by Aaron Biterman

A headline in this week’s Tampa Tribune is titled “GOP infighting shakes party”. The article talks about a familiar 2009 theme: “An increasingly fractious challenge to the Republican Party from its own conservative base could relegate the party to indefinite minority status,” says author William March.

No state has more of a fight on its hands than Florida, where Republican Party Chair Jim Greer has, no doubt, acted illegally to prop up his favorite candidates and help his friends defeat his enemies.  This was already clear when Greer had his cronies boot Republican Liberty Caucus members from the party in September. Now there are increasingly vocal calls for Greer to resign as party boss.

In Florida, State Senator Paula Dockery is challenging Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination for Governor and Senator Carey Baker is challenging U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam in the primary for Florida Agriculture Commissioner. Both Dockery and Baker are more conservative than their moderate and establishment opponents. RLC members are supporting Dockery and Baker.

The reason that governorship is open, of course, is that Charlie Crist is running to become Florida’s junior U.S. Senator. Crist faces opposition from Marco Rubio — who has been endorsed by Senator Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund — and former New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith.

But, never fear, the National Republican Senator Committee (NRSC) has plans to come to the rescue. As has been standard practice since the election of George W. Bush in 2000, the NRSC has already coronated its top-tier candidates for Senate in 2010 — without any regard for the opinions of GOP primary voters.

Those candidates include Crist, Carly Fiorina in California, and Trey Grayson in Kentucky.  All three have more conservative and credible opponents: former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, and Kentucky taxpayer advocate Dr. Rand Paul.

Whatsmore, the NRSC is now encouraging its readers to take advice from Karl Rove. In an e-mail the NRSC sent out yesterday, its Communications team forwarded an article from Karl Rove to all NRSC subscribers. Rove’s article was published in The Wall Street Journal, and the NRSC team said it’s a “WSJ Editorial You Should See”.

I saw it, and — shock! — I am not impressed.

Why is the NRSC encouraging its members to listen to Karl Rove? Rove’s name has come up in many political scandals, including the Valerie Plame affair, the Bush White House e-mail controversy and the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy. Moreover, his strategy of “compassionate conservatism” along with his support of the Bush Doctrine are among the main reasons why Republicans lost in 2006 and 2008.

In the article, Rove says, “In Connecticut, Sen. Chris Dodd trails former Republican Rep. Rob Simmons 35% to 48% in the latest Quinnipiac poll.” Rove does not acknowledge that two other Republican candidates also poll ahead of Chris Dodd: Linda McMahon and RLC-endorsed candidate Peter Schiff. This “ignore at all costs” strategy has been something that Republican establishment candidates have been very skilled at, but has not yielded successful results.

The strategy, a familiar Rove tactic, was employed masterfully by George W. Bush throughout both terms as President, and trickled down to candidates that the NRSC and NRCC supported (mostly unsuccessfully) in 2006 and 2008 such as John Gard in Wisconsin and Darren White in New Mexico. Both Gard and White — unfamiliar names to most readers — had primary challengers that were more conservative, but simply relied on the Bush Administration and the NRCC to “ignore at all costs” these opponents. Both Gard and White went on to lose their general election contests in conservative-leaning districts.  The result was Democrat pickups.

The title of Rove’s article is, “Can Republicans take back the Senate in 2010?”

The answer is yes, but not if they listen to Karl Rove or the NRSC.

The NRSC cannot be allowed to select Republican Senate candidates for GOP primary voters.

Registered Republicans in CA, CT, FL, IL, KY, and other states should select the best candidate to represent the state — without NRSC interference.

It’s still early to be thinking about 2010 elections, but the Republican Liberty Caucus National Board has approved several endorsements for 2010 already.

Liberty fans across the country will be pleased to note that the RLC endorsed Rand Paul in his bid to become U.S. Senator in Kentucky, and Peter Schiff in his bid to represent Connecticut in the Senate.

The RLC has also endorsed Jason Shepherd for State Representative in Georgia, Shane Schoeller (Incumbent) for State Representative in Missouri, and Bill Hunt for Orange County Sheriff in California.

Our endorsements process has just begun, so please stay tuned for more endorsements of worthwhile, liberty-loving candidates. In 2008, the RLC endorsed over 220 pro-freedom candidates, many of whom were inspired to run as a result of RLC Advisory Board member Ron Paul’s 2008 Presidential bid.

RLC members will be working to help all of the above candidates succeed. Our Connecticut and Kentucky chapters are in the process of chartering, which we believe will be tremendous assets to the Paul and Schiff campaigns as we head into 2010.

Kentucky U.S. Senate challenger Dr. Rand Paul, son of RLC Advisory Board member Texas Congressman Ron Paul, is now leading his opponent, former Democrat and Secretary of State Trey Grayson.  A solid analysis is provided from a local Kentucky news station:

Dr. Rand Paul, who is running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate against Attorney General and former Democrat Trey Greyson, was the featured guest at an event hosted by Republican Liberty Caucus members in Kentucky.

