Sparks fly hours before Republican State Convention

I had been planning a preview of the State Convention for today all week, but after listening to Steve Deace’s radio program yesterday I had to throw away what I had prepared and start over.

Yesterday Deace spent two hours with State Party Chair Stewart Iverson, Polk County Chair Ted Sporer, Iowa Right to Life Leader and Candidate for National Committeewoman Kim Lehman, and Iowa Christian Alliance President and Candidate for National Committeeman Steve Scheffler. All I can say it’s a good thing WHO’s radio studios are nice and spacious because that a lot of people with big egos in the same room at the same time. If you missed it you can listen to the show here.

Anyway, it’s always a good day when Krusty Konservative gets a shout out over the 50,000 watts of WHO Radio. They were discussing my post about the National Committeeman race between Steve Scheffler and Steve Roberts, and more specifically my characterization of Roberts being the Establishment candidate, and Scheffler the being the Activist candidate, which I believe is not an insult or slight to either man, just simply the truth.

I know some of my readers have pointed out that Scheffler is the longest serving member of the State Central Committee, and thus part of the establishment, but that’s not what I’m getting at. Scheffler is probably the most connected Republican activist in the state. Love him or hate him, but Steve has worked for what he has and that is a following of the most conservative Republican activists in the state, which is why I characterize him as the Activist candidate.

Now is either Steve running for National Committeeman perfect? No, but both have served the Republican Party well for a number of years.

My problem with Roberts is he’s not a very good cheerleader. In January of this year his quote to the Des Moines Register was, “We'll be lucky with anything we get this year.” He was talking about the state of Republican politics in the state. 11 months before the election it seemed as if he was throwing in the towel.

On the other hand you have Scheffler and his hatred of what he calls “Country Club Republicans,” meaning those stand for nothing pro gay marriage, pro abortion candidates and activists who want to see a watered down Republican Party. Scheffler had the following quote in the main stream media before the caucuses about Rudy Giuliani, “If our party nominates this guy, we will see a bloodbath at the polls like we’ve never seen before.”

So the choice really boils down to what type of Committeeman do we want? Do we want a guy who will support anyone with an “R” behind their name, or do we want a Committeeman who thinks that to win elections our candidates need be in line with our core Republican principles? I think you know where I’m at on that one.

The most important role that the Committeeman and Committeewoman are involved in is keeping Iowa’s First in the Nation Status. While Roberts has been they guy at all the meetings, I was forwarded an endorsement letter that states that it was Scheffler, not Roberts who lead the charge to for Iowans to caucus on January 3^rd, which proved to be a great call on his part.

As for the National Committeewoman race, you all know that my pick is Sandy Greiner. While Kim Lehman is a nice lady who is good on the issues, I think she would be better off to serve on the State Central Committee before representing the entire state as National Committeewoman.

Sandy Greiner is just as conservative as Lehman, but she also brings with her some great qualifications. As a legislator she has had to work with her collogues to pass legislation, our next National Committeewoman will have to work with other states if and sell them on why Iowa is the right place to start our presidential election process. She has also served as Secretary of the National Rules committee in 2004. That experience will in invaluable as that committee will deicide the 2012 nomination calendar.

Back to the fireworks

Deace’s show yesterday was entertaining and troubling all at the same time. I can only imagine the Democrats laughing as we Republicans continue to air our dirty laundry on the largest radio station in the Midwest. While I understand that Lehman and Scheffler were there to promote their candidacies for Committeeman and Committeewoman, and Sporer is there to voice his concern about the direction of the party, Iverson just got pummeled, which makes me wonder why he even did the interview, its not like Deace hides his agenda.

Iverson was called out on a number of issues. Most notably the Yepsen June 12^th article about the feud between the Grassroots Social Conservatives and people like Iverson. Iverson stated that Yepsen’s account of what transpired at the ICA meeting was false, but them who fed the misinformation to Yepsen? There was also a long discussion about Iverson’s time as Senate Majority leader and how he ran his caucus. Lehman shared a story about how the Republican led senate could not take up a bill providing a pro-life license plate.

A good State Convention is one that makes very little news, unless the nominee drops by to say hello. If our convention is anything like the two hours of Deace we are in for a long, long day. No matter what the state of the Party and the leadership in control, we must rally around our candidates and help them be successful in November, to do otherwise is to let Chet Culver and the liberal Democrats be entrenched for decades.