campaign only had five people on their staff? And they never went by the term “junior staffer” or “senior staffer.” No need to do that when there is only five of you. If you are talking age, then the two “senior staffers” on BVP’s campaign were Eric Woolson and Tim Dusenbury and neither of them were at convention. I guess you could be referring to a non-paid person like Bob’s chair of his campaign, Jodi Tymeson. I highly doubt Jodi would do something like that unless you would like to come right out and accuse her?
And I’m not sure what you are referring to when you say the “LG Gov. stunt.” Are you accusing a highly regarded member of our legislature, Dwayne Alons, of pulling this “un-Christian” stunt? You must be because he is the one who nominated Bob for LG from the floor. I really didn’t see that Bob pulled any stunts.
And if allowing delegates to vote on who should be LG (which was something that was placed into effect in 1990 by then Gov. Branstad) is un-Christian, please refer me to the Bible verse that states that and I will apologize. So then is challenging Gov. Culver in November against the Golden Rule then also?
#1 is a slap in the face to the young people actively involved in the party. People like Emily Lofgren, Dane Nealson, Greg Baker, Erin Rapp, etc. None of those folks is up for sale. It also seems to ignore that Gen X’ers like myself exist.
I’ve made the point that the name-calling from some of the Branstad supporters is uncalled for, and I’ll make the point that the same applies here;
You destroy your credibility with this type of statement.
Why should anyone listen when you trash good people, even those who probably supported your own cause? I’m pretty sure Greg worked hard for Bob.
Congressman King and Kim Reynolds are great Republicans. Stating otherwise comes across as sour grapes.
A majority of the party disagrees with your assessment of Gov. Branstad. There’s nothing to be gained from insulting them for that, especially considering several you’ve targeted. Think on how much credibility you give those who are gloating over the results of this election. You’ll have the same amount of influence if you take the same road.
My recommendation: If you can’t support Gov. Branstad, work for Matt Schultz, David Jamison, Brad Zaun, or any other local candidate you can support, and let the chips fall where they may.
Mark, did you take a good look around the convention? You just gave me four names of young Republicans. Four. There were over 1,300 delegates! Now, I know there were more than four twenty-something delegates as I was sitting by one and she was actually the one who commented on how many older people there were there and what the party was going to do when they were all gone because there weren’t many of her age there. The party is not doing something right if most of the young people there are paid staffers and yes, the candidates who can afford the most staffers are the establishment candidates. Are college age students who majored in Political Science up for sale? You bet! They need a job don’t they? Would they work for Democrats if they had to? Do they have to pay their bills? The rate the Republican Party is going they will have to work for Democrats just to feed their families when they get older.
I worked side by side with Greg Baker for Bob Vander Plaats. He is an amazing young man and did the work of about twenty people. He handled all the volunteers in all 99 counties and did an amazing job. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to work with him and I hope he has the luxury of working for candidates and causes that match his convictions. As I stated above, however, he needs to pay his bills and I pray that he stays on the right path in an environment that is not so character friendly.
Please tell me where I was name-calling.
Also please tell me why regretting my vote and saying someone cannot serve two masters is sour grapes as is pointing out that Steve King may be heading down the path that he swore he was against.
I don’t need your recommendation as last election I ignored that John McCain ever ran for President and I did my best to help Kent Sorenson win his seat; and he did. This time around I plan to help Kent again in his quest for a state senate seat and I also have a wonderful candidate running for statehouse in my district, Kim Pearson, who I plan on helping also.
Most people get involved in politics after they’ve gotten older. Most 18-24 year-olds are trying to get through college and prepare for careers. I myself didn’t get involved until I was 29. That there weren’t hundreds of college-age kids at the convention isn’t surprising. Neither is the fact that I only named four. How many examples am I to give?
You said that the college kids weren’t reliable and were up-for-sale. That is simply wrong. As you mentioned, Greg is awesome. The others are too. Not surprising, when young people know that early how important elections are.
Helping Kent and Kim is great, and that is exactly what we need. It would be nice if you could support Gov. Branstad, but there are excellent candidates down-ticket who really need help too. I am concerned that BVP supporters are going to forget about those folks and they will suffer.
All is takes is a mere observation to see that college political science people flock to where the jobs are, which means the money candidates. I’ve seen it with Mitt Romney and now with Branstad. It would be an ideal world if they would just be angling for their principles and not the job, but that is not always true. I am sure you can think of as well as I can people who went against their instincts
for a political job. It is simply a fact of life, and to be fair, it happens to all ages.
