It's unanimous!
New York has pulled off a power grab.
The Young Republican National Federation has unanimously (s)elected its new chairman in another uncontested contest.
Jason Weingartner will lead the nation's young republicans in the same way he has lead his local and state republican organizations.
After all, New York State's model is to be envied (not even gonna mention the Queens, NY model*- his home county).
Here's our stats:
There are 18* credentialed county clubs (some of which do not exist in any form resembling an actual club) out of the 62 counties in New York State. (29%)
We recently passed gay marriage and an arguably unconstitutional anti-gun bill in New York with the help several republican senators.
President Obama won New York State with 63% of the vote and our candidate for senate received a measly 27% of the vote.
*Queens, NY is Jason Weingartner's home county and has not had a functioning YR club for as long as anyone can remember. Their former county organization vice-chair, Vince Tabone, is still awaiting trial in a bribery case.
With a track record like this we are confident that a New York republican from Queens, NY is exactly the right person to help rebuild our party from the ground up.
Congratulations.
1) How was this a "power grab?" That was a freely contested election. That the voters within the YRNF didn't share your preference for Brian Griffiths hardly qualifies this as a "power grab."
ReplyDelete2) Jason Weingartner DOES have a great track record from when he led the NYYRC in 2001-2005 and when he led the NYSYR in 2003-2007. Both experienced significant growth in membership and fundraising. What are your actual complaints with how he served as county chair of the NYYRC and state chair of the NYSYR? What policies or actions do you have criticisms of?
3) The stats you tout do not come from when Jason was state chair. Maybe those stats discredit more recent state chairs. (Though I even question how much a state YR chair should be held responsible for the SAFE Act or Wendy Long's percentage of the vote, to use two examples.)
4) What is the big deal with Jason having been involved with the NYYRC (which takes in membership from all 5 boroughs)? You have harped on this point in numerous posts. Is every YR obligated to involved in the county of residence, and not where they work? Many YRs are involved in the county chapter where they work, and not where they reside. Since when has that become a problem?
You are discrediting yourself with this kind of hyperbole and these kinds of ad hominem attacks.
- Old Man Winter
An ad hominem (Latin for "to the man" or "to the person"), short for argumentum ad hominem, is an argument made personally against an opponent instead of against their argument.Ad hominem reasoning is normally described as an informal fallacy,more precisely an irrelevance.
DeleteA candidate must be ready to defend his record and his past otherwise this is the wrong game for them. Membership and activity in certain groups is definitely on the table when examining one's qualifications for a leadership position.
So let's dissect, shall we?
1) "Power Grab" is a term originally used by past NYSYR chair GS as well as some of the current/past officers of the organization when certain members considered running for certain offices. It was used tongue in cheek here and apparently hit its mark.
2) The legacy of the past NYSYR chairs (including Jason) is a convoluted set of governing documents (which we are told he wrote most of himself), less than 30% of eligible counties in NY State having credentialed clubs, and an environment where several of the 18 currently credentialed clubs are either fake or will be seeking to no longer be credentialed.
3) This is where your ad hominem crack is laughable. This was commentary on the overall idea of a northeast republican being the best suited to run the YRNF. Of course looking at how well the state does in big elections is relevant. No one from a YR club is expected to influence the overall outcome of an election but republicans from the northeast are ill-equipped to establish the policy of any nationwide republican organization. (See Mitt Romney's results! Republicans from across the country could not get on board with a northeast liberal.)
4) Again, this is relevant! Instead of rolling up his sleeves and getting a club going in his own county he latched on to one that is basically inactive (except for guest speakers). NYYRC rarely if ever does anything for any candidates. Manhattan has ZERO elected republicans. As a matter of fact the non-credentialed club in NYC is active in city council races every cycle and is helping the comptroller candidate in this cycle.
Thanks for the comment and your readership. Now email the link to your buddies!
I think this is useful back and forth.
ReplyDelete1) The tongue-in-cheek nature of the “power grab” comment alluded me. I guess one of the weaknesses of the written word is that we don’t see facial expressions or hear tones of voice to help us distinguish attempts at humor from straight forward accusations. “My bad.”
