Oregon Republican Executive Committee Meeting ORP Office, Wilsonville, OR January 27, 2014

Transcription

1 Oregon Republican Executive Committee Meeting ORP Office, Wilsonville, OR January 27, 2014 Roll Call by Chris Barreto at the request of Chair Robinson Executive Committee members at Office: Art Robinson- Chair; Chris Barreto- Secretary; Ken Taylor- Treasurer; Kate Adams- CD2 Vice Chair; John Lee- CD3 Chair; Jeff Reynolds- CD3 Alt Chair; Wendy Frome- Chair CD4; Joshua Robinson-CD4- Vice-Chair; Tyler Smith- CD5 Chair; Casey Flesch- CD5 Vice Chair Executive Committee members on phone Bill Currier-Vice Chair; Solomon Yue, National Committeeman Donna Cain- National Committeewoman; Jeff Grossman-CD1 Vice Chair; Brian Van Bergen- CD1 Alt Chair; Margie Hughes- Alt Vice Chair-CD5, ORP ED Tiny Robertson- CD2 Chair: Guest at the office who RSVP d: Kevin Hoar ORP Field Director, Jeff Reynolds-Alt VC CD1; David Darnell- Chair Marion Co, Mike Nearman-Chair Polk Co; Joe Jumalon-Yamhill-Co Delegate; Jeff Heyen-VC Marion Co ;Darlien France-Wasco Co- Chair; Keith Frome-Linn Co Delegate; Matthew Robinson-Josephine Co; Jon Antoine-Chair Columbia; Glen Holcum- Alt VC CD5, Noah Robinson,Terri Moffett-contract Staff, Mike Folkstad- Jefferson Co Delegate; Sandy Raddue- Voter Integrity Committee; Bryce Kennedy- Chair Washington Co- Tech Committee; Suzan Jones- Baker Co. Attending w/o prior notice: Mark Cosby- Lane Co-Alt Delegate; Guest on phone who RSVP D: Becky Lemler- Lane Co- Delegate; John Philo-Chair Deschutes Co; Chris Ruck; Jerry Jackson; People on the phone who did not RSVP or are not Central Committeee members: Laura Fennimore Cooper- Alt Del Lane Co; Jenn Perry- Alt Del Lane Co; Sandra Minicucci- Not a Central Committee member- Lane Co appointed PCP; John? Credentials Report: 14 voting members- there is a quorum Chair Art Robinson opened the meeting at 7:06PM Kate Adams moved to revise the agenda, Seconded by Chris Barreto Kate passed out the revised agenda. Tyler moves to amend the Kate s agenda to exclude the Chairman s report from the 10 minutes limit. Are there any objects to the amendment?- Hearing no objections the amendment passed. Tyler made a move to amend Kate s agenda to move the Disclosure Firewall issues to the end of New Business. John Lee seconded. Tyler called the question. Not hearing any objections the motion passed. Vote on Kate s motions as it has been amended Hearing no objections the motioned passed. Secretary Report: November 8 th meetings- corrections- Kevin Moss: count on voting members should be 13, not 1 Tyler wanted to add that the Executive Committee had asked Tyler Smith as legal counsel to contact the RNC and NRCC about the Chairman s issue. Tiny moved to accept the minutes as corrected, Donna seconded. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved. January 6 th minutes: : Art recommended that the entire transcript, even the Executive Session, should be transcribed. Joshua moved to table the minutes until Roberts Rules can be reviewed regarding minutes of Executive Session. Guest correction- Mike Folksted Voice vote: 9 yes/ 4 no/ 1-abstained Minutes are tabled and to reviewed at the next EC meeting. Point of clarification: Chris Barreto- Is this an open meeting now or are we following the procedure of SR 15.

