Past behavior is always the best indicator of what to expect in the future. Just say no to Gopal.

I have spent the last two days making sure that people know about Gopal Krishna’s past involvement with the Republican Party of Iowa. Some have been critical of my approach, I expected that, which is why I have waited and wrestled with posting this information.

I believe that electing a new chair at RPI is probably the most important step in the Republican Party’s rekonstruction. If they do their homework and get it right, we will find success. If they fail, we will simply waste another two years and continue to the Party that’s lost in the woods.

The one thing that surprises me the most of about the discovery of a secret slate for Chair and Co-Chair is the fact that it seems to be more of a power grab, than an effort find the right people to fix what ails the Party. Ask yourself the following questions.

As chairman would Gopal be able to be a good communicator for the Party?

He is obviously very intelligent, but to be honest he’s hard to understand which doesn’t bode well for him in TV and Radio interviews. He has chaired the3rd District Caucus a few times and people have said they can’t understand him. So will be able to motivate the base of our party?

As chairman would Gopal be able to raise the necessary funds to not only make the party operate, but to grow it?

With a poor economy fundraising is going to be difficult no matter who the next Chair is going to be. But what kind of experience does Gopal have in raising money? What kind of connections does he have with previous and potential donors? You can have the best plans in the world but if you can’t fund them they are worthless.

Speaking of plans, does Gopal have one?

I’m told that Sporer, Pate, and Carroll have been communicating their ideas for the party, but what are Gopal’s plans? We all agree that we need to do things differently, but just saying that isn’t good enough.

In my opinion it looks like a power grab if you ask me, which would be consistent with what Gopal was up to in the cycles leading up to his resignation/removal in 2000.

So let’s look back to what lead to his removal.

Gopal served as Co-Chairman for several cycles, all thorns in the side of the sitting Chairman. In 1996, Brian Kennedy helped lead us to a majority in the Iowa Senate. What did Gopal do? No help with fundraising or organization. Why then did he want to be co-chair? You would expect a co-chair to put some sweat and time into preserving and strengthening our Party. Gopal began bad mouthing the Party, its leaders and the decisions that were being made. He went to Central Committee meeting after Central Committee meeting trashing the state party. He says he would do a better job if he were chairman. An interesting tactic in building party unity.

When the time came for the next chairman’s election, Gopal promised to be good and work with the new chair. He said he wanted to build a stronger party. He was re-elected.

In 1998 during Steve Grubb’s tenure, Iowa was the only state in the union to gain seats in our legislature. The only state! Who ran the legislative races…..the state party. During the Lightfoot campaign’s self-destruction, the Party was still able to make inroads on the democrats in the statehouse and picked up seats. What did Gopal do? He continued his campaign across the state bad mouthing the party, its staff and the product it produced. Again, an interesting tactic in building party unity.

When the time came for the next chairman’s election Gopal tried to pour over the wounds of the State Central Committee and County Chairman, it wasn’t well received. A candidate to replace him was found and unfortunately, Gopal won be a narrow margin.

We all thought the final chapter in the Gopal saga would be the 2000 election cycle under Kayne Robinson. The Assistant Chief of Des Moines PD had a zero tolerance for bullshit. Robinson met with Gopal as soon as he was elected chairman and told Gopal there would be NO disruptions and NO undermining the Party or the Chairman. Robinson warned him and told him his time, as co-chairman would be over. Gopal begged Robinson to trust him and that he would never do that to him.

And so it began…Gopal’s final push to become Chairman. Gopal engaged his followers from the SCC; David Karwoski, Michael Clark, and Lisa Smith. Kirshna and his group ran across the state bad mouthing Robinson and the state party on every decision made at headquarters. It even got so bad that the Kirshna group tried to block the purchase of a digital camera and a fax machine. Small purchases to some, but he campaigned around the state saying the state party was wasting funds. Wasting funds by purchasing a digital camera and fax machine. What???? Is this building party unity? Is this being a team player?

As the votes were put together Steve Scheffler was solid behind Robinson. He was even working the coalition to oust Gopal. Scheffler, what has changed your mind since 2000? I hear that you are telling people that you are not involved in the race for chairman. The national committeeman for the state party is not involved in this race? I thought we elected you as a leader of the party back at the state convention. It would be nice to hear from John Hulsizer and Leon Mosley on this matter as well.

The above might not sound serious to some, but the best way to ruin any organization is to undermine it leadership. What would happen in any business if the VP of the company was going out to its dealers saying that the company sucks and would be better if I was the CEO. Dude would lose his job the same day. This is what Gopal’s history is. He’s not a team player, he’s a cancer.

We need a chairman who can unite our party, raise the necessary funds, and implement new ideas which will help us win election. Gopal didn’t do anything to help with our legislative successes in 96 or 98; he just caused internal problems in hopes to gain control of the party.

Is this the guy to lead us in our weakest hour? I don’t think so.