Chairman's Note

A Bob Hope Classic

2008-01-23T22:09:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of cordial partisanship, I thought everyone would get a kick out of this Bob Hope Classic. Someone forwarded this to me tonight calling it the "greatest movie line ever". Enjoy.

You Don't Know Where You're Going...

2008-01-16T23:44:00.000-05:00

We've all heard it. "You don't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been." To a point this is true, but at times, this can be taken too far. With in the Republican Party right now, this has been taken too far.

Let me say up front I know this is not going to be a popular opinion but I think it needs to be said. Our 5 main candidates for the presidency (Romney, McCain, Giuliani, Thompson, Huckabee) have all at one time or another claimed they would be the President that "most resembles Ronald Reagan." I ask, so what?

Yes, Ronald Reagan was a great President, and Abraham Lincoln is everybody's favorite Republican. This post by no means intends to disrespect these two wonderful leaders. However, if the Republican Party doesn't get their minds out of the past, we're quickly going to get swept under the carpet. Instead of being the party of the past, we need to be the party of the future.

Every one of our presidential candidates brings something to the table that most of us identify with: Huckabee and social conservatism, McCain and national security conservatism, Romney and economic conservatism, Rudy I think has both national security and economic conservatism and Thompson, quite frankly, has all three but just hasn't quite put it together, at least yet.

The great thing about what I think is going to be a very long nomination process, perhaps even making its way to the Convention, is that the Republican Party is FINALLY going to have the opportunity to have a debate amongst itself and decide what issues and what philosophies are going to be our future. With such a distinction among our candidates -- this can and must be done right here, right now. Currently, we're a party without much of an identity and this process playing out will let us re-shape, and re-discover who we are and what we stand for.

The talking heads and pundits in Washington are all claiming that the potential for a very long nomination process spells doom for the eventual GOP nominee. I couldn't disagree more. Yes, we're a party fractured in our interests and motivations at this time but this process will give us an opportunity to fix that. To build it up again we must first break it down. But we're not going to do this by being the "Party of Reagan" - we're going to do it by being the party that has the guts to stake out its identity for the future.

Your thoughts? Please feel free to comment.

Quick Note on Upcoming Events

2008-01-16T00:53:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make everyone aware of a couple of very
important upcoming events.

1. On Thursday, January 24th we are going to have a
full committee meeting and also invite all of those
interested in becoming a committee members or getting
more involved with the Party. At the meeting we will
cover the petition process and the upcoming year. The
meeting will be @ 7:00 p.m. and will be at the McKean
Township Bldg. 8952 Main St.(Rt. 99), McKean, PA
16426. This will be a VERY IMPORTANT meeting so
please try to attend if possible.

2. This year's Lincoln Day Dinner will be on February
1st at the Maennechor Club. A reception is at 6:00
p.m. and dinner is at 7:00 p.m. Cost is $30. The
keynote speech will be given by Congressman Phil
English. If you are planning to attend and we missed you
via snail mail, please call 814-504-1542.

Words Matter

2008-01-13T17:40:00.000-05:00

Words matter. Especially in campaigns. I finally had to shut the tv off this morning. If I heard one more of our presidential candidates, on both sides, use the word "change" one more time I was going to scream. All of these men and women are intelligent. They wouldn't be in the positions they are in if they weren't. I can't understand for the life of me how none of them, or any of their over-priced "consultants" for that matter, can't come up with another way to talk about "change".

A quick punch of the thesaurus comes up with the following synonyms for "change": alter, modify, vary, transform, revolutionize, adjust, amend, alteration, modification, variation, transformation, revolution, conversion, adjustment, amendment, difference. The ones bolded would all be a nice substitution for any of the candidates.

Speaking of the word "change" -- count how many times Speaker Gingrich said the word in his interview on ABC's This Week this morning. On a more positive note however, make sure to watch his comments about 6 minutes into the interview on how our division in the Republican Party among our choices for our nominee is actually a healthy thing for the Party. We are in a transition and will redefine our party with this nomination process. Look there, two words that both mean the same thing and are synonyms of "change".

Funniest Ad of the Campaign

2007-11-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

Check out Mike Huckabee's ad that started airing today with Chuck Norris. It definitely takes the cake for the funniest ad of the campaign so far.

