College Republicans gone crazy! (Part II)
By Josh St. Louis | Monday, December 13th, 2010 | PoliticsIn Part I, D.J. Spiker showed you John Michael King‘s initial request to dissolve the College Republican Federation of Virginia (CRFV), as well as Chris D’Ambra’s letter to Pat Mullins. Today, we have an exclusive interview with John Michael King, as well as the “pro-CRFV” side of the story.
First, lets take a look at our interview with John Michael King, the former Secretary of the CRFV.
Why dissolve the CRFV?
The answer is simple: this organization does not work towards its stated goals. There is no coordination between the chapters, no effort at fundraising, and an excessive amount of senseless bickering that only further removes us from the goal of getting Republicans elected. The CRFV provides titles to those who get involved, but those titles mean nothing because the organization does nothing. Why should such an organization continue to exist under the wing of the RPV?
I do not advocate dissolving and then not creating a suitable replacement. A new, toned-down organization must be created from entirely new leadership that will serve to accomplish the goals that the CRFV has failed to deliver on. This organization must have a strong constitution to serve as a foundation that will not allow the new organization to become what the CRFV is today. That was my goal when I pushed for the Constitutional Convention, but many of my proposals were met with resistance and people were more interested in finishing everything in one day than in getting the document written the way it needed to be.
Is this idea in response to something someone did or something that happened?
Despite rumors to the contrary, this idea has nothing to do with anything that was done or said by any one person or group of people. I joined the CRFV to try and reform it (as its current condition is nothing new), and once I realized it was a fruitless venture I decided that we would be better off without it. I had these thoughts throughout my tenure as Secretary, but everything that has happened recently with the upcoming elections (back door dealings, lack of communication outside of the top 3, etc) was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Again, despite rumors to the contrary, I had decided long before I resigned that I would not be seeking election to ANY Executive Officer position.
With no statewide organization for the College Republicans, how will Chapters network across the state or within the party?
See answer above. The new organization will accomplish these goals.
Can the CRFV be legally dissolved? Do you need CRNC approval or RPV approval?
I do not know. I would settle for the removal of all current leadership and a complete and thorough overhaul of the organization’s governing documents.
Has the CRFV done any good in 2010? Do you think they helped Hurt, Rigell, or Griffith win?
I think that the individual chapters that volunteered should receive the credit. There was, again, little coordination between the chapters stemming from the lack of leadership at the top of the CRFV.
Without the CRFV, what will be the role of the CRNC in VA?
Again, the new organization could align itself with the CRNC if need be. Although there is no real need for them to have a role in VA seeing as we get little from them as it is aside from the cool CR bottle openers to distribute at campus activity fairs.
Now, lets look at some of the accomplishments of the CRFV. This list was compiled from talking to those who approve of the leadership in the CRFV and don’t wish to see it dissolved, but wished to remain anonymous.
1. The CRFV won a nationwide challenge for most volunteer hours in a day. The prize was $3000 to the Federation, which will go towards chapter development and incentive programs.
2. In each of the three districts Republicans gained on November 2, College Republicans had a large presence throughout the campaign season.
3. Hundreds of thousands of phone calls and tens of thousands of doors were knocked by CRs throughout the state.
4. At least seven new chapters were chartered this season with more working towards joining the CRFV.
5. The CRs and YRs did joint deployment weekends throughout October. It was the first time in recent history that they CRs and YRs worked together.
Also, after asking around as to wheter or not various candidates or elected officials approved of the CRFV, I found this,
“From staffing the phone banks and knocking doors to staffing parades and events, College Republicans helped make victory possible in the 9th district and across the Commonwealth.”
- Congressman-Elect Morgan Griffith
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Josh St. LouisJosh is studying Government and Administration of Justice at George Mason University. He also blogs under the name "Not Jim Moran" at http://rednova8.com
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19 Responses to "College Republicans gone crazy! (Part II)"
Here we go again…
File under “Things We Don’t Care About.”
ODU CRs and Norfolk/Portsmouth YRs do joint events all the time. Not sure that ‘first time in recent history CRs and YRs worked together’ is even remotely accurate.
It’s pretty clear, to me at least, the ‘accomplishments’ listed are like JMK says a job well done from the individual clubs. I’d like to see anything on that list that shows where the CRFV made a difference, not CR individual clubs. Of course the clubs knocked on doors, helped elect Griffith, Rigell and Hurt, made voter contacts, etc. But besides starting seven new chapters (well done, next time tell someone about them), what else has the CRFV leadership done this year?
That said, second what Samuel says.
Can’t we just give them a couple of kegs and go back to ignoring them?
