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California Republican Assembly Update Dear Fellow SOCRA [South Orange County Republican Assembly] members - some of you may recall that I spoke at our May meeting about the rather contentious April CRA convention and the lawsuit filed against CRA by Tom Rogers, Tim Lefever, Scott Voigts and the Mid-Empire Republican Assembly. As an update - below is a message from CRA President Celeste Greig about the dismissal of the lawsuit. Celeste mentions that the plaintiffs are no longer members of CRA. I should explain that. At the board of directors meeting of July 23, 2011, the Board found that several CRA units and individual CRA members had committed membership and delegate fraud (examples: submitting delegate lists of people who were not registered Republicans, were not actually members of that unit, units that had not paid dues in years, transferring people into units without their knowledge and consent, listing people as CRA members who did not consent or even know they were being signed up as members, etc., etc.). The Board also voted to end Tom Rogers and Tim Lefevers' memberships in CRA for suing the organization. Scott Voigts' membership was suspended for one year for the same reason. The Mid-Empire Republican Assembly was de-chartered for suing the organization. Some of the other individuals who were found to have committed violations of CRA's bylaws had their memberships terminated as well. All of the individuals were invited to attend the July 23rd Board Meeting, present evidence in their favor, have others speak up for them and defend themselves. NONE of them chose to do so. What you may also not know is on June 16th the Court in Sacramento granted CRA's motion to transfer this matter to the California Republican Party's Dispute Resolution process (section 3.09 of the CRP bylaws) and "stay" (freeze) the lawsuit against CRA. For your information, the Plaintiffs in the lawsuit opposed CRA's motion (known as a Motion to Compel ADR). Thankfully, the Court agreed with CRA that political disputes belong in board rooms and voting booths, not in court rooms. Of course, being one of those helping with the decision making and defending CRA in Court, I am glad the Plaintiffs finally saw fit to dismiss their lawsuit. None of the members of the CRA Board of Directors enjoyed or took any pleasure in taking the actions we did on July 23rd. But we are an activist organization that prides itself on truth and playing by the rules. To find that some people in CRA, including some former leaders, engaged in membership and delegate fraud to influence the outcome of CRA endorsement votes or CRA elections, was very distressing - but we also felt we had to take action to weed out this problem. I liken it to cancer surgery, if you perform the surgery it is painful and awkward but if you don't go forward with the surgery the patient (here CRA) will eventually die. When you think about it, you realize that the fraud being done by some was diluting the votes and efforts of other honest delegates and units who were participating in the CRA processes as set forth in the bylaws. The Board felt it was our fiduciary duty to preserve the integrity of CRA by taking these unpleasant but necessary actions I know this has been an emotional rollercoaster for some of you. You have likely been contacted by some people (or by e-mails) and told "interesting" stories about what happened at the CRA April Convention and the July 23rd Board meeting. Some have been contacted to join a new organization formed by those who lost the elections at the CRA convention, some of them being those whose memberships were terminated by CRA in July. I have a copy of their bylaws and it is simply a copy of CRA's bylaws and functions to compete against us. I invite any of you who would like more information about this to call or e-mail me and I will be happy to discuss with this with you and answer any questions I can. For now I am engaging in the Presidential race and working to make CRA the most potent conservative political force of activists in California and within the Republican Party - to keep CRA the Conscience of the Republican Party. I encourage you to pick a Republican Presidential candidate and get involved in the campaigns. CRA will be holding its Presidential Endorsing Convention from Jan. 6 - 8, 2012, in Garden Grove! I hope all of you will plan to attend that convention - it promises to be great! I also encourage you to get involved in what I consider the most important political campaign next year (second only to defeating President Obama for re-election). The Stop Special Interest Money Now Act will be on the ballot in either June or November next year. If we pass this act (which will stop unions and corporations from taking members’ and employees' money via payroll deductions for political purposes), it will change the face of electoral politics in California like a 10.5 earthquake in Sacramento. The public policy playing field will be leveled in our favor! The facts about union and corporate spending in politics are staggering - this act will put the brakes on that! Call or e-mail me if you would like more information or go to http://www.stopspecialinterestmoney.org Blessings, Below is a message from CRA President Celeste Greig: Dear CRA Unit Presidents, As you know, some disgruntled folks decided to sue the California Republican Assembly over political disagreements. Their inappropriate lawsuit cost us a lot of money, created controversy, wasted a lot of time, and temporarily gave credibility to some of the most ridiculous arguments ever made in public. They even demanded a new Convention and new elections, even though they lost by a landslide at the last Convention and the next Convention is right around the corner! We have just been notified that they have dropped their outrageous lawsuit. I would say that they were “laughed out of court,” but I am not an attorney, so that is probably not the right legal phrase to describe their pitiful retreat. In any event, their lawsuit is over, the CRA elections are over, the plaintiffs are no longer members of CRA, and we can now set aside the petty bickering and internal fights to focus on the 2012 elections. The most important results of this lawsuit is that it served as an expensive reminder that political disputes should be settled in meeting rooms, not in court rooms. The Superior Court in Sacramento County reminded the plaintiffs that they must comply with the California Republican Party dispute resolution rules before bringing this kind of litigation in the future. I want to take this opportunity to thank our CRA General Counsel, Rafael Icaza, for his good work in fighting this politically-inspired lawsuit. I also want to thank Tom Hudson and Craig Alexander for the hundreds of volunteer hours they spent in providing legal briefings during this very sad episode, and all the others who assisted in defending CRA. In the midst of this good news, I need to mention that, unfortunately, we still need money to pay off the thousands of legal costs that we incurred to protect and defend against this unwarranted attack on CRA. Your donation to the CRA Legal Defense Fund will be greatly appreciated. Please send your checks to the: CRA Legal Defense Fund at: 9250 Reseda Blvd., PMB 281, Northridge, CA 91324. As we go into the 2012 election cycle, we need to concentrate on nominating solid conservatives and electing them, not raising money for legal costs. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. On to victory in 2012! Sincerely, |
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