Changing the Way We Think

2007-11-07T21:03:00.000-05:00

The 2007 elections are behind us. Congratulations to our victorious candidates for local offices and our two new Superior Court Justices, Cheryl Allen & Jackie Shogun.

One thing became crystal clear through this campaign though -- we as a Party have to change the way we think about politics. No, that does not mean abandoning your principles.

Over the next couple of months I am going to invite you to become part of a discussion about "Changing the Way We Think". Who are we as Republicans? What do we stand for? What kind of elected officials and candidates do we want representing us? What core issues do we believe in? How are we broadening our Party? How will we broaden our Party? How do we recruit other dedicated Republicans to get involved? How are we going to spread the word? How are we going to raise the resources to do all of these things? Is this something you want to be a part of?

We will tackle these questions and more with a three-pronged discussion. 1. Message: Who are we as Republicans and what do we stand for? 2. Infrastructure: Recruitment, Training, Fundraising 3. Our Elected Officials and Candidates: How do we decide who we recruit and support? How do we run campaigns and win elections?

This will become a very public discussion in our community. Not only will we have this conversation among ourselves, but also in the mainstream media, on talk radio, over the internet, in classrooms, and in meeting halls all across the county.

The next two years will perhaps be the two most important years in our party's history. 2008 will feature everything from picking our new Commander & Chief to several state legislature races. In 2009, we will elect the next Republican County Executive. If there's ever a time to get involved in the discussion, it's now.

The Economic Debate: Assessing the Field...

2007-10-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

As the Erie Times News diligently pointed out this morning, many voters are looking ahead to 2008 and the 2007 elections are already in the rearview mirror. Though we have some races we're going to need to do a lot of work for the next month, candidly, John Guerriero's assessment is true (sorry, no link on goerie today).

Tonight was one of the many Republican Presidential Debates that have been held. Many of us continue to roll our eyes at the length of this campaign -- but the Iowa Caucuses are only a few months away...

I loved the format of tonight's debate. Limited rules, 2 hour length, and the focus on one range of issues (tonight's issue: the economy). The candidates had time to get into the issues in-depth and you can really start to see differences on their economic philosophies. If you didn't get to see the debate -- some thoughts on each of the candidates.

John McCain: He's gaining everyday. He's at his best when his back is against the wall. If he doesn't end up pulling this out, whoever the nominee is should seriously consider making him his running mate. His candidness and thoughtfullness to every question is refreshing.

Fred Thompson: It was fun while it lasted. He doesn't even look like he's in the same league. He'll also be another VP option for our nominee after he's sharpened up a bit.

Mitt Romney: Probably the smartest guy on the stage but I just don't think it's going to happen for him. He looks too scripted -- everytime I see him. It doesn't look like it takes much to ruffle his feathers either. Secretary of Treasury or Commerce?

Rudy Guilliani: Still the guy to beat. Needs to get away from "what [he] did in New York" and start getting into the meat of the issues though. However, people like leadership and can just taste the Rudy vs. Hillary match-up already.

Mike Huckabee: I have yet to figure out why he isn't a top-tier candidate. His Fair Tax proposal scares me a little but atleast he's thinking outside the box. If he had the resources, he'd be in the ball game but he's just not there yet. He has a future, somewhere.

Ron Paul: I have a lot of very close friends who are big supporter's of Paul's but frankly, I don't see it. The circus needs to stop soon.

Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback: Memo: Get out -- please.

GOP Update

2007-09-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

GOP Faithful:

Hey everyone. I wanted to take this opportunity to give everyone updates on activities and opportunities to get involved with the County Republican Party, our elected officials, and our candidates.

If you didn't know yet, until our new website gets up in the next few weeks, make sure to check out the Chairman's Note at http://eriegop.blogspot.com/ for information on what's going on in the world of politics and how you can stay informed / get involved.

Upcoming Events

1. Meeting with GOP Activists in House District 3
October 6th @ 10:00 a.m. - Hoss's off Rt. 20

Come find out how to get more involved with the Republican Party in Erie County

2. County Controller Sue Weber has a number of activites coming up. Please contact her at suesrweber@verizon.net. She's looking for poll workers and for volunteers to deliver 10 yard signs a piece.