This event occurred in Georgetown (near Lexington), Kentucky this past Saturday. It was hosted by RLC activist Sheryl Ford and longtime Kentucky RLC Coordinator Michael Moreland helped organize it.

This is the second time in the month of October that Dr. Paul has met with RLC members. The first was in Northeast Florida, where Dr. Paul met with the Florida RLC Chairman and other RLC members at an event hosted by one of his former medical school classmates.

The videos of Dr. Paul’s remarks to RLC members in Georgetown are as follows. Special thanks to our RLC volunteers in Kentucky for making this event a tremendous success!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Dan Halloran, Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New York, has been running for New York City Council for the better part of the year now. But some in the Queens Republican Party are hoping to replace Halloran with another candidate — Paul Vallone — after the Queens Tribune profiled Halloran’s religious faith. According to an article that came out earlier today, “Their choice to replace him is Paul Vallone, who finished third in the district’s recent Democratic primary.

That’s right. Replacing a Republican candidate with a current or former Democrat. This is actually an upsetting trend that I have noticed cropping up in national and state-level politics.

Why are some in the Queens GOP upset with Halloran? Well, he’s engaged in that all American ritual called religious freedom. Yes, Mr. Halloran has chose his own faith, and it’s not a popular one: he’s a practicing Theodist who worships with the pre-Christian pagan faith of Theodism.

Fortunately, it seems that the Queens Republicans are going to make the correct decision and go with their original choice. An article published just a few hours ago, entitled “GOP has faith in Halloran,” says that, “Queens Republicans said they did not believe City Council hopeful Dan Halloran’s adherence to a pagan religion would have any affect on the Auburndale attorney’s bid to fend off Democrat Kevin Kim in the race to replace Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside).”

Score one for freedom conscience and for liberty-loving Republicans. Halloran actually has a good chance of defeating Democrat Kevin Kim, and if he does so he’ll be one of only two or three Republicans serving in elected positions in New York City government.

But back to the trend of Republican establishment leaders selecting current or former Democrats over good liberty-loving Republicans.

It’s happened twice to the most prominent libertarian Republican family, the Pauls: once to RLC Advisory Board member Dr. Ron Paul and once (now) to his son Dr. Rand Paul.

In 1995, the Republican Party, which had gained a majority in the House for the first time in four decades, offered U.S. Rep. Greg Laughlin (D-TX) a seat on the Ways and Means committee if he joined the Republican Party.

In the subsequent congressional election in 1996, Laughlin was endorsed by the Republican establishment, including then-Governor George W. Bush, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and other members of the party from outside the district and the state. Despite this, Republicans in Laughlin’s district still saw him as too moderate, and he faced a primary challenge from former Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul and his 1994 opponent.

Laughlin won the initial primary election with 42 percent of the vote, but by failing to win a majority he was required to face the second-place Paul in a run-off election. Paul defeated Laughlin by a 56-44 percent margin in the runoff election and went on to win the congressional seat.

In an important race for liberty-lovers across the country, Dr. Rand Paul is running to become the junior Senator from Kentucky. Despite having grassroots support and having raised the necessary cash, he has hit a wall called the Republican Establishment — led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and fueled by National Republican Senator Committee Chair Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).

Cornyn and McConnell have selected a former Democrat, Trey Grayson, to run for the open Kentucky Senate seat as a Republican. They’ve tried to clear the way for Grayson, but thus far have been unsuccessful in doing so. Grayson is another former Democrat and supported Bill Clinton’s campaign in 1992.

Why does the Republican establishment continually insist on backing poor quality candidates who lack principled commitment to the Republican Platform?  Shouldn’t these candidate choices be left to Republican Party voters to decide?

These types of ex-Democrat candidates rarely turn out successful for the Republican Party, as in the case of Laughlin, who lost to Ron Paul in 1996 and has been a lobbyist in DC ever since.

UPDATE: Apparently the potential Halloran replacement nominee (a Democrat-turned-Republican) is now supporting the Democrat candidate for the Queens-area City Council seat — an election taking place in November.

UPDATE #2: Doug Guetzloe, a longtime Republican Party activist and RLC member in Florida, says the following: “Last night the Orange County (Florida)  Republican Executive Committee met.  The Chair is Lew Oliver, the individual who lodged the grievances against both Nick Egoroff and me for ‘violating our oath’.  Last evening Oliver nominated Sarah Rumpf for REC membership. Ms. Rumpf was the campaign manager for Democrat state attorney Lawson L. Lamar last year against our GOP nominee Mercedes Leon. Ms. Rumpf also is supporting Democrat candidate for Orange County Mayor, Bill Segal. Mr. Oliver defended Ms. Rumpf and called out of order a motion from one our Liberty Coalition member David Mack to remove her from the ballot.  Mr. Oliver also threatened Mr. Mack with arrest. Ms. Rumpf was elected to the Republican Executive Committee. Incredible.”