2 There are people in the room and on the call who have not followed this rule. Tyler clarified that we should be are following Standing Rule 15. A role sheet was passed around the room. These people should be listed in the minutes. Chairman Report: The main point is several specific proposals that I have recommended and have appointed ad hoc committees that give us a greater chance of having success in the upcoming elections. This is extremely important that these ideas are discussed. Kate asked about the RNC meeting. Art discussed the issue of restricting the debates of 2016 to 7 or 8 debates where the RNC controls the debates, rather than 20+ debates where our opponents pick the moderators. This is very important and an aspect of it is how this will affect the Oregon Primaries. It s very complicated issue and this needs to be investigated by the Executive Committee. Jeff Mapes asked about this and he declined comment at this time. Three aspects of the issue: 1: The controlling and limiting the debates by the National Party 2: Timing issues that are complicated and not fully understood at this time. 3: Timing in respect to our Primaries. Art voted for this. The RNC meetings are extremely important. In California direct mail average donor is 69 years old. The importance of funding your overhead costs in a different way so you can tell you donors their money goes to candidates. The RNC has a library of information on issues and a tremendous resource for our website. After our firewall document was passed it was forwarded to the legal department of the RNC, and it raised concerns about the $45,000 and possible issues with receiving funding. Art said he met with everyone he had negotiated with- Matt Pinnel the district manager, and four top senior there was not any suggestion that we were not getting out money. Art said he spoke with them again at this meeting and each one was surprised and didn t know anything about any concerns about the money. Art did not speak directly with Rience Prebus about this because he didn t want to raise any concerns. Tyler spoke with RNC legal counsel and he said the rule looked good and was unaware of any concerns. As far are Art knows we should be expecting a check. Art has told Margie that from the RNC money and events that she will be paid starting in February. Art will find the money to pay her salary. Art said he could fill the office with volunteers, but we need Margie as the key person. He has made a firm commitment on this. Art has a lot of applicants for helping in the office. Wendy asked who is on the RNC Rules committee, Solomon is on the Committee. Donna added there is a rule that allows for states that are out of compliance to grant a waiver (16-F-1) for those states who have late primaries. Tyler moved for the orders of the day. Art suggested a committee to investigate the timing issues with the RNC: Margie Hughes-Chair, Jeff Grossman, Tyler Smith, Kevin Hoar, Jeff Smith. Point of order by Donna Cain, she wanted to volunteer Jeff Smith because he knows the procedures. Vice Chair Report: Declined due to illness Treasures Report: Ken wanted to preface his report that he had to leave at 9pm to be in Bend on Tuesday (1-28) for a meeting with two CPA s to Review the ORP books. There will be suggestions as to how to tighten up our processes. Ken submitted the financials and would like those to be the report of record. The financial situation has improved somewhat with donations coming in from the mailer. Ken reported: Federal Account: $ State Account: $ Payables: John Fund $ Point of information: Jeff Reynolds reported that Multnomah Co had just cancelled payment on a check to John Fund because it hadn t been cashed in six months. Jeff Grossman asked about the money Art had supplied for the last mailer and what the status was of that money. How are we carrying that on the books? Question: Chris Barreto asked that since we passed the rule on ORP Officer Candidacy for Federal Office, should Art be part of this discussion? Tyler responded,that at least temporarily he should be excused from the room when discussing finances. Point of Order by Wendy Frome: That particular rule was not on the agenda and no prior notice was given out about it and could anyone point out where the Executive Committee has the authority to even pass a rule like this. Tyler quoted the by-laws confirming that the Executive Committee governs the entire ORP in between State Central Committee meetings. As long as the EC does not violate by-laws. This authority is in the by-laws: Article 8 Section A.

