Let’s look at the combined record for 2007 & 2008.

First, how do the State Republicans compare with the Maryland Democrats?

State Republican Party

Number of registered Republicans 909,000

Total contribution amount is $864,875.72

Average per registered Republican 95 cents

Democratic State Central Committee of Maryland

Number of registered Democrat 1,942,000

Total contribution amount is $1,907,259.56

Average per registered Democrat: 98 cents

Can this be? Are the State Republican Party is raising the same amount, relative to registration, as the Democrats? 98 cents vs. 95 cents? Seems to be the case.

Next let’s look at how the Republican State Party is doing compared with the counties, starting with principal Pelura critic Chris Cavey’s Baltimore County:

Baltimore County Republican Central Committee -

Number of registered Republicans 127,000

Total contribution amount is $88,512.74

Average per registered Republican 70 cents

Let’s see how other Republican Central Committees do compared to Baltimore County:

Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee

Number of registered Republicans 117,000

Total contribution amount is $72,660.92

Average per registered Republican 61 cents

Carroll County Republican Central Committee

Number of registered Republicans 53,000

Total contribution amount is $56,582.47

Average per registered Republican $1.05

Charles County Central Committee

Number of registered Republican – 25,000

Total contribution amount is $21,222.10

Average per registered Republican 84 cents.

Frederick County Republican Central Committee

Number of registered Republicans 56,000

Total contribution amount is $35,324.00

Average per registered Republican 61 cents.

Harford County Republican Central Committee

Number of registered Republicans 61,000

Total contribution amount is $75,768.64

Average per registered Republican $1.22

Howard County Republican Central Committee

Number of registered Republican – 54,000

Total contribution amount is $108,377.17

Average per registered Republican: $2.00

Montgomery County Republican Central Committee

Number of Registered Republicans 123,000

Total contribution amount is $169,561.16

Average per registered Republican $1.37

Prince George’s County Republican Central Committee

Number of Registered Republicans 47,0000

Total contribution amount is $43,898.99

Average per registered Republican 91 cents

Draw you own conclusions.

Maryland State Board of Elections Database

http://www.mdelections.org/campaign-finance/party

Registration numbers:

http://www.elections.state.md.us/pdf/vrar/2009_06.pdf

(thanks to Joe Steffen, aka “The Prince of Darkness,” discussion thread http://darknessrising-steffen.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-ready-for-prime-time-chairman.html is deserved for bringing this to my attention. Thank you Joe. )

In the meantime the Pelura debate takes us away from the enemy we SHOULD be fighting. At least the TEA Party crowd is showing some spunk and cajones and I wish the mainstream Republicans would embrace their message more.

Mike, election victories don’t just happen…they are brought about by having the resources and strategy to make them happen, or at least help them along.

Jim Pelura is incapable of being a positive addition to the Republican strategy team and his inability to do basic things that a party chairman should do and inability to get along with anyone who even slightly disagrees with him will keep us from victory.

We won’t have significant victory next year with such a dysfunctional and broke state party.

I backed Republicans (and Dems) in the last two election cycle to the full extent of legal contributions ($10K), which is one reason I prefer to remain anon.”

AH. Here is a perfect example of what is REALLY wrong in the MDGOP (Mark get yer flashcards and hand-puppets ready)…The bonehead here backs candidates for BOTH parties and then whines about being dumped at the dance!

Bonehead, here’s a tip: Put all your money on one horse or the other. That way we can feel sorry for you when you lose. Hedging your bets on stocks and horses is smart; on politics it’s just sleazey, slimey, you know, like, I dunno, you don’t care who wins as long as you get your, what’s the word, pay-off?

It takes brass, though, to come on here, after backing a Democrat or three, and tell us who we need and don’t need as Chairman of OUR party!

Perhaps. Perhaps not. The Left has had few scant months to do their damage. It is empty rhetoric to claim that what they are doing WILL be worse than, what?

a – doing nothing.
b – do what?
c – run your keyboard all over the Internet and call Dems names, which is how a certain prolific email spammer sandbagged Jim.

I backed Republicans (and Dems) in the last two election cycle to the full extent of legal contributions ($10K), which is one reason I prefer to remain anon.

It will take technology, money, and a coherent, clear, uplifting, and understandable message to take any seat back.

My people and I have stepped away from politics. In the last two cycles, we deployed serious resources which were squandered and taken cheap by certain players. Some who won, declined to work with us after they took office, “What have YOU done for ME, RECENTLY?”