Judge Andrew Napolitano, Rand Paul, and Peter Schiff discussed why it is important for those liberty-lovers hoping to succeed electorally to run in one of the major parties.

“The issues are more important than the labels,” said Rand Paul, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, running for an open seat and facing Republican establishment candidate Trey Grayson in the primary. “You vote for the party when the party is correct,” he declared. Napolitano outlined how third parties cannot succeed due to the major parties, while Schiff explained that were he to run against Chris Dodd, he would run as a Republican.

Some photos from Republican Liberty Caucus members and activists from the month of August (2009):

RLC members in northern Virginia had a meeting on August 20.  It featured two former RLC-endorsed Congressional candidates (Amit Singh and Vern McKinley) and a 2009 RLC-endorsed candidate for Delegate, Eric Brescia.  The Virginia RLC was re-chartered at the Republican Party of Virginia Convention in May.

Kentucky RLC Coordinator Michael Moreland (right) chats with the son of RLC Advisory Board member Ron Paul, Dr. Rand Paul at the Jim and Mary Bunning Family Picnic hosted by the Campbell County GOP. Dr. Rand Paul is running for the open Kentucky U.S. Senate seat.

RLC members from the DC and Virginia affiliates gathered in a studio in DC on August 9 to film an introduction to the Republican Liberty Caucus that will soon appear at RLC.org. From left is Aaron Biterman, Mitchell Bemos, Matthew Gagnon, and Nena Bartlett.

On Saturday, August 15, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Nebraska held its first-ever summer meeting.

Nebraska RLC Vice Chair, Jon Tucker, of Omaha, discussed the many faces of the liberty movement and helped RLC members discover where we fit in. The answers were not entirely clear, although it was clear by the end of the discussion that Nebraska RLC’ers are committed to continuing their efforts to promote their foundational principles of liberty within the Republican Party.  Mr. Tucker is also in the process of forming a regional Republican Liberty Caucus representing the Omaha area.

Former Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mark Quandahl (left) and Nebraska’s Republican National Committeeman, Pete Ricketts (right), fielded questions from the audience during a panel discussion.  Both men welcomed the involvement of Nebraska RLC members.

Quandahl expressed appreciation for the enthusiasm of the RLC’ers at Nebraska’s 2008 GOP Convention and Ricketts encouraged members to stay involved.

Nebraska RLC Secretary, Amy Haberman of Papillion, provided delegates with an overview of the Nebraska Republican Party and its structure. Amy’s presentation emphasized the importance of getting involved locally.

According to Nebraska RLC Vice Chair Jon Tucker, “All we need to do now is increase our numbers to increase our impact of the party.  I can’t wait to do this again next year, but I will not wait until then to find other opportunities for us to get together to grow and educate each other and those around us about the principles of the Nebraska Republican Liberty Caucus.”

By all accounts, the meeting was a success.  Members learned the GOP state structure, how to create a PAC, how to encourage others to join our efforts, who others in the liberty movement are, history of the liberty movement, and an introduction of how technology can impact the political process.

A very special thank you to Laura Ebke, Nebraska RLC Chair, who organized the meeting.

According to Human Events, five more states have joined the growing state sovereignty movement sparked by RLC activists and legislators. The new states cited in the article include Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The Indiana RLC has been lobbying hard on behalf of that states’ resolution. It was introduced by RLC-friendly Senators Walker and Stutzmann, who recently attended the Indianapolis-area “RLC Callout” event (see photo, right).

The online information for Indiana’s 10th Amendment Resolution has been updated to represent that State Senator Mike Delph (district 29) was indeed one of the co-authors and initiators of this legislation along with Senators Greg Walker and Dennis Kruse. Not only that, but the list of Senators now listed along with them on this bill has grown to fourteen.

In Kentucky, RLC-friendly legislator Stan Lee of Fayette County is a co-sponsor of the resolution, HCR 168.  I received an e-mail this week from Rep. Lee’s office in response to a message I wrote to him, saying, in part, that “Rep. Lee shares [the RLC's] vision of limited government.”

In Tennessee, RLC-endorsed State Rep. Susan Lynn (left) introduced the resolution, HJR 108 (pdf).  At her blog, Rep. Lynn says: “State sovereignty is a big deal to state legislators; hopefully, it is to you as well. It is what keeps the federal government from over stepping its constitutional bounds.”

The Kansas resolution was introduced by a Republican Senator.  Kevin Patrick, a RLC ally in West Virginia, has set up a website in support of that state’s resolution.