Smith dispatches aide to rescue OR GOP, while former Mannix aide returns to "help" Mannix
It seems that the Oregon Republican Party is in need of rescuing - and Gordon Smith has decided he has the guy to do it. Jeff Mapes has the story:
The debt-ridden Oregon Republican Party sought to make fresh start Wednesday by replacing its executive director with a longtime aide to Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore.Andrew Over, who has been Smith's deputy campaign manager, will take over the party's top staff position from Amy Langdon, who has held the position since 2003, according to Brianne Hyder, the party's spokeswoman. ...
"He's got all the skills needed to help the party open a new chapter in our book," said Hyder, who added, "There's no doubt we needed to make some changes."
Why does the party need to make changes? Because it's been run into the ground.
As of Jan. 31, the party listed nearly $300,000 in debts, including a $34,000 lien from the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes. Party officials have said they have made progress since then in paying off the tax lien.
Good news for Democrats: Amy Langdon, who was the party executive director who was the captain of that sinking ship, will now - apparently - go work for Kevin Mannix's apparent run for Congress.
Langdon ran Kevin Mannix's 2002 campaign for governor and took over the party post after he became the GOP chairman in 2003. According to one GOP source, Langon will likely go to work for Mannix's expected campaign for the 5th congressional district seat.
Discuss.
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Feb. 27, 2008
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Feb 27, '08
With friends like those, Mannix doesn't need any enemies.
If the Republican party is serious about winning you would think they would field somebody like Erickson as opposed to a washed up hack like Mannix.
-Harry Stark
Feb 27, '08
I wonder how Over will be able to apply the strategy of "run away from your party's name" to the party itself? As I commented earlier, you have to get at least three pages deep into Smith's site to find the word "Republican," and even then, as Google proves, it's only in reference to others or to an organizational title, never to the senator himself. Compare that to Merkley and Novick, who have branded the ever-present identifiers "Democrat for Senate" right into the very logos of their own campaigns.
Feb 27, '08
I only wish that the National GOP would apply the "No Child Left Behind" model to their state parties. "What?! The Oregon GOP is struggling? We must strip them of more resources to encourage improvement!"
7:30 p.m.
Feb 27, '08
Drown it in the bathtub, that's what I say.
Feb 27, '08
Stephanie,
No hard feelings, right. Because the casual reader might think you're still bitter about Dade and Broward Counties, or something.
Feb 27, '08
Mr. Tee---Stephanie was only quoting Grover Norquist.
As I recall, Langdon is one of those snippy "political professional" types who wouldn't last a day in retail or any other job which requires answering questions and being polite to customers.
There was a time when Republicans believed it was possible to disagree without being disagreeable, and with the passing of Wm. F. Buckley there are few old timers around who remember that the Republicans were more successful before the started the slash and burn tactics against anyone who disagreed.
8:55 p.m.
Feb 27, '08
This seems to me to just underscore the tone-deafness exhibited by the GOP in general and in Oregon in particular for the last several years. It seems very unlikely that Mannix ever stopped to consider how this all might be perceived by anyone not already hooked on the Kool-Aid.
Feb 28, '08
Over is a good guy.
Feb 28, '08
If the Oregon GOP wants competent help they had better hope Smith doesn't send his aide who writes the drivel in his letters to constituents.
Feb 28, '08
OPBs "think out loud" today is on Dorchester & Republican party in debt. Just heard Brianne Hyder blame the party's debt on "one rogue employee" hahaha. Good one.
10:33 a.m.
Feb 28, '08
This is why the whole "Democrats for Smith" thing is such farce. Smith is a Republican's Republican. A vote for him is a vote for the whole extremist platform the Oregon Republican party endorses.
This is how the Oregon GOP 2006 platform begins: "Whereas the Creator has endowed us with liberty to choose and empower our government and to be involved with like-minded men and women in our great Republican Party..." (Church and State, back together again in that wonderful combination that brought you the middle ages?)
It goes on to talk about support for individual rights...unless you're gay...or pregnant...or terminally ill. Then there's this lulu, attacking the lurking danger of Darwinism and other modern-day threats to the public good:
"2.4.3 Science curricula shall accommodate diverse theories of origins Nice, the earth is 6,000 years old, created by the Word and Will of the Judeo-Christian God. Can't wait to see that back in the textbooks.
This is what Gordon Smith is reaching out to save and promote. This is who Gordon Smith is. Give it a read.
10:35 a.m.
Feb 28, '08
The above quote should only be "2.4.3. Science curricula shall accommodate diverse theories of origins." The rest is obviously my editorial.
Feb 28, '08
Katy, that whole show was interesting. Two people called in and said they were Republicans but Tom McCall, Vic Atiyeh, Norma Paulus and others couldn't win a Republican primary these days. Lindal Flores esp. didn't know how to react to that question.
That is true--when Tom McCall died there were those in the GOP who said "we don't want your kind" and so lots of people who admired the abovementioned Republicans left and became independents and Democrats. (A danger for either party when those who aim at purity and defining who the "real" members of the party are and thus drive away people who think for themselves.)
For many years GOP has been seen as the party of Minnis, Scott, Mannix, Sizemore, etc. One man called in (think it was the one who had been a youth for Goldwater) and said "This is the party which nominated Sizemore for Gov. for Pete's sake!".
Dorchester was advertised as a way for people of any party to get together and discuss issues. Political junkies who want to spend a weekend with the likes of Republican legislators and others, that is, and have the money for a weekend on the coast.
But the tide may be turning. As I understand it, St. Sen. Frank Morse and St. Rep. Andy Olson---who if not in the 5th District are awfully close to it---support the legislative alternative to the Mannix "tough on crime" measure. So if Kevin runs for Congress, is he going to say they are "soft on crime" because all tough on crime people support him and oppose the legislative alternative?
At the very least, it will be hard to say "all good Republicans " support the Mannix measure over the legislative alternative given the respect even some Democrats have for Sen. Morse.
It is time to have 2 parties which allow debate among their ranks (rather than "my caucus right or wrong") engage in debates (not dictating positions, but actual dialogue) with ordinary voters, and quit acting as if it is a "my caucus vs. your caucus" power game. That attitude has only caused more people to register outside major parties.
Feb 29, '08
I hear the hotel bar is very very quiet... at Dorchester... on the coast... the fat, ugly, white men in cheap suits are looking for someone, anyone, to buy em a drink -- cuz they're just pulling "bunny ears" outta their pants... folks... on another boozy night for the Oregon Grand Old Party -- the party of bankrupt finances, morals and ideas.
Here's a tip, though.
If crusty old Loren Parks says he wants to show you "something" up in his smelly hotel suite -- RUN!!!
4:10 p.m.
Feb 29, '08
Sid - ROFL!! Good advice.