"Carpenter is interested in vengeance not party unity. In his mind if a person holds a party seat but will not bow to him, that person is a 'swamp rat.'"
Blog comment, On December 28, 2018 post
The Oregon Republican Party is up for grabs. Showdown on February 16.
There is a robust Trump-Fox-talk radio core within the Oregon GOP. They are flexing their muscle. On February 16 we will learn if they are successful in taking over the leadership spots in the Oregon state party. These are the Yes-Trump people.
GOP voters in the May primary selected Knute Buehler as the candidate for governor. He represents the other version of Republicans. More moderate. More socially liberal. More bi-partisan. Not-Trump. Jessica Gomez spoke of this group in a recent post here. She said these moderates were the actual future for Republicans as a majority party in Oregon because they made the tent bigger, not narrower. The Trump conservatives were damaging the GOP brand, she said, associating it with Trump-ism.
 |
| Click: "non-partisan" charity |
Liberty Network Conference vs. Dorchester Conference.
The Trump-Carpenter wing of the party is promoting a conference in Lake Oswego on February 2, hosted by the "Western Liberty Network." Fox Contributors Lars Larson and "Kat" Timpf are among the speakers, as well as a group of others associated with politically conservative issues.
Two advertised speakers are Bill Currier, the current GOP Chair, and his primary detractor and rival Sam Carpenter.
Carpenter's Facebook page promotes the conference as a "tip-the-applecart-over-moment!" Carpenter writes that his wife "Diane and I and our team have chosen the 'reemergence' event carefully Rich Burke's Western Liberty Network gathering is, without question, THE grassroots meeting of the year. The attendance and the comportment? Once could call it the exact opposite of Dorchester! (Eeeek!)"
The Dorchester conference represents Republican tradition. The annual Dorchester conference was founded by then State Representative and later US Senator Bob Packwood in the aftermath of the defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964. It originally intentionally dis-invited "far right wingers" in order to identify and coalesce a new moderate pathway for Oregon Republicans. In recent years the conference politics has become more conservative and generally representative of GOP positions. Republican officeholders routinely speak at it.
 |
| Delayed |
He is accused of "lies and misrepresentations," with "bitter revenge his clear motivator."
The comments defend the incumbent party leaders, saying Carpenter claims "Currier has no wins, but that is just another lie. Currier and his slate came on board in the wake of the shipwreck left by past Chairs Suzanne Gallagher, who resigned after allegations of party finance mismanagement, and Art Robinson, who mistakenly thought unilateral decision making was acceptable, and thus far, with the current exec team, has brought the party into the black and restored relationship with the House and Senate Caucuses where none had existed before."
Currier's advertised appearance at this conference will be a chance to see in public how Currier is addressing the "applecart turnover" threat. Will he tack right to try to co-opt the energy from the Trump-talk show-populist right? Or will he criticize it as a path to further marginalization?
It may not matter in the actual February 16 showdown. There are a finite number of actual voters eligible to select the new GOP officers, and they are party activists, and party activists have been Trump's strongest supporters. Carpenter declined to say to me that he had them locked up, but he said he was optimistic that he had the votes. He said that he represented the 89-90% of the party that supported Trump.
It is a showdown he expects to win.
It is a showdown he expects to win.
1 comment:
Peter,
This looks like the same problem that the Dems are having with their far left groups.
Both parties need to get to the center or they will be surprised in 2020.
Bill H.
Post a Comment