MARYLAND REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN

As Maryland Republicans prepare for the convention in Annapolis this weekend, I wanted to urge the members of the Central Committees to carefully consider their vote for the Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party.  We have finished up the reign of Audrey Scott, which saw the party raise, some money but saw very little in the way of actual Election Day victories.  Ms. Scott, to her credit did pull the party out of the financial doldrums of which we were mired, but her political tactics and backroom deals have left us with a party that is on the verge of splintering.  This vote for the Chairmanship is critical to how our party will take shape over the next few years.

Former Governor, Bob Ehrlich’s running mate, Mary Kane is running for the position her connections to the former Governor and other political insiders around the state may seem to be very enticing at first glance, but given our party’s recent history with political games, I believe we need to look elsewhere.  Ms. Kane stated after Ehrlich’s loss in the election that it would be 40 years before another Republican is elected.  In one respect I agree with her, if she is elected as the Chairman it will likely be at least that long before a Republican comes anywhere near the Governor’s mansion.

The grassroots of the party is tired of seeing the same type of people running our party.  We are constantly told that we need to hide our conservative beliefs in Maryland because a conservative can’t win in Maryland.  The state party leadership believes that only a moderate can win, but yet Governor Ehrlich lost his election this November and he is hardly the poster boy for conservatism.  In this state we will never be a viable party as long as we do not stand up for our principles.  We need to have a clear, conservative message and provide the voters with a distinct choice on every Election Day.  Raising money is great and it is needed, but all the money in the world of politics means nothing if you do not win elections.  We win elections by standing by our principles.

Of the remaining candidates, I believe that Sam Hale is the best man for the job as Chairman.  Sam’s tireless efforts on behalf of the Maryland Society of Patriots, The Brian Murphy Campaign, and Americans For Prosperity have shown that he has the energy, enthusiasm, and most importantly the principles to lead our party.  I have no doubt where Sam stands and where he wants our party to go.  His passion will not wane and his principled leadership will be unparalleled.  I strongly urge that all Central Committee Members take a long hard look at where our party is after the November elections and where they would like to us go in the future.  Do we stay the course that has seen us as the minority party for generations or do we take the bold, principled step towards our future.  I pray you side with principles before politics.



WHY MARYLAND MISSED THE CONSERVATIVE TIDE

The election results from the 2010 midterms have been labeled everything from historic to a tsunami.  Those descriptions are appropriate when looking at the results nationwide, but when the Maryland results are brought into focus, we begin to see a drastic difference.  What exactly happened in Maryland and why did the conservative wave miss the state of Maryland?  These are very valid questions given the political landscape of the country on November 3, 2010.

Maryland Republicans, as a whole, failed to effect any real change on Annapolis or Washington DC.  There were a few very bright spots on election night for the MDGOP.  Dr. Andy Harris’ win in the 1st Congressional District providing the brightest point of celebration.  Republicans also picked up a couple of delegate seats statewide and couple of County Council seats in the various counties of Maryland.  Overall, Maryland missed out on the conservative tide that rolled through not only Congress but also many a state house across the country.

I believe the reasoning behind Maryland Republicans disappointment is a failure of the MDGOP leadership.  This is not a blanket statement of failure on the part of all MDGOP officers, but more precisely a failure of Chairman Audrey Scott.  Scott did begin her tenure as the Chairman during a very difficult time for the MDGOP.  The MDGOP was nearly financially bankrupt and facing a tough battle during an election year.  To her credit, Scott was able to pull the party out of their financial doldrums, but raising money and winning elections is not the same thing.

Under Scott’s leadership, the MDGOP squandered a prime opportunity to actually see significant gains in Congress and Annapolis.  The Tea Party rallies held across the state showed the promise of an energized and motivated base to build upon to turn the tide into a conservative wave.  Unfortunately, the MDGOP thought a better course of action was to hand pick a couple of races upon which to focus, and play lip service to all other campaigns. 

Early in the year, the Republican National Committee told the MDGOP that they were going to highlight two races in MD as winnable and send money their way.  Scott waived the state party’s rules in order to allow the national party to donate money to the Ehrlich campaign for Governor and to the Harris campaign for Congress.  This is not an indictment of either campaign or candidate; after all I supported both campaigns on November 2, but merely a statement of the facts at hand.

The biggest problem with Scott’s decision, and the RNC’s, is that Harris already had a declared primary opponent, Rob Fisher, and the only declared candidate for Governor at the time was Brian Murphy.  Bob Ehrlich had not made any official statement of his intentions.  Audrey Scott decided that money from the RNC was more important than allowing the Republican voters to decide who was the best candidate to represent them in the General election.  I am not saying there wouldn’t have been a different outcome in the Primary or the General, only that Scott’s arrogance and ignorance were on display.

Later when asked about her decision at a Baltimore County Campaign For Liberty meeting, she replied that she was only following the rules of the RNC.  Which is more important, the rules of the RNC or allowing the voice of the people to be heard?  When asked which was most important, Principle or Party, her reply was, “As Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, it is Party over everything!”  Chairman Scott, without Principles there is no Party!

After all of the MDGOP and RNC focus on those two races, Ehrlich lost by a wider margin than he did four years ago and Harris won, which most people would have told you was going to happen regardless of the tainted money from the RNC. 

One of the most shocking lessons I learned from my experience during this election cycle was that some of the most loved conservative delegates in Annapolis are no better than the career politicians that they rail against.  I have been a fan of Delegates Mcdonough and Impallaria for some time now, based on their conservative voting records and what I thought were their conservative ideals.  I was quite surprised to learn that they both possess a level of arrogance and career politician mentality normally seen in the likes of Senator Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch.

