This is taken out of my book, Making Oregon Great Again: Guide to the Grassroots Revitalization of the Oregon Republican Party, published in January 2019. (You can download the whole book for free, here).
I am making a post of this small segment of the book because I get regular complaints that:
- My book is no good. It’s BS. Sam is crazy. Don’t listen to him. This ALWAYS comes from people who have not read the book
- I only rag about the Oregon Republican Party and never give constructive ideas. Yes, these people are the same people who haven’t read the book. (I think there are maybe 40 of these rabid ORP loyalists in the entire state. In a sense they are deaf, but by-God they are loud!)
Although this chapter of the book was intended for an election that was held over a year ago, this particular excerpt is still 100% applicable to today’s Oregon Republican Party. I haven’t changed a single word. (You can download, the entire Chapter here).
Here’s the excerpt.
The ORP must:
- Always pursue the prime objective of winning control of the legislature, the governorship and other four executive offices by finding, cultivating, training, protecting and promoting solid candidates. We can no longer be distracted by intra-party bickering. Let’s do our job.
- Ramp-up PCP participation and meet membership guidelines (by county), engaging their help in critical programs and projects
- Review, update and streamline structure, goals, and Bylaws. Let’s run this organization like a business, lean and disciplined, always using our resources and time wisely.
- Transform internal communications and outside marketing to incorporate the latest cutting-edge technology
- Provide Point-of-Sale administrative support for county and Congressional District Republican organizations. The county and District organizations are the heart and soul of the Oregon Republican Party
- Execute a thought-out, professional organizational and operational plan for GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts, including candidate messaging and database security
- WE ARE LOSING THE GENERAL ELECTIONS IN THE PRIMARY RACES! In election cycles, via a special committee of perhaps six executive board members, publish objective and brief assessments regarding statewide and congressional district primary candidates (does the candidate support the party platform, have a clean legal record, support the Republican President, if the candidate has been in previous campaigns does he/she have a successful record of fund-raising? etc.). The single focus will be on win-ability in general elections. Then, on the ORP website, we would publish objective and brief “approval” statements regarding the candidates who meet the basic necessary qualifications to actually win the general election. There would be no approval or mention of candidates who, in the panel’s conclusion – supported by objective, tangible facts – stood no chance of winning. (It is a wasted opportunity – not to mention a waste of time and money – to nominate a candidate who can’t possibly win the general election.). Yes, of course we can’t prevent someone from running for office, but we, as an organization – The ORegon Republican Party – can choose whom to approve based on simple objective criteria. The specifics on this plan will be determined in the days after the organizational election in February, then presented to the Executive Board.
- In order to discourage obvious vote-splitting intrusions, and/or mudslinging, take a stand via press release, email, and a powerful social media machine in order to instantly update candidate assessments.
- Redesign the website, keep it up to date, communicate constantly with membership via the various social media and other communications tools, while protecting privacy, and provide an easily accessible roster of Central Committee members (perhaps, each with an ORP-domain email address). Make the ORP an easily operable “structured machine,” so the next new Executive Board will have a smooth time managing the organization.
Our positioning will follow these guidelines:
- Must reflect a bottom-up mentality where our base, via the county membership, reigns supreme, as reflected in the ORP Platform
- Keep the Party Platform front-and-center (pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-legal immigration, support ICE, police and Vets, no sanctuary state, etc…).
- Publicly and without equivocation, support Republican President Trump (as 90% of Oregon Republicans already do).
- Whole-heartedly support our nominees and current office holders