3. County Councilman Charley Augistine will start running phone banks for his campaign towards the end of this month and the beginning of October. To help Charley in his campaign please email him at charleyaug@aol.com .

4. City Council Candidate Tim Butler needs volunteers to go door to door and will also need help with phone banking this October. Please email Tim at Tim_Butler333@msn.com to get involved with his campaign.

5. Congressman English is hosting a fundraiser this Saturday @ the Ambassador with House Republican Leader John Boehner. The brunch begins at 11:00 a.m. and tickets are $250 a piece. RSVP to peopleforenglish@gmail.com

AARP & Role of Government

2007-09-16T08:31:00.000-04:00

One of the questions that those of us interested in politics constantly wrestle with is what the size and role of government should be in our lives. Among young adults there is a growing libertarian-like thinking that government should be out of our lives, almost completely. I think this is the reason behind the Ron Paul phenomenon. I also read a great post on Mark Cuban's blog last night that also reflects a lot of this kind of thinking.... Many of my friends, and mostly outside of Erie, who are Republicans have told me this is how they are thinking.

Then I turn on the TV yesterday for my usual 3 day football binge (Go Colts!) and I see this ad for the "Divided We Fail Campaign" financed by the AARP.

The whole ad bothers me and as Republicans - should bother all of us. There's an argument to be made about healthcare and that's a much larger question for a much longer post sometime.

My problem with the ad is its not so subtle inuendo that "financial security" for every individual is the responsibility of government. This unfortunately very much reflects the Democrat Party way of thinking - atleast in our generation. Yes, we have a moral responsibility to help those in need. However, at some level personal responsibility has to come into play and when it comes to saving and managing your own personal money, why in the world should government be involved?

What do you think?

Guilliani vs. Hillary

2007-09-15T10:26:00.000-04:00

14 months out and they're already throwing punches!

The Guiliani campaign launched this ad yesterday that went on an all-out assault against Hillary Clinton. This is a very big turning point for bother parties in the race:

1. For the Republicans, Guilliani is clearly trying to regain the momentum that Fred Thompson has been getting from his announcement tour. The Thompson and Romney campaigns have got to be kicking themselves today because they didn't think of it.

2. This is very bad news for John Edwards and Barack Obama. First, in a not so subtle way this all out attack against Clinton and Clinton alone clearly shows them that they aren't even a factor in the Republicans eyes. Secondly, this just helps Hillary with the wacky left. She's by far the most conservative of the Democrat candidates and the Guilliani ad actually helps her in her primary.

Drudge, I-80, & A Community College?

2007-09-13T18:30:00.000-04:00

Just a few highlights today before the President's speech tonight (with no connection between the two)

Make sure to check out this fascinating read in the New Yorker about Matt Drudge. I've always wondered about the history behing this country's biggest news outlet and Philip Weiss does a great job digging beneath the surface of Matt Drudge and the Drudge Report.

Paul Nussbaum of the Philadelphia Inquirer put together a great story on the arguments against tolling on I-80. Congressman English and Congressman Peterson have been leading the fight against the state's ill thought out plan.

My favorite bad headline of the day: "Community College at No Cost to Taxpayers" from our own WICU here in Erie. The story goes onto explain that if Butler County Community College Expanded into Erie County, the County wouldn't have to provide the traditional 1/3 match. However, the story explains, 1/3 of the college's costs would come from STATE dollars? From what? The state money fairy? Sigh... I have yet to hear a good argument as to why we so desperately need a community college here -- considering their are four colleges and universities and atleast four technical school in the country already. Sounds a lot like the County Executive needing something to brag about for his re-election campaign.

Running a close second, "Disappointed Democrats Map Withdrawal Strategy". Disappointed we are having measurable signs of progress in Iraq and that may not help their electoral chances in '08... And these people call themselves patriotic Americans... Sad... More on this later...

Rendell Called Out - Moveon.org showing colors

2007-09-11T08:39:00.000-04:00

In a sign that the apocalypse is upon us, the Erie Times News editorial board called out Governor Rendell this morning for his completely inappropriate attempt to influence the outcome of a lawsuit.

