The convention officially started Thursday afternoon with registration and exhibitions from conservative groups including the NRA, ISI, and YAF. CRs started meeting and getting to know each other, no events were planned for the evening so a bunch of CRs went out to the Hawk n’ Dove at night with CRNC candidate Zach Howell.

Speaking events started on Friday morning with Rep. Frank Wolf from Virginia at 10am followed by Eagle Forum CEO Phylis Schlafly and Rep. Aaron Shock from Illinois. At 11:30 the auditorium was full for a speech from Senator John McCain. The former presidential candidate tried to rally CRs for the mission ahead, talking about how to deal with being lost in the wilderness and how to get the GOP back on track. The day continued with a workshop, that I didn’t make it to, with David All titled “why we lost in 2008,” I figured that I knew why,  since I had just watched Sen. McCain speak before lunch.

Lunch was long, so I missed a speech from former PA Senator Rick Santorum and  “Operation Waiting Game.”

At 4pm CRNC Chairman Charlie Smith announced Leigh Wolf the winner of the CR of of the Year award, and gave him about 15 minutes to speak about conservative activism. The “award” was a free hotel room, a metro card, and an ego boost. Leigh’s speech, although not well attended (there were maybe 20 people in the room), was entertaining and uplifting. Leigh gave CRs from other states a taste of what it’s like to be a CR in San Francisco with a story about exposing Cindy Sheehan as a lefty nut-bag and one about being attacked by hundreds of leftists on campus while tabling for his chapter at SFSU in 2004.

The Lee Atwater Gala Dinner was the big event of the night with key note speaker Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. There was mixed response to the speech, which got a lot of media attention. Some CRs thought Pawlenty’s plans to reach out to “Sam’s Club Republicans” were enlightening and his call for outreach to minority groups inspiring. I was really unimpressed, both by the speech and Pawlenty’s “plans” for the GOPs future. “Sam’s Club Republicans” or “Costco Republicans” or whatever you want to call them are not new, they’re the same middle-class hard working American that both parties court every election cycle. What’s important is how we’ll get them to vote for the GOP in the next election, not pointing out that they exist and probably agree with our core principles. What I want to see is a conservative politician (which I don’t think Pawlenty is) who actually has a plan for courting new Republican voters and knows how to explain our principles to them. Sure, Pawlenty got elected in Minnesota, but the state isn’t turning red under him.

After the Gala Zach Howell held a party in a hotel suite. It was broken up by hotel staff after a while but I’m pretty sure the CRs in attendance were having a good time. The night continued at some DC bars for some, a big group of CRs also went out to see the monuments at night.

Saturday was convention day. The election took a long time with a full roll call vote, but only one position (Midwest Vice Chair) was contested. Zach Howell from Utah was elected chairman, Jeremy Hagen from Missouri – co-chairman, Brand Kroeger from DC – treasurer, Chandler Harris from Alabama – secretary, Michael Antonopoulos from California – Western regional vice chair, Pete Vitale from Michigan – Midwest regional vice chair, Rudy Perciful from Louisiana – Southern regional vice chair, and Tarence Grado from New Jersey – Northeast regional vice chair.

After the convention RNC chairman Michael Steele spoke to the group. I opted out, since I just saw him recently in LA, and chose to join Leigh Wolf and some CRs from California, Michigan, DC and New Jersey  doing a little activism at an anti-Israel protest near the Israeli embassy, pictures and video to come soon.

The “Young and The Restless” party was the big event of the night. CRs enjoyed a wild night with an open bar until 1:30 am, with a DJ, dancing, and even karaoke.

Congratulations to Charlie Smith and the outgoing leadership team for putting on a great convention, and to Zach Howell and the new leadership on their elections. I’ll put up pictures of convention throughout the week.

