Operation 2010

A Letter to Bret Baier and "The Hill"

2009-06-02T10:44:00.001-07:00

Note From Paradise: This is a letter from Marilyn of Colorado to Bret Baier and "The Hill" News Magazine. Republicans everywhere should read Marilyn's letter and keep it for a resource in how to respond to the biased liberal media. It is time for we Republicans to fight back. Well done Marilyn!!

Hello Mr. Baier,

As usual i enjoyed your report yesterday.

But I was wondering about a remark from the Hill reporter. She said there
was no leadership for the Republican Party. Has she looked? I remember a
time when reporters went out and found stories. Perhaps its the rising cost
of everything that keeps her sitting at her desk. Dunno that!

With your permission here is my report to her - smile!

It is the "off year" and from the GOP national chair to state chairs to the
county chairs all are busy doing typical "off year" tasks like plotting and
planning and training central committee members and checking our voters
lists twice and having fund raising events. Precinct primaries loom!
hummmm! Just so the she and the world will know we think we have super
leadership and are excited about our candidates stepping up at all levels
for the 2010 elections.

It is great that our retired official republican players and in-seat governors
continue to find time to travel and speak on our behalf during the off year
election cycle but she is certainly welcome anytime to come check us out.

Thank you for all your information. Keep up the good work please

Marilyn, Colorado

Fact Checking The "Stimulus" Spending Bill By John Boehner

2009-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2009 | House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) | Permalink

Today, the Administration is releasing yet another report on its trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill – one that Democrats claim will produce only half the jobs at twice the cost of the House GOP’s better stimulus solution. It’s been a full 100 days since the bill became law, and the Administration is pulling out all the stops to put a positive spin on the legislation, which has been increasingly panned by media and state and local officials as wasteful and inefficient – basically, anything but the “timely, targeted, and temporary” bill Washington Democrats promised earlier this year. As the Administration marks the 100th day of the “stimulus” spending bill, let’s take a closer look at some of the claims Democrats made about the legislation earlier this year – and how those claims stack 100 days later:

Claim: The President claimed that the stimulus “…will save or create 3 million to 4 million jobs over the next two years.” (Remarks by the President in Elkhart, Indiana, WhiteHouse.gov)

Fact Check: “State officials have complained about the difficulty of obtaining grants for construction projects, while economists question administration claims that the effort already has saved or created 150,000 jobs.” (Adriel Bettelheim, “Tinkerbell Effect, Part 3: Obama’s Job Creation Efforts,” CQ Politics, May 27, 2009) The Associated Press reported that: “The early trend seen in the AP analysis runs counter to expectations raised by Obama, that road and infrastructure money from the historic $787 billion stimulus plan would create jobs in areas most devastated by layoffs.” (Matt Apuzzo and Brett Blackledge, “Stimulus Watch: Jobs, But Not Where Needed Most,” Associated Press, May 11, 2009)

Claim: The President claimed that it would contain, “[n]ot a single pet project. Not a single earmark.” (Remarks by the President at his first press conference, WhiteHouse.gov)

Fact Check: The “stimulus” “contains dozens of narrowly defined programs that send money to specific areas or cater to special interests.” In fact, the “stimulus” contains “$50 million for habitat restoration and other water needs in the San Francisco Bay Area” and “$62 million for military projects in Guam.” (Michael Grabell and Christopher Weaver, “In stimulus bills, earmarks by any other name,” ProPublica, Feb. 5, 2009)

Claim: The President claimed that the stimulus “…contains an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability, so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we’re spending every dime.” (Remarks by the President at his first press conference, WhiteHouse.gov)

Fact Check: “Although President Obama has vowed that citizens will be able to track ‘every dime’ of the $787 billion stimulus bill, a government website dedicated to the spending won’t have details on contracts and grants until October and may not be complete until next spring — halfway through the program, administration officials said.” (Matt Kelley, “Details thin on stimulus contracts,” USA Today, May 6, 2009)

Claim: The President pledged that “nearly 400,000 men and women will go to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges.” (Remarks by the President, WhiteHouse.gov)

Fact Check: So far “a full 99.7 percent” of money allocated to the Transportation Department remains unspent, according to The Washington Post. Perhaps an aide to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) said it best: “To some extent, I think the administration oversold the transportation aspect of this…It was sold as the heart and soul of the package, and it really just isn’t.” (Matt Apuzzo and Brett Blackledge, “Stimulus Watch: Jobs, But Not Where Needed Most,” Associated Press, May 11, 2009)

Claim: Then-Senator Obama promised that was he would, “not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.” (Organizing For America, “Obama’s Stance on Ethics”)

Fact Check: Congress passed the stimulus bill on Friday, February 13; the President signed it in Denver on Tuesday, February 17 – less than the five day review period promised by the President. This troubling trend has continued throughout the year. Just last week, for example, the President waited only one day before signing the Defense Department weapons acquisition bill after Congress passed it and waited two after Congress passed the “Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act” before his signature made that bill law (Stephen Dinan, “Obama ducks promise to delay bill signings,” Washington Times, May 26, 2009); in fact, as of March, “Of the nine bills Mr. Obama has signed so far in his term, he has signed six of them less than five days after Congress sent them to him,” including the trillion-dollar “stimulus” bill. (Stephen Dinan, “Obama to sign lands bill before 5 days of comment,” Washington Times, March 30, 2009)