Perhaps the most disgusting news of the morning is Move.On.org's paid advertisement in yesterday's New York Times. The ad questioned General Patraeus' independence from the White House and read "GENERAL PETRAEUS OR GENERAL BETRAY US? Cooking the Books for the White House." Big tough guys considering they're sitting here where it's safe while General Patreaus is leading our brave men and women in Iraq. Can't help but wonder where the Democrat candidates for Congress across the Commonwealth stand on this??? Councilman Foust? Tom Meyers? They should have something to say considering Moveon.org has already been campaigning for them up here.

As for Democrats in Congress - it's pretty sad when John Kerry is your voice of reason. "I believe that ad was just simply over the top, and I think it's inappropriate, period" he said on MSNBC yesterday. Watching the Democrat Presidential hopefuls tap dance around this while still catering to the loony left would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

I promised you info on all your local candidates today and will get that to you by tonight.

Weekend Notes

2007-09-10T09:38:00.000-04:00

Some news and events to know about on both the national and state levels:

Today is General Patraeus' long awaited report on progress in Iraq. The national news will be focused on Iraq this week.

If you missed Senator McCain on ABC News' This Week yesterday morning, take the time to view the video of George Stephanapolous' interview. Senator McCain did a fantastic job at making an accurate assesment on how well the troop surge has worked militarily and putting pressure on the Maliki government to step-up to the plate. After watching Senator McCain yesterday - you can see why he is Presidential material and how his campaign is slowly starting to rebound after the disasters earlier this summer. Funny how campaigns start to take off once they get back to the basics...

I doubt Senator McCain will completely be able to recover but I think whoever wins the nomination should take a serious look at him and Fred Thompson for their running mate.

Speaking of the Presidential Race -- USA Today / Gallup released their latest poll this morning. Rudy Guilliani is still carrying a double-digit lead for the Republican nomination.

On the State level -- Senator Earll came up just short of the Republican nomination to be the final Superior Court candidate this weekend. Though our Senator would have made a great and dynamic candidate for Judge -- she left a very favorable impression on the State Republican Party by nearly getting the nomination after campaigning for the position for only a week and a half (the eventual winner had been working for the spot for three years and a lot of committee members stayed loyal to their committment to supporter her).

Our Republican Candidates for the Appellate Court Open Seats are the following:

Supreme Court

Judge Maureen Lally Green
Judge Mike Krancer

Superior Court

Judge Bruce Bratton
Judge Cheryl Allen
Pittsburgh Attorney Jackie Shogun

Attorney Shogun understandably doesn't have a website up yet but we'll make sure to let you know once she does. For our other four candidates, just click on the links above to find out more about them.

Tomorrow -- we'll be letting you know how to get involved with our local candidates this Fall.

Examining the Presidential Field

2007-09-07T14:33:00.000-04:00

Only one column to highlight today... Like most Friday's first thing I do is turn to Peggy Noonan's column. If she's willing, whoever wins our nomination needs to hire her, pay her, and pay her well... Her (what I think is very accurate) assessment of the Republican Presidential Candidates:

Ron Paul -- "From the libertarian Ron Paul a blunt argument against the war: We never should have gone in and we should get out. "The people who say there'll be a blood bath are the same ones who said it would be a cakewalk. . . . Why believe them?" His foreign policy: "Mind our own business, bring our troops home, defend our country, defend our borders." After Mr. Paul spoke, it seemed half the room booed, but the other applauded. When a thousand Republicans are in a room and one man of the eight on the stage takes a sharply minority viewpoint on a dramatic issue and half the room seems to cheer him, something's going on." (especially among Republican Young Professionals)

Mike Huckabee -- "Mike Huckabee, and for this I ♥ Huckabee, shot back that history will judge whether we were right to go in, but for now, "we're there." He echoed Colin Powell: We broke it, now we own it. "Congressman, we are one nation. We can't be divided. . . . If we make a mistake, we make it as a single country, the United States of America, not the divided states of America." David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network says he doesn't know why Mr. Huckabee isn't in the top tier. I wonder too. Maybe he is and we don't know it."