The whole team (-Northeast Vice):

Zach Howell (UT) – Candidate for Chairman

Jeremy Hagen (MO) – Candidate for Co-Chairman

Brand Kroeger (DC) – Candidate for Treasurer

Chandler Harris (AL) – Candidate for Secretary

Michael Antonopoulos (CA) – Candidate for Western Regional Vice Chair

Pete Vitale (MI) – Candidate for Midwest Regional Vice Chair

Rudy Perciful (LA) – Candidate for Southern Regional Vice Chair

Check out their bios at ZachHowell.com.

1. Jessica Bender – Vice President of Chapter Affairs (Arizona State)

2. John Kleinhans – Vermont State Chairman (Lyndon State)

3. Matt Rubin - Chapter President (University of Toledo)

4. Leigh Wolf – Former Co-Chair of California College Republicans, Founder of Patriot Axiom (San Francisco State)

Read their bios and VOTE HERE.

The first round:

1. Nickole Heater, 2008 CRNC field rep who recruited more than 10,000 students in Missouri.

2. Monica Ryskamp, Chapter Chairwoman of the Clemson College Republicans

3. Chris Shipp, Montana College Republican Vice-Chairman

4. Vikram Srinivasan, Duke College Republican Chapter Chairman

You can’t vote on these anymore (fail… sorry) but we’ll let you know about the next two rounds.

And so it goes on campuses across the country, the College Republicans are extremists while the Muslim Student Association (an actual wing of the Muslim Brotherhood), La Raza and the “Black Student Union” are played off as liberals.

Congratulations to SF State CRs! Keep it up.

Follow the SF State CRs on Twitter: @GatorGOP, and check out their website: GatorGOP.org

Adam Brickley at The Brickyard, covers the UCSD infighting in a one sided and  lengthy post this morning (read it for background). The story was also picked up here. The full story is not necessarily what’s relevant here, more important are the allegations of corruption and dirty tricks that Brickley levels at the CCR Executive Committee.

From what I can see, if the former Chair of UCSD CRs Dejah Stanley was actually impeached, the melt-down of UCSD CRs was caused by Inez Feltscher and her friends when they supported Dejah in illegitimately removing several officers from the UCSD operations website and pushing Megan Rodriguez out of the club apparently for vindictive personal reasons. It’s hard to discern, not having been there, whether Stanley was impeached or not. Allegedly the impeachment was a circus, attended by non-UCSD students and non-CRs, many of whom cast “provisional” ballots against impeachment. (Updated from reader comments) Even if the impeachement was indeed invalid, the club’s actions under Stanley and Feltscher were turned towards removing Rodriguez from the club completely and reconstructing the chapter.

Everything went downhill from there for the UCSD chapter, External Vice-Chair Megan Rodriguez, and Secretary Ronsen Yako were “kicked out” of the club at an impeachment meeting at which they were not present, the new leadership drafted a new constitution, and aimed their attentions at tarnishing Rodriguez’s name in public. Rodriguez and the ousted officers, no longer able to conduct business after being removed from the UCSD student organizations site by the impeached Dejah, decided to open a charter called “Triton College Republicans” with UCSD to continue the legitimate club–something that was no longer possible at the re-made club headed by Feltscher.

When both “College Republicans at UCSD” and “Triton College Republicans” submitted chartering documents with the State Federation, the Executive Committee was forced to make a decision on which group would be recognized for the next year. In a heated conference call held last Thursday, described by one CR present as a “shit show,” the Executive Committee invited both Rodriguez and Feltscher to present their cases. According to sources, Rodriguez was calm and composed, basing her case for chartering on the claim that theirs was the original club, only renamed by necessity after the club headed by Feltscher crumbled. Feltscher, on the other hand, repeatedly insulted the Executive Committee, claiming that they were corrupt and that the vote was unjust and unconstitutional–It was actually required constitutionally.

It happens that some of the members of the CCR Executive Committee are running on the Revolutionize CCR slate, including Rodriguez, while Feltscher and her group have endorsed their opponents, Red State Rising. What this has to do with the outcome of the vote is beyond me, unless you’re prone to conspiracy theories.

