Tonight the Salisbury University College Republicans played host to a special guest, state Republican Party Chair Dr. Jim Pelura. I was pleased to have attended and to bring you this report on the proceedings.
Jim was introduced and welcomed by local county GOP head Dr. John Bartkovich.
To get things underway, Dr. Bartkovich offered his opinion on the past, present, and future of the the GOP.
But he opened by asking those students in attendance their opinion on “why did we lose (in 2008)?” Some blamed President Bush, while others thought John McCain ran an “uninspired” campaign against a candidate who appealed to younger voters. (No one in the audience admitted voting for Obama, however.)
When Bartkovich asked about Obama’s accomplishments, most answered “nothing” but a couple volunteered that he had continued the pullout from Iraq and burnished America’s image in the world.
John concluded in an abrupt manner since the guest of honor had arrived, but one point of agreement for the future of the GOP was that the party needed to reinvent its presentation and change its image in order to convey that it was the best vehicle for providing the American dream of a better life for succeeding generations.
After the introduction, Pelura spoke to an audience of about two dozen College Republicans and local GOP leaders who came to offer support to the newly revamped CR group.
Pelura’s speech was very similar to the one he gave at our county’s Lincoln Day dinner, ironically held just across campus from where he spoke tonight.
It is worth repeating Pelura’s assertion that the “path of moderation” the party took after Ellen Sauerbrey’s initial 1994 defeat in the governor’s race was the wrong path and that it created a wedge between the party’s establishment and its grassroots. (Welcome to 2009.) But in addressing prospective candidates Jim cautioned that “too many get distracted by the 2:1 ratio” of Democrats to Republicans registration-wise in Maryland. If voters are given a clear choice between Democrat and Republican, they respond favorably (as is generally the case here on the Eastern Shore.)
While citing three issues he thought the GOP could win on (immigration, educational choice, and environmental solutions “beyond just throwing money at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation”) he also spelled out his three goals he had when elected party Chair: energizing and empowering the local party organizations, including the grassroots, and defining the GOP by its philosphy of limited government and fiscal conservatism. Needless to say, he stepped on not a few toes by doing so but apparently leaves with no regrets.
Dr. Pelura talked about a few successes in local elections, including a rare win for a Republican in Prince George’s County as Brentwood elected a Republican mayor. (In some ways that’s a more important win than a General Assembly seat, he noted to a questioner.) But in governance he warned we “can’t just be the party of ‘no'” but “we don’t have to be irrelevant” either. We “need to regain our credibility”.
Jim also was kind enough to take questions from the audience and that proved to be the most interesting part of the evening.
One student asked where we could make additional budget cuts. Pelura replied that we can’t cut government and decimate the private sector simultaneously because there would be no jobs available for the state workers cut. A better solution may be to combine departments and agencies; as an example Jim cited the duplicate programs between the departments of agriculture, natural resources, and environment.
Another questioner asked two questions: if the shift in Virginia toward electing a GOP governor was a reflection of national trends and if John McCain was a good candidate.
In answering the McCain portion, Pelura opined that McCain was “not a Republican candidate” and was picked as a result of several open primaries among the early-voting states. Jim also claimed Virginia was “basically a red state” but went Democrat because Republicans became complacent.
Queried about how we get to majority status in Maryland, Jim simply stated we need to show that Republicans do things when put in charge. He cited the “mixed message” of General Assembly Republicans holding firm against tax increases in the 2007 Special Session but voting for the bloated budget in 2008 as an example of how not to do things.
Jim also expressed his thoughts on Sarah Palin (a good candidate, but perhaps a little “impulsive”) and the TEA parties (generally good people with a couple bad apples getting too much into the Obama=Hitler angle).
He also revealed that Bob Ehrlich may not make a decision on whether to run again for governor until next spring. Obviously this left candidates out to dry, but Jim was no more successful at convincing the former governor to commit than anyone else, including this observer. (As for me, Bobby’s lost my primary support.) Aside from the top chair, though, we have candidates “coming out of the woodwork” and none of them were “lukewarm” candidates.
If they do win, though, they need to “govern like a Republican.” Got that right!
Finally, the College Republicans immortalized themselves by getting photographed with a party chair who has hopefully set the stage for their generation’s success.
Speaking as one who was not politically active until several years after college I must say that if the CR meetings at my alma mater were this interesting I regret missing out on them. It’s good to see that not every college student blindly follows BHO and some have been taught about freedom and values.
Is there any speculation on who will lead the Maryland Republican party after Jim steps down in November?
The three candidates I’m aware of presently are former Ehrlich administration official Audrey Scott, current First Vice-Chair Chris Cavey, and 2006 U.S. Senate candidate Daniel “the Wig Man” Vovak.
Who knows what other candidates could enter the fray or even be nominated from the floor? It promises to be an interesting convention.
Michael,
I couldn’t agree with you more on the Republican party needing a ‘Makeover’. Geeez, it’s just pathetic. Yes, the party is full of thinking intelligent people, but to the mainstream of American’s they simply seem irrelevant.
It is my personal belief that the Republican party was hijacked in the early 80’s by the Moral Majority.
Before Falwell and crew got so involved our party was followed the beat of a different drum and that was the drum of Barry Goldwater.
He didn’t believe that it was the governments job to legislate morality, nor did he think it was possible.
He did however, believe that if the government didn’t pay for abortions on demand then America wouldn’t be faced with a moral delma.
I want to see us go back to that kind of idealism that believed the government had zero place in your business, and that it’s role was to protect the American people from foreign invaders. PERIOD
I believe that Republicans need a history lesson in 20th century politics and find our where their party went wrong. Republican are quick to quote our founding fathers, and quick to quote Ronald Reagan, but it was Senator Goldwater who laid that path for Reagan to walk, and Reagan caved under the pressure of Falwell and his followers.
Even as a devout Christian, I feel that the actions and rhetoric of the moral majority did more harm to our party than anything that Bush could ever have done.
It was a not a single indecent it was years of building a persona, that ended up alienating those who were not Christians but were independent free thinkers, a group of people that used to call themselves republicans that now mostly call themselves independents, or libertarians.
It’s a shame, but I believe that if Goldwater were alive today, he would be categorized as a Libertarian too.