John McCain -- "John McCain seems liberated by loss. In the debate, Mr. McCain was spirited--we stay and fight in Iraq, "otherwise we face catastrophe and genocide in the region." Fox News's focus group said he won. As he retools, he should speak of Reagan in 1976, when he was washed up in South Carolina and said, "I'm taking this all the way to the convention, and I'm going even if I lose every damn primary between now and then."

Mitt Romney -- "Mitt Romney is--well, he continues to seem like someone who's stepped from the shower and been handed a dress shirt by his manservant George. He's like a senior account executive on "Mad Men." Still the most focused and disciplined of all the Republicans, he did fine the other night. But he should get shirt-sleeved, dig deeper, get to his purpose."

Rudy Guilliani -- "Rudy Giuliani proved it is possible to bang the gong too much on leading New York City. Enough already, we heard you, move on. Then come back to it in a few months and make it new again. For now, can he be thoughtful about foreign affairs? Not forceful, not pugnacious, not rote, but thoughtful. No one knows quite what he thinks, as opposed to feels."

And then make sure to read at the bottom where she hints that everyone else should get out -- and she also including a scathing critique of Fred Thompson.

Run Fred Run

2007-09-06T00:26:00.000-04:00

He says he answered two questions: 1. What kind of country are our children and grandchildren going to grow up in? 2. How many people have the ability to do something about it?

On The Tonight Show tonight Fred Thompson made the semi anti-climatic announcement that he's in the race. I don't fault him for waiting -- a lot of the campaigning that has happened thus far. It really has been nothing more than a circus. For those of us that truly believe these campaigns need to be shorter -- we can't really fault Fred for waiting.

Shortly after midnight the Thompson campaign launched this video release over the internet. Take a listen to what he has to say. Though i don't like the way they shot the video -- I do like what he has to say... I find very distinct similarities to Thompson's and Guilliani's platform.

I think we're going to eventually see a Guilliani / Thompson race for the nomination and I think that's a good think. I also think there's a possibility for a Guilliani / Thompson ticket.

Your thoughts?

Craig, Oprah, & Pay Raises

2007-09-05T05:45:00.000-04:00

When I woke up I was greeted with the headline, "Sen. Craig reconsiders decision to resign". Sigh. Just go away. Expect to see a number of Republican lawmakers come out vehemently against this silliness today - and they should.

The Washington Post's is also reporting this morning that Oprah Winfrey is in discussions with Senator Barack Obama's (D-IL) campaign about playing a larger role in his campaign. I wish someone could explain the left's fascination with this freshman Senator.

ABC News is reporting this morning that General Patreus is going to recommend some sort of troop reduction in Iraq during his report. It'll be funny to watch the Democrats tap dance around their response to the report since it appears the troop surge has been showing signs of working.

WJET-TV is reporting this morning that County Council voted 4-2 against raising the County's Director of Finance Salary nearly $8,000. The Finance Director would have been making $8,000 more than their Supervisor, Director of Administration Sean Wiley.

The Silly Season

2007-09-03T22:10:00.000-04:00

Labor Day will have come and gone in about a half hour which means what I call "the silly season" has truly begun. What's odd about 2007 is it really marks the "silly season" for both 2007 & 2008.

Highlights of the Weekend:

1. President Bush made a secret trip to Iraq to visit our troops and get face to face reports from the Commanders on the ground. General Patreaus is scheduled to give his report by September 15th. Check out this really cool "pool report" from a member of the press corp on the trip.

2. John Edwards has conveniently forgotten the concept of supply and demand according to former Jet Radio 1400 host and now resistered Republican Jeff Johns. While anyone who has stuided the healthcare cost problems plaguing employers and taxpayers in this country understands that preventative care ultimately leads to cost savings -- forcing doctors visits sounds a lot like old Russia to me. Not to mention -- we don't have the doctors to handle all of these forced visits which will only drive costs up in the short-term. Here's a novel concept: what about Senate Democrats getting of their tail ends and passing some meaningful med-mal reform and maybe provide tax breaks and other incentives for preventative care rather than forcing healthcare upon our citizens.