The Chairwoman of CCR abstained from voting, as did RevCCR candidate Michael Antonopoulos, Ms. Rodriguez and the CCR Secretary. Triton CRs was chosen to be recognized in a 6-1 vote. The one vote for Feltscher was from Executive Committee member Ryan McNicholas, who read a prepared statement calling the vote unjust before voting.

It is unfortunate that the decision had to be made, and that UCSD had such a terrible internal struggle, but it happens, and everyone should try to move on for the good of their clubs and in the interest of working together across the state.

Just received a statement from Cheyenne Steel, Chairwoman of CCR:

It has come to my attention that several political blogs have taken interest in recent events that have transpired within the UCSD College Republicans and the California College Republicans. The statements made in these blogs, fed by a group of disenfranchised opportunists, are inaccurate and substantially misrepresent the situation. The decision of the California College Republicans Executive Committee with regard to the UCSD College Republicans was made out of
constitutional necessity and done so without bias or personal interest. Two clubs, each accredited and claiming the distinction that they were the legitimately chartered College Republican chapter at the university, submitted information for credentialing at our annual Convention.

After hearing accounts from representatives of both clubs, a vote took place to determine which club would assume the chartering expiring at the upcoming annual Convention. No chapters were un-chartered, and no one removed from the organization. The vote was simply to determine which club was the rightful owner of the original UCSD charter based on the facts presented and the actions of those involved. We clarified to everyone on the call that all parties involved were still invited to Convention and all discounts and privileges would be honored.

The impact, if any, the situation has on the designation of delegates from UCSD for Convention is a matter of internal discretion within the club. I am extremely disappointed in the actions taken by those unsatisfied with the decision and strongly encourage those involved to work together to resolve the situation internally.

UCSD College Republicans posted a statement on their website regarding the CCR decision.

Missed this one, but via CR Nation – North Carolina’s convention was also held on the fourth. Ben Lynch from Wake Forest was elected Chair, and Jason Sutton from UNC Chapel Hill was elected Co-Chair.

Notre Dame being the preeminent Catholic institution and with a majority Catholic membership, the club will pursue to be a unique brand of College Republicans unlike many of its counterparts. We are Our Lady’s College Republicans whose political pursuits are informed by a Catholic conscience and in respect to the Church’s call to faithful citizenship. With that, we will continue to be committed to the student coalition responding to the President’s selection.

To be clear, the College Republicans signed onto the Student Coalition not as a religious organization. Among the core platforms of the Republican Party is the pro-life cause. In its 2004 platform “A Safer World and More Hopeful America,” the Party reaffirmed its stance on promoting adoption & abstinence over abortion and the passing of the Human Life Amendment to the Constitution. [Read More]

h/t CR Nation

by Leigh Wolf

The Republican Party learned a hard lesson in technology during the 2008 Presidential election. Realizing Obama obliterated the Grand Old Party by using all the shiny new technology he could get his hands on, our party was left desperately searching for our own plan.

The College Republicans have been effectively using new media since 2004. I recall many conversations with a multitude of Republicans where I practically begged them to use Facebook, or the now passé MySpace. I was told time and again that these were just passing fads and that “all the tech stuff” was unproven and therefore not worth the GOP’s time. Republicans were completely unaware that these “passing fads” were exactly the opposite. Young voters get their news, TV and radio from the internet. They access politics almost exclusively on the web. It’s impossible to reach large numbers of young voters through old school methods.

While there were several token attempts at using new media, by-and-large we instead stuck with only the old school: precinct-walking, phone banking, etc. It is incredibly important to compliment pre-existing and successful campaign methods with the new, web-based techniques. It wasn’t until the numbers came in from the 2008 election that the Republican Party realized the error of its ways. Obama had beaten us in the 18-25 demographic by nearly 3-1. College Republicans know that our message is capable of resonating with many young voters. However, when some in our party refuse to accept the reality of a complete paradigm shift in modern communication, it’s no wonder the Democrats took us out back behind the tool shed. Now we have a party frantically searching for our answer to the Obama campaign strategy.