3 Point of clarification: Margie Hughes, making a rule has been done in the past, such as the two signatures being required on the checking account and that went on to the Central Committee for a approval where it passed. This body can write rules that affect them and if it concerns the Central Committee then it is presented to the SCC for a vote. Jeff Grossman quoted by-laws XII Sec B.. Chair Robinson and his campaign manager- Noah Robinson stepped out of the room. Ken Taylor brought up the money that Chair Robinson paid $6000 to the direct mail house it was listed as a payable. Tyler had advised the EC that no money can be paid to the Chair in anyway while he is a candidate. It has been moved as an in kind contribution. Joshua asked who authorized it to be moved to an in-kind contribution. Margie said Cathy moved it per instructions she received. John Lee said at the last meeting Chair said he was going to make it an in-kind. Tyler had three questions for Ken: 1. Tyler proposed that the finance rule be changed in the new EC rule and that will be discussed later. 2. Do we have two copy leases? Yes- one is a printer, one is a copier. Joshua interjected that he spoke with the Chair and the money for the mailer is not an in-kind donation. Tyler asked for Margie to look up the leases on both for review. 3. We are spending a lot on accounting and compliance software and needs to be watched. Aristotle is $8000 per year, plus Cathy and Lori Piercy salaries. We should be paying quarterly, but they are allowing us to pay monthly due to our financial condition.. The $6000 will be listed as payable. The cash position is about $ and our monthly burn rate is about $ So at this point we still don t have any money. Tyler mentioned a direct mailing campaign, and the plan was to roll over the proceeds into the next mailer but we don t have the money to do this. We need to find a solution to this before we can do another direct mailer. Casey moved to file the report, Kate seconded. Report was filed. Chair Robinson returned to the meeting, there was discussion regarding the mailing $ Cathy is waiting for an invoice from the chair for the money spent. Chair Robinson needs to clarify the designation of the money. Ken said we must prepare a budget prior to the State Central Committee. We don t have a Finance Chair or committee and Art agreed to appoint a Chair. The Finance committee raises the money, not the budget. Margie said she would work on the Finance Committee. Ken asked if Chair Robinson was comfortable with him and Margie working on the Finance plan, he said he was but would contribute to the plan as he was the one raising money. If allowed under the new rule. Margie said we need a budget for the March 29 th meeting so we can have a vote at the State Central Committee meeting. Ad Hoc Committee Reports: Technology Committee- Jon Antoine- He handed out copies of the two page plan and went over the points on the plan. Points added: Responsive design, smart phone/tablet (platform independence) File management- Public/Private access options Back-up tool On the Technology Committee notes-page 1-Jon went over the list: Chair instructed the committee to evaluate all these systems but not to look at the cost at this point. GOP Data Base First Tuesday in Nov. Casey said the biggest choke point was user training. He felt this was THE most important issue with software. Jon said ha Selection / implementation targe date should be April 1 st. Margie -VRM-Voter Relationship Management System from the RNC being beta tested right now. Several states are already testing this. The beta testing states will roll out in May. She is very impressed with the software. Art expressed this committee will be making suggestions. GOP data center is still available. John Lee said May is a very important date and that to try to train his people before that would not work. National Committeewoman Report: Donna reported she attended a RNC strategy initiative meeting plan. She said that Reince made arrangements and altered the agenda to allow for the members to attend the March for Life at the Capitol. Despite the extreme weather hundreds of thousands of people attended the event.