Mcdonough and Impallaria are both seen as staunch supporters legal immigration and openly call for stricter enforcement of our laws concerning illegal aliens.  However when it comes to politics and the desire to stay in a seat of power, they quietly find ways to overlook the issue.  During this election cycle, they found ways to support candidates that had either poor voting record on the immigration issue or had made some very questionable public statements on the issue.  They made their decisions based on political expediency vice principle.  The felt that they needed to back the candidates who had more to offer them in the political realm, rather than those who more closely aligned with them philosophically; isn’t that why the voting public does not trust our elected leaders?

The MDGOP has had some very good men and women elected the Central Committees this year and I have hope that they will begin the hard work of turning our party around.  This should be the last election that there are Democrats that are running unopposed in the general election.  The fact that Attorney General Doug Gansler ran unopposed in the General election is a failure of grave proportions.  The leadership loves to point out that a conservative cannot win in this state, but when was the last time we ran a true conservative?  When was the last time a true conservative actually had the backing of the state party?  We run moderates and liberal Republicans and give the voters no real choice or reason to vote for our candidates, and then we wonder why no real gains are made in registrations or elections.  For years the MDGOP has acted like a social club and nothing more.  Now is the time for them to decide whether or not they are going to be a social club or a political force in the state of Maryland, and the first step towards that goal should be the resignation of Chairman Audrey Scott



MY 11 MONTH JOURNEY WITH GOD

Now that our campaign to return Common Sense to our government has ended, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about what God has taught me throughout the past eleven months.  The stress of the campaign has tested my faith and my resolve, but in every obstacle that arose, God provided His strength and guidance.  Without His help we would never have gotten the campaign off of the ground.  I said from the beginning that we would praise God if we won and we would praise Him if we lost, and now that we are done, I am here to give God the glory.

My journey began in October last year.  Congress was busy stealing more of our liberties and I had had enough.  I innocently posted on Facebook that I was tired of the idiocy in DC and maybe it was time I ran for Congress.  I, of course, received the obligatory comments of support, but my thoughts were that people were just being polite.  Besides the fact that a run for Congress was simply beyond the realm of possibilities; after all, I have no money, no name recognition, was going to run against a deeply entrenched incumbent, had to work a full time job, and my wife was due to give birth to our fourth child in the middle of the campaign.  Humanly speaking, I had a zero chance to make any sort of impact; thank God we don’t need to dwell on what is humanly possible.

Over the next few weeks, the ludicrous thought of a congressional run simply would not leave my mind.  My wife and I talked about it and started to pray about it.  I also sought out several friends and pastors to begin to pray that God would reveal his plan to us.  We didn’t know what to expect, but we did expect that god would tell us in his time and not ours. 

Thanksgiving came and went without an answer and we prepared for Christmas and visiting family.  We traveled to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with my family and then Christmas evening my grandfather had a heart attack.  As my grandfather was being monitored in Intensive Care, my grandmother took a turn for the worse.  We suddenly faced the prospect of losing both of my grandparents, both of my father’s parents, within a few days.  A few short days later, my grandmother passed away followed two hours later by my grandfather.

At the time, I was a freelance write for www.Gather.com where I wrote a weekly political opinion article.  I had planned to write a year-end wrap up article on all of the events of the year, but my grandparents amazing love story was what I decided to write and publish.  I shared it with my parents and they asked me to read The Love Sacrifice of Leonard And Ray Ethelyn Stouffer at their funeral.

When I arrived at the funeral in Cumberland, MD I met for the first time my grandparents hometown pastor.  Pastor Bruce greeted me and told me that he really enjoyed my article about my grandparents.  He then looked me in the eye and said, “I also read everything else your wrote as well.  Did you ever think about running for office?”  I smiled and told him that I had thought about it.  A short time later, my father’s second cousin came up to me and told me literally word for word what the good pastor had spoken.  At this point, I realized that God had answered our prayers and given me a direction.

From there we started out.  I had no idea how to run a campaign or how to build a staff.  Again I turned to God to ask for his help and guidance.  When the man who had agreed to be our treasurer had to back out due to compliance reasons, God answered the call and provided us with Andy.  When we needed a website designed but had no experience or money to have one built, again God came through and provided Tony.  God answered every call and provided Merrill with her organizational skills and constant optimism.  He also gave us the much-needed voice of political experience and reason when he provided Renee.  I quickly learned that design work for business cards, rack cards, bumper stickers, and yard signs was potentially a very expensive necessity even before you print anything.  Once again my Provider stepped forward to give us Kim.  All of these people were nothing short of amazing and all were happy to volunteer their talents and precious time.

Throughout the campaign God continuously opened doors and provided all the right people at just the right time.  I realize many will ask, “How can you possibly believe God helped you run a successful campaign, especially when you got a mere 11% of the vote in the Primary?”  For me it is simple, I would never have gotten one vote if not for God’s help. 

I have realized that when you follow a God-inspired vision, you will always win.  You may not win the prize that you thought you were chasing, but you will win with God.  My faith in Jesus Christ has given me the strength to endure in circumstances that were not always fair.  He guided me through the entire process of questioning if we were truly following God’s plan to the end result of praising God for a principled campaign run well. 

I want to leave you with these final beliefs.  When you stand up for your principles, you never stand alone.  I heard Brian Murphy say this just before the Primary and his stuck with me.  The other belief is that when you follow God’s calling, you will always win in the end.