Politicians, leadership and local organizers are running around the state throwing out catch phrases and buzzwords in an attempt to re-brand the party as technology friendly. The sad and embarrassing reality is that even the so-called technology experts in our party just don’t get it.

There are three fundamental flaws with the Republican Parties new media strategy.

First is a basic misunderstanding about what new media and web 2.0 actually are. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the rest exist to build an online neighborhood of interested parties. Rather than the old approach of pushing our message to supporters, we must bring them into our online community and encourage them to become a part of our movement. We’re supposed to be making friends and influencing people, not spamming them.

Second is the sporadic and awkward implementation of technology. Many campaigns use technology for the sake of using technology. If a group or candidate doesn’t understand how or why to use a technology they shouldn’t be using it. For example, campaigns create blogs but never update them, they create a Facebook group but never contact their supporters. I’ve also seen countless campaign YouTube videos that are long, static and boring. The hit count means the viewer clicked on the video, it doesn’t mean they sat and watched it. These are just a few examples of the Republican Party using tech without actually using tech.

Third and finally is that the party doesn’t realize that new technology is absolutely useless if they don’t give us something to rally around and fight for.
The party must bring to the table fire-breathing conservative rhetoric to motivate young voters and bring us into the fold using new technologies. The amount of potential energy and excitement in the youth vote is incalculable. The party needs to understand that what they call new media, young voters call media. We watch more TV on the internet than we do on cable. We get almost all of our news from the web. In the tech era, the seeds of change are planted in cyberspace. Until the GOP decides to treat technology as THE way, instead of A way, to reach young voters, we will continue to lag far behind our political adversaries. There is no better time for the Republican Party to embrace new media because we are now the outsider party. Obama is the establishment; we are change. Over the next 2 to 6 years, this will slowly become the political reality, and if we are communicating that to younger voters in effective ways, we will win their vote and put Republicans back in power.

Leigh Wolf is the Co-chair of California College Republicans,  and a Dana Report contributor. Contact Leigh at  Leigh.Wolf@Collegegop.org, or on Twitter @LeighWolf.

The College Republicans at SFSU held an anti-hamas event on campus. They had a petition for students to sign in opposition to Hamas. Playing off the Bush shoe throwing incident, students who opposed hamas were encouraged to throw a shoe at the Hamas flag. Radical leftists and Hamas supporters rallied against the event and became violent. TWO students were taken into custody and charged for attacking the College Republicans.

No one was seriously injured.

h/t Leigh Wolf, SFSU College Republicans

Pro-Hamas Student 1: “Why is Zionism racism?”

Pro-Hamas Student 2: “Because apparently God is a real estate agent, and he gives one tribe a piece of land for all eternity.”

I don’t know any supporters of Israel that believe this. But, Hamas believes that the “land of Palestine” (AKA the sovereign state of Israel) is an Islamic Waqf, loosely, a piece of land given to Islam by Allah for all eternity.

You can find the Hamas Charter here: The Covenant of The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS)

Some juicy snipets from the Charter of the group these SFSU students so proudly support:

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. “

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

“After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

It wasn’t always like this. There was a major youth movement for Reagan, and, before the 60s, conservatives on college campuses were not the endangered species they are today. But since the youth of America decided not to trust anyone over 30 and “speak truth to power” (whatever that means), the GOP has decided to give up on us. Aaron Marks, founder of NexGenGOP, after grading the major RNC Chair candidates writes:

The lack of substantial and comprehensive plans for increasing the Republican Party’s appeal to young voters from the majority of the candidates for RNC Chair is rather frightening. Despite the fact that the surge in the percentage of the youth vote received by Barack Obama played a huge role in his victory, most of the RNC Chair candidates seem content to preserve the status quo — working with College Republicans, Young Republicans, and other existing young Republican groups and folks while failing to [reach out] to new young voters. If the Republican Party wants to win elections and be the party of the future, our next RNC Chair is going to have to do much better than that.