Anyone who has much involvement in campaigns can easily recognize the value of the College Republicans. With that being said, does the CRFW do anything? I don’t know. Obviously CRs groups can do great things independent of a statewide organization, so to say that some CR groups are doing well does not necessarily mean the CRFV is doing a good job. A better, and yet unanswered question is, are there CR groups that are struggling in Virginia and, if so, what has the CRFV done about them?
This does not address the issues that I see. Yes CRs are active, but it is (and has always been) the CHAPTERS primakrily on their own who have given the outpouring of support for campaigns across the Commonwealth. The CRs outpouring of support is attributable to leadership at the chapter level and happens despite the lack of leadership and mismanagement at the top of the CRFV. These “new chapters” already existed, they were just brought under the banner of the CRFV so that the CRFV can claim to have actually done something. That $3,000 will likely be spent on more CRFV meetings and “conferences” where nothing of any substance gets done. Either that or maybe they will finally pay back reimbursements that are way past-due. Might not be a bad idea to put some away in case they get sued again…
@not John Blutarski. The kegs are not a bad idea, but ignoring CRs would be ignoring a valuable asset to state political. By all means, ignore the CRFV all you want (most chapters do), but don’t punish the individual chapters for poor leadership at the state level. The chapters is where the future leaders will be coming from.
gosh, I miss joint events.
A lot of CRFV members miss events with joints!
“Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”
Greg, honey, is it supposed to be this soft?
This sounds like some who lost and election, and is now whining.
This is the last thing RPV want’s to get involved in.
“Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
But, a CRFV office looks great on your resume.
I really can’t relate to this entire argument. First of all, when I was an undergrad there weren’t any College Republicans. We were all anti-war Democrats because the Republicans wanted to draft us and send us to Viet Nam. Second of all, why are they worrying about their resumes before they even finish their bachelor degree? They should be focused on more immediate objectives like getting laid and discount pizza coupons.
That is the trouble with youth–it is wasted on the young.
First of all, just for a bit of history, it was President Johnson that escalated the war in Vietnam, and sent higher levels of troops to Southeast Asia, so why you were a Democrat blows my mind.
Second, I assure you during the period you were in school, there were College Republicans (you were just too busy focusing on the aforementioned immediate objectives).
Third, why not focus on your resume? College is not supposed to be some time to live care-free, though the 60′s movement, which I am sure you were a part of would feel otherwise. One would hope that people in college would be preparing themselves for the future, and to some, that might be getting involved in politics and the College Republicans provide a forum for that.
Ghost of Franklin,
By the time I was in college, Nixon was President and the Republicans were expanding the war into Cambodia and Laos, along with increased bombing of NVN. The Democrats had turned against the war. Kent State happened in the spring of my freshman year. In the spring of my sophomore year, Nixon eliminated the 2S deferment for college students and those with low lottery numbers were drafted right out of college.
Draft beer, not students!
If you think that college students are involved in politics now, try reinstating the draft (not something that I recommend) and see how REALLY involved in politics they will get.
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For the sake of full disclosure, it is probably fair to note that Josh St. Louis is supporting the ticket put together and comprised of people currently on the board. Not getting into the debate, just throwing it out there.
This whole thing is completely insane. As conservatives, I thought we were about local control and not big government which is what this whole CRFV mess wreaks of. Props to the CRs for the work they’ve done for campaigns but is there really a need for a federation? I’d imagine that local chapters can suit their own needs better than being part of a statewide committee.
I guess I’m just playing off my experience as the Chairman of the St. Michael’s College Conservatives in Vermont, but we accomplish a hell of a lot more than most of the surrounding CR chapters do, because we run our own show.
Well if anything, the actors involved in this CRFV mess are prepping themselves well for a career in real politics; endless inside baseball and stupidity.
Willie –
You are correct. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I did present “both sides” of the story here and gave JMK a chance to speak his case without me interrupting or insulting him..
Willie makes a good point. Youve endorsed the ticket that has violated the crfv const on many occasions. And are still tryinf to appear like an objective writer
I have no problem with Josh writing this piece. He did give me a fair and unbiased shot to state my case, and I thank him for that.
The only problem that I have are the holes that still remain in the list of “accomplishments” and the fact that Morgan Griffith’s quote was presented in a way that made it seem like he said the CRFV made the victories possible. He said “College Republicans”, NOT the CRFV. His statement is referring to the individual chapters and volunteers (which received little to no direction or support from the CRFV). Just wanted to point that out.
Other than that I have no problem with the content of this article despite my disapproval of the author’s poor decision to endorse the dishonest status quo ticket.
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