3. New York District Attorney Arthur Branch, ooops - I mean former Tennessee Senator Fred Dalton Thompson will formally and finally announce his intention to seek the Republican Party nomination to the Presidential ticket this week. Though I like Thompson, his non-campaign, campaign would have been better if he just would have laid low and ignored the circus of the past three months. Instead, his non-campaign was treated mostly as a campaign and took the lumps for it. I get the sense he's more running to be VPOTUS (which I for the record am in favor of - whether is Guilliani or Romney as our Presidential candidate)

4. And in case you missed it over the weekend, State Senator Jane Earll is going to seek the state party's nomination to be the replacement candidate on the Superior Court Ballot this Fall. She faces four other Republicans also seeking the nomination. Though it would be tough to lose her in the Senate, we wish the Senator well in her endeavor.

Slow News Day...

2007-08-30T11:30:00.000-04:00

Some thoughts and reflection on the long reign of Democrat Party "leadership" in the city for decades...

The fact that Curtis Jones wants City Council to have less formal public meetings is a good thing. Why you ask? The less they meet they less opportunity they have to screw things up. They can't raise taxes without a meeting. They can't raise fees without a meeting. They can't find new and creative ways to screw up the city's finances without meeting. We make a joke out of this but it really is a fundamental difference between our party and theirs. Democrats like to think that inefficient big government can solve all of our ills while Republicans in general believe in letting the market work itself out and staying out of people's lives... What a novel concept.

Also, can't help but laugh at Councilman Cappabianca's scoffing at Senator Earll's very reasonable proposal to expand the Airport Authority Board and treat it as a regional asset. Again -- it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize it's a good idea. The airport is a regional asset used by people all over the Erie Region. Heck, the airport doesn't even reside in the city.

I hope all of you living in the city can help spread the word about Tim Butler's candidacy for City Council. We have a real opportunity to get a common-sense voice on City Council but Tim can't do it without a lot of help.

Final note for the day -- for those of you in west County, you're invited to an informal meeting with myself and State. Rep. John Evans on Saturday to discuss the direction of the county party and anything else that's on your mind. The meeting will be at Chico's off Rt. 20 in Fairview and will be from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Support the Troops: WIN the War

2007-08-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to the first "Chairman's Note" for the Erie County Republican Party. We have a new website currently being built that will be ready sometime this fall which we'll incorporate this blog into, but until then we're going to use this format.

The purpose of the Chairman's Note is three-fold: 1. To keep everyone informed with important information regarding the Republican Party - at the local, county, state, and national level. 2. To be one place where you can go for links (and undoubtedly some editorializing) about local, county, state and national politics. 3. To have an open, interactive forum about politics.

We will moderate comments to prevent anything profane from being posted. However, difference of opinion is more than welcome on this forum.

For today's news: couldn't help but notice the front page of the local section in the Erie Times News this morning while driving up 79. "'Stop Killing Others': Rally seeks to end war in Iraq". Says it all doesn't it? "Stop Killing Others". The headline should have read "'Stop Killing Terrorists': Rally seeks to surrender to Islamo-Fascist nutjobs". This collection of misfit jokers who spent all summer putting up yard signs reading "Suppor the Troops: End the War" did nothing but toughen the resolve of those who understand that we are fighting for the future of our national security. No matter what one thinks about the decision to go to war in Iraq and inparticular the often mishandling of the post major combat operations occupation: Nobody, unless they are incredibly ignorant of the danger we face thinks we should leave Iraq without making sure the country is secure from being a terrorist training ground. For those who participated in the so-called "peace movement" this summer -- thanks for pointing out once again that our system of public and private education in this country needs much improvement.

On to other notes: national news today is dominated by the unfortunate incident of Republican Senator Larry Craig's supposed improprieties in a Minneapolis airport. Rick Klein of ABC news probably had it right in poking fun at Senator Craig's "excuses" for this incident. Several prominent Republican members of the Senate have now called on Senator Craig to resign and after watching what was laughably called a press conference to address the accusations yesterday, he probably should. Just tell the truth.

Today is also the sad 2 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Let's hope that what is arguably this administration's biggest failure will turn around to save thousands of lives in the future because we have learned from our mistakes and are much better prepared for future natural disasters.

Until tomorrow...