Marks is right, even though I support Michael Steele and not his candidate (which is besides the point), the GOP’s faliure to engage young voters only helps the stereotype that Republicans and conservatives are just old white dudes, that push “worn out dogmas,” as Obama said in his Inaugural address.

College Republicans on a state and national level spend most of their free time helping Republican candidates win elections, and they do a pretty good job, but, many of those same candidates fail to reciprocate. CRs don’t only need more funding, they need to know that their opinions matter to party leaders, and that the GOP recognizes that we, young conservatives, are the future of the party. Stronger support from Republican leaders will bolster the CR and YR movements, and make new young voters feel comfortable associating themselves with the party of Lincoln, Goldwater and Reagan. The ideas we believe in are not tired, “worn out dogmas,” but, the principles that make our country great. The GOP can be reinvigorated by the energy and innovation that young people bring to the party, and that our first principles are meant to inspire, if only they pay attention and let us take part.

-Featured on #TCOT Report, thanks #TCOT Report people!

Ben Myers, Chair
Matthew Schenk, Co-Chair
Alvaro Day, Admin vice-chair
Misty Tienken, Treasurer
Ryan McNicholas, Executive Director
Sydney Hilario, Secretary
Marshall Roe, LA Regional Vice Chair
Brenna Miller, Southern Regional Vice Chair

Developing…

UPDATE: Late Night Jan. 18, TruthCaucus: CCR Fight, Fight, Fight

Jan. 19, CRNation: Rumor: 2nd Ticket Forming in CA

Jan. 19, CRNation Update: Blog: Second Ticket Set to Announce in CA

UPDATE: Jan. 21, Slate updated here Adam Ellison as Chair, Ben Myers Co-chair.

…

CU leaders last year announced plans to create a $9 million endowment to fund the Visiting Chair in Conservative Thought and Policy on the Boulder campus, which long has been derided as a liberal bastion.

…

“The entire concept of a Visiting Chair in Conservative Thought and Policy politicizes academics in a way that is contrary to the university’s mission,” senior Jesse Jensen, president of the College Democrats, said Monday. “By endowing a chair in one specific political ideology, we are not promoting intellectual diversity — we are tokenizing a point of view that should be presented in all classes on political thought.”

At CU Boulder, 94% of Professors are registered Democrats. So, bringing on a conservative clearly goes against the university’s mission; leftist indoctrination, intolerance, and incompetence.

Sure a token conservative may not be the solution for Boulder’s ideologically monolithic faculty, but it’s a start. Going to the zoo is an important educational experience, even though there are only a few lions and thousands of human visitors.

You would think people would learn. The recount in the contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken for a seat in the U.S. Senate isn’t just embarrassing. It is unconstitutional.

This is Florida 2000 all over again, but with colder weather. Like that fiasco, Minnesota’s muck of a process violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, the controlling Supreme Court decision is none other than Bush v. Gore.

Remember Florida? Local officials conducting recounts could not decide what counted as a legal vote. Hanging chads? Dimpled chads? Should “undervotes” count (where a machine failed to read an incompletely-punched card)? What about “overvotes” (where voters punched more than one hole)? Different counties used different standards; different precincts within counties were inconsistent. [Read More]

And this, Bethany Dorobiala,Chairwoman of Minnesota College Republicans is on the front line of the recount battle:

Bethany Dorobiala of Woodbury, a Minnesota College Republicans leader, said it is important voters know about the double-counted vote issue. Republicans started a Web site and want Minnesotans to sign on to their suit.

“Being a part of this lawsuit … is an incredible thing to be a part of to really help to solidify and preserve the (voting) process,” she said.

(h/t CR Nation)

h/t Leigh Wolf via Facebook