DCRP Convention

Heretofore I haven’t gotten formally involved in the Republican Party but I finally got tired enough of them not getting their act together, ignoring my part of town and completely forgetting that we have got to be champions for the conservative movement that I decided it was time to get involved. So now, I am a delegate to the Davidson County Republican Convention.

I attended both the caucus on February 21 and the convention on March 7. Having never been to a DCRP convention before I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was appalled at what I found. The room was filled with brand spanking new ‘Republicans’ who had some of the same frustration about the party as I did. Obviously, the party hadn’t been doing a good job of recruiting members themselves and the void was happily filled by Ron Paul supporters who saw an opportunity to take over. Yikes.

The first vote between three candidates for chairman whittled the field down to two. So successful was the effort by those new 'Republicans' that the vote for chairman was a tie between the old guard’s Katherine Starnes and the Ron Paul supporters' Matt Collins. The second vote ended in a tie and so the convention was suspended because no one had bothered to consider the hall might be needed for longer than than three hours and we flat didn't have time to finish the business of the convention.

I guess we should lay the blame for the bad planning and confusion on current Chair Tom Lawless who seemed to not have a good handle on how the convention would be run. The whole event was fairly chaotic, time was wasted, rumors included that there were extra ballots and Mr. Lawless had to cancel his tee time because the meeting ran long and the big mistake of not securing the venue for long enough were clear indicators of a need for a better leadership team.

Kathleen Starnes is the current First Vice Chair and if I’m unhappy with the party as it is isn’t she part of that problem? On the other hand I do understand that it's possible her one vote couldn't really change things. Her ‘vote for me’ speech talked about reaching out to Donelson and Goodlettsville and seemed to ignore taking back the urban core. That's fine but it's a mistake when the urban core is gaining political strength every year to ignore it. The man who nominated her stated she has a vision for expanding the grassroots outreach and embracing technology. Well, I can certainly attest to the fact that communication has been darn right awful for a while. My own note to the DCRP via their website has been unanswered for three weeks. Further, other than a focus on the 2010 redistricting and grassroots she failed to provide a vision or mission statement that would convince me that she's the man for taking back Davidson County.

Matt Collins works at WWTN producing for conservatives Phil Valentine and Michael DelGiorno. An association which seemed to be the prime reason he wanted us to vote for him. As if association = competence. Since the convention was suspended I’ve had a chance to do some research on him. Obviously, he’s got the social networking down (something the DCRP could certainly use) and obviously he’s passionate (something else they could use) but I’m not ready to hand over the mantle of what should be the conservative pulpit in this county to a 27 y/o with a Facebook profile that doesn’t seem to understand that folks who are going to be ‘interviewing’ him for this job are looking for some proof of maturity, leadership and vision for the party. A public profile and a photo more akin to his February 21 professional costume would have helped. Between the time this photo was taken and the convention he found a hair stylist and a good suit.

It was pretty creepy to learn that Collins attended the March 11th Nashville Republican Women’s meeting. His appearance was jarring to some of the ladies. Phil Valentine was the scheduled speaker and Collins told folks he was just there to hear what Phil had to say. What? He had made it clear he works with Phil. Phil’s on the air every afternoon. Collins ought to have memorized what Phil has to say about nearly every topic. Collin’s explanation was not believed. What was believed was that he wasn’t going to give Katherine Starnes (an actual Republican woman) the opportunity to campaign for chair. Frustratingly, Collins’ presence also kept the ladies from being able to ask Valentine for an honest assessment of his co-worker.

On Wednesday I got an email from someone, not the party or a leader, giving me a heads up that the meeting was scheduled for two days away on Friday night, downtown at 5:30. Obviously, DCRP communication hasn't improved. Sadly, it seems no one seriously considered the need for folks to have more than a couple of days notice, or the practicals of getting downtown at that time of day and then having women walking back to their cars after dark. Yes, some basics have to change at DCRP and then maybe we can start working on making a difference in Davidson County.