What I am more concerned about is not the young people with a career in politics but those that are interested in the party as activists or who are passionate about the issues. When I was college age it may be true that young people weren’t getting involved for the reasons
you gave but now I believe it is because they want nothing to do with the Republican party. I know some people like to argue it’s because of the gay marriage issue, but come on. One issue? Really? Could it have anything to do with the fact that Republicans are supposed to
stand for something but yet they keep putting people in office that are just a hair better than the Democrats? Young people are still forming their ideologies and people who can’t stick to their guns turn them off.
Also, as the young girl pointed out next to me, the party isn’t doing much to attract young people. One example is having to charge at
least fifty bucks for an event. Aren’t Republicans labeled the party of the rich?
40% of the delegates did not leave at least not before lunch.
I know because I stuck around.
Also, I think your statement about Kim Lehman and Steve Scheffler is completely out of line.
Why is it out of line? It pains me to say that about Kim. She stood on convictions two years ago when she called out congressional candidate Marianette Miller-Meeks as being the “great pretender” when it came to the social issues. I know she did that in her position at IRTL and not as National Committeewoman but I don’t think the two can be separated as she is the same person. If she did try to separate them it would be like she was telling the truth in one position and glossing over the truth in her other position. So, I think is is unrealistic to separate the two.
Ever since she did that she has been taking it in the gut and I admired her. I’m not saying she needs to throw the Branstad/Reynolds ticket under the bus but I think she needs to plant her flag and make them come to her on the issues and not be an automatic cheerleader for them. I know that is her job as National Committeewoman but is it her job as a Christian? Hence, my conclusion. One cannot serve two masters.
I would agree that the party is divided when it comes to the Gubernatorial race. I think that what a lot of party leaders fail to realize is that many members of the party no longer feel comfortable voting straight party tickets. Instead they are looking for candidates that support their values. Hence the overwhelming outpouring for Attorney General nominee Brenna Findley and Secretary of State nominee Matt Schultz. When it comes to young conservatives such as these the party is indeed united.
You should have stayed for the speeches! We had a “sit down” protest. There were hundreds of us who remained seated through both Reynolds’ and Brandstad’s speeches. No booing or hissing. Just sitting quietly. I believe that our silence was deafening.
And we got a couple of really good amendments to the platform passed after lunch. The one regarding the 2nd amendment was especially gratifying.
Re: Trina’s comment–I was one who chose to sit quietly through the speeches by Reynolds and Branstad, as did my husband and the gentlemen sitting on the other side of me. As I sat there, I felt a hand urgently tapping my shoulder. I turned around and there was a woman from my county–a known RINO–jumping up and down and waving her Branstad/Reynolds sign, obviously very euphoric. She motioned with her hand for me to stand, and said, “Come on! Stand up!” I said, I don’t want to stand up,” and turned back to face the podium. I felt this presence on my shoulder. It turned out to be this woman’s chin! When I turned to see what it was, her nose was up against mine and she angrily demanded, “Come on! Be a Republican!” I said, “Maybe I’m not really a Republican.” She gasped and had a look of shock, but it got her to shut up.
I actually left the delegation floor when both Reynold’s and Gov. Branstad were speaking. I was waiting to meet Tom Shaw to have him meet others. I was near Sheila’s delegation and my county (Pocahontas)and half of the Story County Delegation (correct me if I am wrong Sheila) were sitting during Sen. Reynold’s 3 minute speech of why she wanted our vote.
But for some to say that the party isn’t divided were not at the same convention or either that the Kool Aid was really strong after Gov. Branstad spoke.
The folks who are mad at BVP and his supporters need to chill out and leave us alone. If you notice most don’t really say much about BVP unless it’s some bloggers and some gutless anonymous people who are still obsessed with someone they beat. Just let God lead each BVP voter to vote for whom they felt lead to vote for and also let God lead BVP to make the choice God wants him to make on an endorsement or 3rd party run.
It was great to meet you in person as well there Lori.
Mike, I don’t know who was sitting or standing behind me, but I would believe that half sat. Bob won the primary in Story County. Some BVP supporters left after the results of the Lt Gov election.
Some left, I lost interest and was showing Tom Shaw around to talk to certain people and help him with his house race. I am grateful my county went for BVP strongly (which is why my Branstad Rep was being very respectful to me when we talked), plus we every person in my delegation vote for Bob for Lt. Governor.
Way to go for the silent sit down. Can’t believe that anyone would think that the party is united! Gross!