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I am monitoring events. Has the party and individuals learned anything? So far, it seems not. I speak with candidates and elected officials a few times a month. Success in 2010 will come only if everyone gets with the program, a few have but the organization is broken and broke.

To address your point. There is no evidence that the Dems are making the economy worse. The economy is bad. It is foolish to blame them for what is happening. The public is smarter than that. Most will give the Dems a few years to fix things. Most will allow resources to be diverted to keep the basics flowing to out of work, needy people, calling that socialism demeans the caller.

There is also the harsh, harsh reality that things may get so bad that they will follow the dems in the hope that HOPE will be AUDACIOUS enough.

As far as being out of power, that’s a partial truth. There are enough Republicans in office that they can work with moderate Dems and Indies to swing votes and influence legislation.

Anyone going to the event at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse on July 22, 2009? That is one venue where Republican power is being reconstituted.

It’s not going to be easy but it can be done. The wrong people have been running things. The good news is that this is changing.

Jim is not a bad guy, he should be allowed to retire to his Vet practice and given a “thanks for doing the job”. The real problem is that he enabled the extremists and did not take care of supporters.

The Dems do a far better job of constituent support and recognize major contributors.

GLTA

At the moment we are seeing what Democrat “solutions” are creating – a worse problem.

It’s not a bad thing. It’s that there are more important things. Jobs, health care, providing for those who truly cannot provide for themselves, the environment, etc.

These issues are not exclusive to the left, nor does the left have the best solution.

The problem with being hard-over to the right is that you tend to fool yourself into thinking your issues are important and important to everyone.

2nd Amendment? Who cares? Not an issue to me and that’s speaking as someone who owns a Colt AR-15 and naughty-in-California 30 round mags.

Right now, I’d say that jobs and the economy are at the top. That includes the bailouts, TARP, CIT, taxes, the lost savings. Healthcase, less so. The environment is a notch or two down.

What does the Repubican right discuss? Is there a Republican solution? Not for those topics. They have ceded the battlefield to the Dems and wonder why no one cares.

The nut-case fringe needs to be marginalized and put in a box. Instead, they run their keyboards all over the Internet, acting as if they have some significance and that puts off potential Republican voters.

I won’t mention names but everyone knows how their spam-load has shrunk recently. Jim Pelura should have shut that spammer down years ago.”

So being in favor of Second Amendment rights, pro-life, Christianity, and defending our nation is a bad thing? Please suggest an alternative! Wait, that would be the Democrats.

As a proud member of what you seem to consider the “right-wing fringe” and running my keyboard on pretty much a daily basis, my job is to convince folks like you (who won’t even put your name behind your accusation that Jim Pelura helped to lose the election for Bob Ehrlich) of the benefits of liberty and limited government. Some people are just harder to convince than others I guess.

There’s nothing wrong with Jim Pelura that electoral victory next year won’t cure.

He’s been less than effective on the core job, fundraising and voter registration. Granted the economy makes fundraising hard but it’s not impossible.

He’s a sock-puppet for his wife, Marianne, who has the energy but not the strategic or tactical skills. Marianne and Jim were in part responsible for Bob Ehrlich’s loss.

Jim has not quiesced the extreme right fringe of the party. Guns, abortion, Christianity, the wars. Please, these are not what the voters are concerned about.

The nut-case fringe needs to be marginalized and put in a box. Instead, they run their keyboards all over the Internet, acting as if they have some significance and that puts off potential Republican voters.

I won’t mention names but everyone knows how their spam-load has shrunk recently. Jim Pelura should have shut that spammer down years ago.

It is past time to clean house and move the party forward.

I’m not saying that Jim is completely responsible or that someone else couldn’t do a worse job. Unfortunately, he’s “enabled” the whack-jobs through inaction.

I hear that Cavey joined with Pelura and 3rd Vice Chair Kelly Schulz at a recent Shore meeting designed to find and approve compromise on the LCD vote issue. I think if Cavey ends up Chair, Eastern Shore counties can still count on him and Schulz (who would still be a vice chair) to follow through on finding an LCD compromise.

The other issue is Pelura’s management style. It’s one thing for him to be at odds with a couple of legislative leaders (who mostly vote VERY conservatively by the way). It’s another thing for him to be completely at odds with the entire legislative leadership, his entire officer board, and now his ED and Events coordinator are gone, ostensibly because they could not work with him.

I don’t believe that the story is “Pelura under attack from big money fat cats/moderates” any more. There are just too many reasonable people that disagree…

http://redmaryland.blogspot.com/2009/07/don-dwyer-takes-stage-at-pelurapalooza.html?showComment=1247573365281#c9054552317122590178