I’d like conservative Republicans to make 2011 be “The Year of the Precinct Committeeman” because, if that happens, conservatives will then be in a position to elect conservatives to the leadership posts inside the Republican Party and be in the best position to get out the vote for the best conservative candidates in the all-important, traditionally-very-low-turnout primary elections.

In other words, conservatives would engineer a reclaiming of our government.

Many claim this is a “center-right” country. If that claim is true, no reason exists preventing us from electing majorities of conservatives to the state and federal legislatures.

No reason other than we conservatives are not using our political system.

No reason other than we conservatives are not using the best political tool we have to elect good, decent people to be our public servants.

No reason other than the fact that over half of the precinct committeeman slots in the Republican Party are, on average, vacant in every local party committee across America.

Bottom line: we would greatly increase our chances of replacing the corrupt incumbents, and electing good, decent people to be our elected public servants, if we conservative Republicans would “invade” our respective local Republican Party monthly committee meetings and go about the task of filling up the over 50 per cent of the precinct committeemen seats that are, on average, vacant. Want proof? Read on.

2010 Was “The Year of the Precinct Committeeman” in Arizona

Step 1: Become a “Voting Member” of the Party — Find the Rules and Follow Them

Well, 2010 was already “The Year of the Precinct Committeemen” for conservative Republicans in Arizona. First, last August, many conservatives got themselves elected to the office of precinct committeemen (“PC”) “inside” the Republican by getting qualified to appear on the primary election ballot. In Arizona, we elect precinct committeemen in the party primaries. Most precinct committeemen candidates, ran unopposed, because over two-thirds of the PC slots were unfilled. And about one-third of the precincts across Arizona had not even one precinct committeemen. When the precinct comitteemen elections are uncontested, the candidates name are left off the ballot — further contributing to the fact that most registered Republicans in Arizona don’t seem to know what a “precinct committeeman” is.

Step 2: Organize and Vote for the Conservative Leader Candidates Locally

Then, in November and December, the elected precinct committeemen held, in thirty legislative districts across Arizona, leadership elections, where they elected their statutory officers and nominated state committeemen. State committeemen represent the PCs at the state Republican Party meeting where the officers are elected. Each legislative district is allowed one state committeemen for every three elected precinct committeemen. Many new conservative PCs were nominated to be state committeemen. I wrote about some of the results here.

Step 3: Elect Your County Leaders and State Delegates

Then, after the legislative district meetings, the county committees had their organizational meetings and the PCs elected their officers and, unless objections were raised as to the qualifications of a state committeeman (there were no such objections at the Maricopa County meeting, for example, which I attended), the nominees for the office of state committeeman were then deemed “elected” by the county chairman by acclimation. For example, at the Maricopa County meeting, the conservative incumbent chairman was reelected with almost 70 per cent of the vote by the PCs. You can see what this kind of county Republican committee meeting looks like by watching these two short videos:

As about 70 per cent of the elected PCs reside in Maricopa County, the almost 70 per cent margin for our conservative chairman gave me a “warm and fuzzy” feeling regarding our chances of electing Bruce Ash, the conservative candidate for state chairman, at the upcoming Jan. 22 state organizational meeting, where he would face two other candidates.

Step 4: Organize and Attend Your State Meeting to Elect Conservative Leaders

But then, last Monday, Bruce Ash dropped out of the race due to medical reasons. That left the new conservative state committeemen and PCs scrambling for a “constitutional conservative” candidate like Bruce Ash. Who would have to mount a write-in campaign. Well, right after I learned the bad news about Bruce, I asked a “constitutional conservative” I knew, Tom Morrissey, to run. He said he would if no other good conservative candidate would step forward. We each made more phone calls, and by about the middle of the day on Tuesday, with no other candidate having stepped forward, Tom announced his candidacy.

So, the conservatives PCs used the telephones, e-mail, and blogs to get the word out about Tom’s candidacy. Tom went to every “candidate forum” he could find and spoke.

And a beautiful thing happened. Because we conservatives had the numbers, and had been organizing locally over the past year, and had networked with one another, and stuck together, Tom Morrissey, a constitutional conservative, is now the Arizona Republican Party Chairman.

After a three and a half day write-in campaign. A three and a half day write-in campaign.

You can read about it here:

SeeingRedAZ.com: AZ delegation: Can you hear us now?

SonoranAlliance.com: Tom Morrissey wins Arizona Republican Party Chairman

AZCapitolTimes.com: Morrissey, Tea Party activist, to lead state GOP

As Karen Martin reported here at Redstate, South Carolinian conservatives are working to make 2011 “The Year of the Precinct Committeeman” there:

http://www.redstate.com/karenmartin/2011/01/21/precinct-reorg-4-min-video-arm-yourselves/

Please, watch this video:

I hope you’ll make 2011 “The Year of the Precinct Committeeman” in your state.

First step: Call your county Republican Party chairman or one of the other officers and ask where the local Republican Party committee meets. Be persistent — you may have difficulty tracking them down: some don’t want any “new, conservative blood” in the Party; they like the status quo just fine. Most county committees have web sites. Some list phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the officers. If you can’t track these people down, call your state Republican Party officers. Take action. Don’t let anyone shut you out.

Step 2: Once you know when and where your committee meets, go, along with every other conservative Republican you know, to the meeting and find out what hoops you have to jump through to become a “voting member” of the Party. It’s called precinct committeeman in some states, ward captain in others, etc. The terminology isn’t important. What is important is being able to vote for the leadership of the Party. The requirements are not onerous. I’ve linked to the requirements of some states at my little blog linked in my signature block below.

Step 3: Then, once you get a majority of conservatives in the PC slots, you’ll be able to elect conservative Party leaders and perhaps even be in a position to endorse conservative Republicans in those all-important, traditionally-very-low-turnout primary elections. (Your local bylaws will tell you whether you’ll have the right to do that — not all bylaws allow for that.) Regardless, you’ll be in a position to get out the vote in your precinct and elsewhere for the best conservative Republican candidates in the primary elections — the all-important primary elections.

Thank you.

For Liberty,

ColdWarrior

Pray. Recruit. Repeat.
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Will YOU help make 2011 “The Year of the Precinct Committeeman?”

ThePrecinctProject, so you can say, “I became a precinct committeeman before it was cool.” (Where it all started.)

“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” – Edmund Burke

Learn how to GOTV at The Concord Project and at Procinct.

They say Republicans are for the rich, Democrats are for the poor. If they need more voters, then they have to make more of who they are for. – gekster