Six local Republicans named to county team
Alicia Robinson
A transition team selected by new Orange County GOP Chairman Scott
Baugh will begin meeting today to discuss a political plan to
increase party membership and get Republicans elected.
After being elected party chairman Monday, Baugh named a diverse
23-person team this week that included one member from Costa Mesa,
Kellie Bieber, and five Newport Beach residents, Jo Ellen Allen,
Christine Diemer-Iger, Dale Dykema, Jack Mau and Buck Johns.
“The more people I have invested into the Republican party, the
more resources I have available to help us achieve electoral
victories in the fall,” Baugh said. “There’s a group of people that
know the central committee inside and out, there’s a group of people
that know the mechanics of elections inside and out, there’s a group
of people that will be asked to fund the plan, so it’s important that
they see it developed.”
The team’s makeup is indicative of the stronger financial punch
the party is expected to have under the new chairman. Members include
fundraiser Johns as well as Tracy Price, president of the Lincoln
Club, and Frank Greinke, a member of the New Majority. Both groups
command considerable fundraising clout, but had been alienated by
former GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes and had not worked with the county
party in recent years.
“I think [Baugh] has set the tone of bringing more people into the
party and to the table,” Bieber said.
Also on the team are members of party committees that reach out to
the Asian and Latino communities, two areas where the party wants to
broaden its membership base.
“[What] we’re still facing in the central county is a reputation
problem in the Hispanic community primarily, and I think from the
standpoint of Orange County and making gains in Orange County that’s
probably the biggest obstacle we have to deal with right now,” Dykema
said.
Baugh said his goal is to boost party membership above 50% of
registered voters in the county, and he’s targeting central Orange
County, where the GOP has sustained recent losses.
The team also may recommend plans to increase party staff. The
party only employs three staff members, but it needs a full-time
director, Dykema said.
“Scott is not going to be able to devote a lot of time to this
activity and he shouldn’t have to,” he said. “He is here to provide
vision and leadership to the organization, but we’ve got a lot of
nuts and bolts grass-roots work to be done.”
While increasing voter registration before the November election
is an important priority, the transition team also will look beyond
that, Baugh said.
“So often people lurch from one election to another, and what
we’re doing with our strategic plan is we’re having a short-term plan
as well as a long-term strategic plan that allows us to look at 2006
and 2008 and beyond,” he said.
A plan will be presented to the party’s executive committee by
mid-May, Baugh said.
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