4 National Committeeman Report: Solomon reported on the Republican Oversees Board of Governor / Advisor Meeting. As soon as he arrived, he was met by Regional Director Peter Graves that there was a concern about the ORP funding. Solomon had not doubt about Peter s credibility that the night of the Greek Dinner Dance, Art rode with Reince back to the airport and secured the $3750 a month agreement cash transfer. Later the next week Peter Graves called Solomon and said Reince was changing his mind. Solomon called Reince and that we needed the funding to keep the doors open during the transition and the deal was reestablished. So when Peter told Solomon about the rumblings, Solomon talked to Reince again about the Oregon US Senate race and the gubernatorial race and that we need the $45, At that point he only agreed to hire Political Director for us. They would have to submit a resume for consideration, we couldn t just hire someone, they would have to be proven. Solomon ran into Art at the RNC and explained the situation and that was the best deal he could do for funding. He is glad to see that Art was able to secure the $ monthly transfer. In regarding a vote on the Rules Committee, Solomon reported that Oregon is a late primary State like California. Because of that, there would not be enough time to get our delegates certified for the Convention, and he raised this concern at the sub-committee meeting and was able to get a full recommendation the entire Rules committee to grant a waiver automatically to the states with a late primary. Knowing that those states with a democratic held legislation would not be willing to change the primary date and with this assurance built into the RNC rules we are guaranteed we will not have any problem with our delegation. John Lee asked when would the convention be scheduled? Solomon said either the last week of June or the second week of July to avoid the Fourth of July celebration. The reason for the change is we don t want our eventually nominee running out of money coming out the primary waiting for the convention. This makes them very vulnerable to attacks by the liberal media and the Democratic Superpacs to define who they are. Tyler asked if the money was going to be designated for a political director, Solomon corrected his previous statement that it would be a Finance Director. Tyler asked why we would want a Finance director as our only paid staff? Reince said that if the ORP is challenged in raising money, the Finance director would be in charge of raising funds for the ORP then we would not have the problem of having no money in the long run. First time, one week after Reince s meeting with Art, the deal had to be saved, this time that was a bridge to far. Conversation between Art and Solomon said that $45, would not buy a top man but Art thought this could be designated for six months. Solomon said he only cut the deal for the concept that the details would have to be worked out by Art. More discussion followed but the final decision by the RNC is still unknown as to how the money will be designated. Solomon said Art would have to work out the details with Matt Pinnell and renegotiate with Reince. Matt Pinnell is going to get back to Art. Tyler expressed when he talked to John McClouskey that the RNC would not earmark money given to by the RNC to a state party. Solomon said he never said earmark the money. We are to pick a person, they will make sure they are qualified for the job and they would hire that person for us. followed. Kate discussed the demand letters to the Secretary and the Treasurer and the Chair had been requested to write a letter by the Executive Committee. Art said he discussed the matter with the people that he felt this is a better approach. He felt personal contact was better. Chris stated that the letter was to appeal for unity in the Party. Tyler said he had written a response that could be used. Chris expressed that it doesn t have the same effect as a written appeal from the Chair. The letters have stopped. Art did go to Greg Barreto s defense on the personal attacks that were being charged. The issue seems to have stopped at this point. Candidate recruitment by the Chair: John McFie has set up appointments with the counties around the state. He has visited 20 counties and laid out plan to each encouraging them to do their best to recruit candidates. No suggestion was given to specific candidates, just a general plan emphasizing that the best candidates come from the county level. Tyler suggested Art appointment a Chair to do candidate recruitment and those with best practices. He said he would do this. Bryce Kennedy gave his report on the Oregon Counties Project. He explained each level of the project according to the written plan. County by county this plan is being offered. Basically it is a secured way to provide a basic voter walk list to those determined by the county leadership. This can be upgraded by the counties. followed. Tyler emphasized this type of project should be done by the Precinct Committee Coordinator Chair who works with each county precinct committee chair. At the State Central Committee meeting this person should encourage the members to meet their neighbors and register people to vote. This person would also have a close contact with each county and share best practices for each county. Clackamas Co uses targeted markets and this has shown to be more effective. PCP manuals are available online to help. Campaign Team ideas- Art Robinson:

5 A dozen hard working people can accomplish a lot. Art would like to organize 5 teams of a dozen people, at a cost of about $ per team to send to the candidate who needs the help. All volunteers for this workforce. Rapid response team, target candidates issues, state the case, send a quality flyer, light up the area with signs, follow through with calls to Republicans who have not voted yet. This would be used for November elections only. The Executive Committee would choose the candidates. Kits for candidates: Vendor lists, sign design help, contacts. Tyler said a Candidate Assistance Chair would do this job, contact people like Kevin Hoar who have done this previously and have experience in this. Art has formed an Ad-Hoc committee and the Avery s of Coos Co are the chairs. They will be reporting at the next Executive Committee at the next meeting. If they ve never done this, they should contact those in the Party who have done this before rather than reinventing the year. John Lee said that the important time for kits for candidates is during the primary, for all candidates. Voter Integrity Report-Sandy Raddue: Sandy passed out bills that will be presented during this legislative session. An number of good bills, but two housekeeping bills that are from the Secretary of State s office. PCP bill will be coming back as well as automatic voter registration. SB 1515 is a very serious bill that introduces online voting. Short session, but we are under attack, and we need to stop this for us to even have a chance. The previous elections director Steve Trout will help mine data. No new information on headquarters location. PCP Committee Chair Appointment: Jeff Grossman moved to consider the Larry Martin s appointment as PCP Committee Chair. John Lee seconded. Kate calls for the question: Roll call vote: 9-No 2-Yes 1- Abstained Not approved. By-laws Chair Appointment: John Lee moved to consider the appointment of Tyler Smith as By-laws Chair. Kevin Moss seconded.. Wendy called for the question: Roll call vote: Yes-5 No-2 Abs-3 Approved. Tyler offered that at any point if the Committee felt he had too many positions he would consider resigning one of those. It was stressed that the By-Laws need to be written and prior to the next convention would be favorable. Revised Executive Committee Standing Rule: Tyler continued his discussion with the RNC and the NRCC legal counsel. Tyler read the comments by these counsels and their comments on the Standing Rule. They sent revised drafts of their recommendations. Allocations were discussed in more detail and any party building efforts that are generic, that do not name a candidate are not allocable. These would include the GOTV and pro-republican mailers, calls, as long as no candidate is mentioned. Some of the rules have been revised due to this, especially #10. The firewall addresses Art not knowing or participating in Federal race finance decisions. s Jeff Grossman moves to adopt this revised Standing Rule for the purposes of discussion. Kate seconded. Jeff Grossman suggested amendments: #10- Add Federal Candidates #12- substitute Might for would Jeff moved to add section 13 which clarifies the relationship between the Standing Rule and the By-laws If any provision of this standing rule restricts or impairs the duties of the Chairman, ORP Bylaws Article IX Section B, regarding the Chairman being temporarily unable to perform their duties, shall apply to the extent of the restriction or impairment. on point 11 on point 4- verbiage correction John moves to substitute the old #13 for the new #11 with the chair agreeing to have this carefully examined by his attorney s on the revised #11 that states The Officer Candidate shall attempt to purchase an indemnity bond,

6 protecting the ORP and the members of the ORP Executive Committee for any and all fines and legal costs associated with the Candidate Officer s candidacy, in the amount determined by the Executive Committee, and IF no bond is obtained, then the Officer Candidate shall agree in writing to indemnify the ORP and its officers and directors and to pay at the Candidate Officer s expense, any compliance, accounting fines or penalties and other costs associated with or caused by the Candidate Officer s political campaign, should any such costs be inadvertently incurred or assessed to the ORP or its relevant officers. John called for the question seconded by Casey. Roll call vote: Yes: 8 No: 2 Abstained: 2 Motion carries. Kate reminded that in June 2012 a vote was taken to form a committee to work on planning conventions. This committee includes the Chair and VC of each Congressional District. Chair Robinson asked for copies of the June 2012 Minutes. Margie said that spring meeting will be in The Dalles on March 29 th. Margie Hughes asked for input on the fall convention, it was agreed to hold the fall meeting August 23 rd. on Lane County current affairs, the understanding based on legal counsel Lane Co is no longer organized and Art Robinson will appoint a pro tem Chair for the purposes of electing officers. This is consistent with the bylaws. by Art about Jerry Jackson. Meeting adjourned 11:15PM Respectfully submitted, Chris Barreto Secretary of the ORP