Central Committee...what the heck is that?

So the first question I get from friends when I tell them my position is "what the heck is a central committee?" Each assembly district in California has a Republican Central committee comprised of seven elected members plus ex-oficios who are either partisan elected officials or party nominees for legislative offices and reside within the district. The primary purpose of these committees is to win elections for Republicans within the district. In the case of our district, it is our job to work within the cities of Long Beach, San Pedro, Avalon, Signal Hill & the cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula to increase Republican representation on city councils, school boards & other local positions.

Elections are held every two years in conjunction with the June primaries. Many who run for this committee do so because they somehow feels that being on this committee will help them in their follow-on campaigns for other positions. My personal opinion is that these types of members have contributed to the lack of satisfactory performance & activity of this committee prior to my election to this committee. How can a committee member dedicate time, resources & motivation to local races throughout the district when they're focused solely on their own? I'll talk more about my issues with these types of members in future posts.

Membership in the Central Committee should be for those who are Republican activists/political junkies who are willing to continuosly be working on political campaigns. For example, in 2007, we started in January supporting Nancy Long for Signal Hill City Council, then some of us worked on Dick Vladovic for LAUSD between February & May, as well as the Republican slate for LA Community College Board. With the special elections this year, we spent time this summer on COL John Kanaley's campaign for the 37th CD, and then had to quickly prepare for the Palos Verdes elections for RPV City Council and the PVPUSD board for November. Finally, we're already researching the candidates who have filed for the Long Beach elections in early 2008. And oh yea, all of us have presidential candidates we're supporting and participating with. (I'm the 46th CD Chair for Rudy Guiliani!)

Now, not every member is as politically active as that; a few are even more active than that. My point here is that those considering being a member, an alternate or otherwise participating need to understand the expectations. They will definitely be this high (or higher) for 2008 and I will be seeking out and working to get six other future members for the 2008-2010 term that feel as passionate as I am & are going to put in the amount of time needed.

My golf game has suffered, but it's for a greater good.

More to follow on the central committee and political events going on in San Pedro & Long Beach this month.