2) Let’s delve into this in more depth.
a. Who has informed you that the governing documents were written mostly by Jason? Your source is incorrect. Of the three documents, you link on your blog, the oldest dates from the 1930s. Jason cannot reasonably be held responsible for that. The other two documents on linked on the blog were drafted in 1997, when Steve Neuhaus was state chair. Maybe your concern is that Jason hasn’t moved quickly enough to advocate for certain specific changes, or even opposed certain specific changes, in those documents. (Am I correct about your concern?) Maybe what you need to spell out is what the exact weakness are in these documents that you would like to see changed, and how you would like them amended. For all we know, both you and Jason want to see a specific Article amended a certain way, but the body itself rejected such amendments.
b. The decline in credentialed clubs to its current 18 (30%) is a reflection on the recent state chairs. To pin that on Jason is an evasion of responsibility from where truly belongs.
c. You also mention that “several of the 18 currently credentialed clubs are either fake or will be seeking to no longer be credentialed.” That’s a pretty weak claim unless you have evidence to support it. First, the clubs were just recredentialed at the convention in Staten Island that you wrote at length about in previous posts. Which counties credentialed in May are already seeking to no longer be credentialed in July? Second, how do you determine that a club is “fake”? The credentials committee and the general body voted to accept the meeting minutes and membership lists and credentialing letters from the various counties chapters. On what grounds do you assert that these clubs are “fake”?
3) Well, shame on you that you didn’t flesh out your own argument in the original posting that northeastern YRs, like Brian Griffiths, should be ineligible for YRNF office, because you believe that Republicans from the northeast are ill-equipped to establish the policy of any nationwide Republican organization. A good writer would have been explicit about his arguments.
4) Sadly, as is the case in most of your invective, your commentary is full of inaccuracies and evasions. When Jason joined the NYYRC in 2001, he did roll up his sleeves and rebuild that club into a powerhouse. Your concerns with the NYYRC being of diminished quality now are a great set of talking points for their recent county YR administrations and current administration. You cannot say is that the NYYRC was inactive, or didn’t help candidates, when Jason was chair. To continue to insist -- on either the state level or the county level -- that “Things are bad right now. Therefore, the guy who was in charge 6-8 years ago is a bum.” is laughable.
You have also still evaded the larger question of why you insist Jason, or any YR, is required to get involved and build a YR club in their county of residence, and not in the county where they work.
- Old Man Winter
Not taking care of your home-county first is sad. There is no other way to explain it. Using the straw-man argument that "other people join YR clubs in counties where they work too" is even sadder.
ReplyDeleteThat's like being a mechanic and having a broken down car in your driveway. Would you hire that guy to fix your Prius?
Was that too ad hominem for you?
Although Jason is likely too young to have had a hand in a document drafted in the 1930s we are sure you can appreciate how that assumption could be made. (joke!)
The decline in YR clubs to 30% is just another example of why a NYSYR should not lead the YRNF. How can you not see that?
And since you want us to name names- why don't you tell our readers who the blame belongs to then?
As far as the fake clubs, we have received numerous emails from very trustworthy people that there are "paper clubs" that have been credentialed. We also received reports that the credentials committee was a sham. No investigations were ever made as to the legitimacy of any club. Several members of the committee never saw ANY of the documents submitted. We were told the "committee" was basically a one-man show and that man rubber-stamped all packets submitted.
YRNF Elections (as with all elections:
The choice usually comes down to voting for the better of the two candidates that are on the ballot.
Republicans that failed to vote because they didn't like Mitt Romney gave us a 2-term Obama presidency.
Although Griffiths is from the northeast he was clearly the better candidate. He is honest, trustworthy, and has a sterling record of activism.
In the end (like in most YR organizations headed by RINOs) there was no choice on election day. There was only one candidate. Saddam Hussein would be proud.
And this statement made me spit out my coffee:
"A good writer would have been explicit about his arguments."
Never claimed to be a good writer!!! This isn't about me, the team here at the Watch, or you! This is about OUR party and that's the problem with you and your group. None of us are that important and no one will remember any of our names in 100 years.
Please continue to visit and next time try to be more specific when you accuse us of posting inaccuracies. We will correct them if you can prove your case. You have not done so as of now. Until then, we will go with our reports that have been corroborated by multiple sources from various clubs.