REPUBLICAN LEADER PRESS OFFICE
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH)
H-204, THE CAPITOL
(202) 225-4000 | GOPLEADER.GOV

Eric Cantor comments on 100 Day Stimulus Report

2009-05-27T11:05:00.001-07:00

"One hundred days after the President signed the ‘stimulus’ bill, we unfortunately continue to read about waste, delays, and job losses. These are not the results America hoped for."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) today issued the following statement after the Administration issued a “recovery report” on the $787 billion stimulus bill, one hundred days after the President signed it into law:

“One hundred days after the President signed the ‘stimulus’ bill, we unfortunately continue to read about waste, delays, and job losses. During the debate, well before the President signed the $787 billion spending bill, House Republicans made clear our belief that any stimulus action must be laser focused on jobs. In the hundred days since that misdirected bill was enacted, well over a million Americans have lost their jobs. These are not the results America hoped for.

“Even though the President himself promised to be tough on waste and just last week said that America is now ‘out of money,’ special interest projects inexplicitly are deemed worthy of taxpayer dollars. That is unacceptable, and it’s time for the majority in Congress to get serious about how tax dollars are being spent. Our priority must be on job protection, creation, and preservation.

“I hope that over the next one hundred days, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and the Democrat majorities in the House and Senate open their eyes to not just the misdirected, but reckless and unprecedented spending that has gone on under their watch."

LCM Strategies Shows The Way

2009-04-25T15:23:00.001-07:00

The Tolbert Report has a story about my favorite web team LCM Strategies. Partners Chris Maiorana and Linus Catignani do a terrific job handling many political web sites. Of course, since I work for Chris and Linus, I may be a little prejudiced, but I think they are the best bosses in the world. Lots of patience with me, a novice to all this stuff, and a lot of humor. They make the work all worthwhile and fun for me to do. Read the complete Tolbert Report article here . Check out LCM Strategies here.

Rebuild The Party

2008-11-20T12:04:00.001-08:00

The Internet: Our #1 Priority in the Next Four Years

Winning the technology war with the Democrats must be the RNC's number one priority in the next four years.

The challenge is daunting, but if we adopt a strongly anti-Washington message and charge hard against Obama and the Democrats, we will energize our grassroots base. Among other benefits, this will create real demand for new ways to organize and route around existing power structures that favor the Democrats. And, you will soon discover, online organizing is by far the most efficient way to transform our party structures to be able to compete against what is likely to be a $1 billion Obama re-election campaign in 2012.

Our near loss in the 2000 election sparked the 72 Hour program, after a brutal realization that we were being out-hustled in GOTV activities in the final days. Our partial success in the 2000 election didn't blind us to the need for change, and our eyes must be wide open now. Barack Obama and the Democrats' ability to build their entire fundraising, GOTV, and communications machine from the Internet is the #1 existential challenge to our existing party model.

Change is never easy, but as in the post-2000 period, it begins with tough love and a focus on what must be done at the local level.

What's Wrong -- And How to Fix It

* Recruit 5 million new Republican online activists. Even a compelling message won't go anywhere if we have no one to communicate it to. The next Chairman must undertake a crash program to grow the RNC's email file organically -- no spam and no "e-pending" from voter files. This will likely require a two-pronged strategy -- 1) engaging grassroots Republicans directly in the fight against the Obama agenda, with creative grassroots actions that make Republicans want to stand together with members of their party, and 2) integrating e-mail signups into everything we do at the grassroots level, ensuring that everyone who goes to an event and or is contacted by a volunteer is given the opportunity to join our network.

This goal seems daunting, but it forces us to think creatively about creating the sharpest, most compelling messages that will make people want to join us by the millions. If Newt Gingrich and T. Boone Pickens could each build an army of 1.4 million activists around energy, and Barack Obama could recruit 3 million to receive his VP selection by text message, then we know this is possible. If anything, given where the Internet will be in 2 or 4 years, we are low-balling the potential to create a new Republican online army.

* Hold campaigns and local parties accountable. As important as it is that we invest in new technology at the national level, we must remember that the RNC's primary objective is to win races state by state and district by district, not build up its own brand.

To pursue this essential mission, individual campaigns must be held accountable for the number of emails they collect and the money they raise online. As much high-level attention must be paid to candidates' online strategy as with the number of voter contacts made into a particular district or if the right media strategist is working the race. We must end a sense of dependence on the RNC at all levels -- in which the RNC simply turns over its lists -- and set goals that the campaigns must find creative and aggressive ways to meet:

In target 2010 Congressional races, we recommend setting a standard of at least 5,000 in-district online activists recruited, and a minimum of $100,000 raised online.

In target 2010 Senate races, we recommend a standard of 7,500 in-district online activists recruited and $150,000 raised online for each Congressional district.

* A more open technology ecosystem. As tempting as it is to believe that there is a silver bullet to solve all our technology problems, this is very rarely the case. The technology gap will not be solved by funding multimillion dollar white elephants, but by unleashing free market competition among trusted entrepreneurs and volunteers who want to help the party. The RNC should open its technology ecosystem so that trusted partners can develop on top of GOP.com and Voter Vault. We must build a corps of outside technology volunteers who compete to write applications that actually improve party operations -- and invest in the best ones. We must look beyond conventional political approaches to the Web, learning from technology hubs like Silicon Valley, and being unafraid to be the first in politics to adopt the changes in technology that are revolutionizing the consumer market.