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Who’s next?
By punch bowl | February 18, 2008
One year ago at this time, Charlie Smith was uniting College Republican leaders behind him at a lavish retreat in the OC and announcing his candidacy at CPAC.
With less than 18 months before the 2009 election, no one has yet emerged as a contender for national chairman. CR Nation thinks it’s about time that discussion began. Who would make a good national chairman, and why?
Comment with your thoughts. The names most frequently mentioned will be listed in an upcoming poll.
Topics: CR gossip |
February 18th, 2008 at 9:35 am
The best person for the CRNC would be Nate Walton. He has raised more money and built a better federation than any state chair in the country. Nate for Chair 2009!
February 18th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Someone from the current administration maybe…??
February 18th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I like Esther Clark.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Dan Carlson!
February 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
A lot depends on what happens this year and whether the whole ‘New CRNC’ experiment is successful.
Ryan Bilodeau? Adam Bitely?
February 18th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Dan Carlson, hahaha.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I agree with the second anonymous above- I think Esther would do an awesome job as National Chair.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Paul Gourley.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Who the heck is Adam Bitely? Go Esther.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The current administration? We can do better than that. Sure, they have been OK - they have “stopped the bleeding” from the Gourley and Hoplin times, but what have they done that is worth anything. STORM really sucks. No one knows how fundraising is going. And there was no fall field rep program.
It needs to be an outsider. Someone that has a proven record of getting the job done - not just talking about doing the job. Nate Walton would be a good choice. Bethany Dorobiala is another good one. Also can’t deny the hard work Bilodeau has put into RI.
Anybody but the Charlie Smith/Ethan Eilon/Esther Clark group think gang….
February 18th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I say re-elect Charlie or elect Bilodeau…but either needs to add some regional balance at co-chair with someone from the South…maybe Esther Clark,Tyson Grinstead(NC)or Jonathon Bryant(TN)…too early to say for sure
February 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Walton or Bilodeau
February 18th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
How about you focus on recruiting on campus and getting republicans elected in November before you put your plan together on how to pad your resumes 2 years from now. What a pathetic bunch.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
What is Justin Smith doing these days? He re-wrote the constitution, you know.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Dan Carlson turned MFCR around. he can definitely turn CRNC around and get rid of this stupid STORM bull shit
February 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
How much money goes the CRNC have?
February 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I’d like to have a CRNC leadership team that knows you write CRs and not CR’s.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Midwestern CR - You’re a idiot. You really have no idea what’s going on in the CRNC, do you?
STORM is awesome.
Why do you need to know about everything is going? From what I’ve heard, Swanson is doing a great job bringing in the $$$. Otherwise, Storm and other things wouldn’t even be possible. and Bilodeau? He’s a toolbag.
Bryant, Esther, or Tyson would all be good. Even Bethany or Dan Lipian! We’ve got some good ones now!
February 18th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Carlson would be good but his ties with the current administration make me wonder if he’d bring much change.
Bilodeau is a micro manager who has no respect even in his state. Is the kid even in college now? He probably won’t be graduated in time for the next election.
Is any of the Davidson crowd left?
Seriously, how much does the national chairman even matter? Chapters seem to get along fine whether or not the national chairman is good or not. Just keep sending the chapter boxes.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Justin Smith would do a great job!
February 18th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Southern CR -
I won’t call you an idiot - name calling accomplishes little…
What I will do, however, is argue that STORM does suck - very badly. The proof: only 6,000 of the 250,000 (alleged) College Republicans across the country have signed up in the two or three weeks since it has been released.
This is because it sucks compared to already existing networking sites.
Compared to Facebook, MySpace and others, STORM does not compare. The only unique quality about STORM is that only CRs are allowed and from the way it looks people aren’t signing up merely because “only CRs are allowed”
Unless things improve, STORM was a waste of $250,000 (that is what my state chair tells me STORM cost)
I don’t want someone from an administration that wasted 250,000 being the next chair.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I don’t know her too well, but every person I have talked to that knows Esther Clark likes her and respects her. I know she has done very well in turning out volunteers for campaigns and seems to be on the ball. I really hope she runs, and of the people I know or am familiar with, she’s probably my top choice.
I know Bilodeau well…I’m not a big fan. He’s a hard worker, but, yes, a micro-manager, and he views this as nothing but a resume pad. We could definitely do worse, but I also think we can do far better.
I don’t know the other people well enough to comment other than Ethan/Charlie, both great guys, and they have really done an excellent job in restoring trust and credibility to the CRNC — something not too easily accomplished in light of past scandals. That’s one reason why I hope Esther runs — from what I have been told about her and her experience in business, she’s probably the best person to take this trust and really build on it.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Why did the CRNC decide to waste a quarter of a million dollars on reinventing the social networking scene? STORM was a great idea, but won’t make it in the long run.
This is the problem when you put kids in charge of such large sums of money. College Republicans should dissolve and be taken over by the RNC, though they wouldn’t want to be associated with all the wing-nuts who hold Catch an Illegal Immigrant Days.
And Dan Carlson would never be a good candidate. Plus, he’s graduating law school soon and will actually be in the real world (or so the CRs of Michigan can only hope and dream).
February 18th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I’m voting for whoever the state chair of Idaho is.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Doesn’t every CR person view CRs as a resume-booster?
February 18th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
anyone who works as hard as Bilodeau does not, by definition, do it to pad his resume.
state chairs who do nothing but show up at meetings and dont actually do stuff in their own state are the ones who do this stuff to pad their resume.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Although everyone mentioned above is great in their own regard, I think that our next Chairman will be someone who isn’t currently “on the scene”. We’ve still got eighteen months, many things can happen.
Can “None of the Above” be an option in the poll?
February 18th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I like John Swanson and Esther Clark. Of all the people on the national board, they are the only two who aren’t arrogant douchebags. Plus, they were both successful state chairs, especially Swanson.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Kyle Bristow.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I like Esther (and the rest of the national board)….but I’d like to see a new administration in. Its good to keep fresh blood in there. Plus, isn’t two years enough?
Watch out for TRAVIS MOUNT…Hawaii baby!
but in all seriousness:
names that come to mind:
Justin Zatkoff (MI), Bethany Dorobiala (MN), and Ben Johnson (Iowa)
Nate Walton (ME), Brian Gwozdz (MA) and Ryan Bilodeau (RI) are all running tight ships up north. Three potential contenders for a national position as well.
Like the above post said….maybe and quite possibly, someone not on the scene! Who knows???!
February 18th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
$250,000!!!!
That is nuts. How many field reps is that? I cannot believe that the CRNC approved a $250,000 for a crappy networking tool.
Even worse, I understand that the contract went to a family member of Esther Clark. Can you say nepotism?!?!?!?!
So let’s get this straight - the treasurer (the one in charge of the $$$$) of the CRNC scored a contract worth $250,000 for her brother’s company to do STORM and surprise, surprise the end product sucks!!!
Does this sound any different than the Paul Gourley administration? It sure doesn’t to me….
“New CRNC” - yeah right….
February 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Who is Travis Mount and Adam Bitely.
Those people who commented about Travis Mount and Adam Bitely, please explain who they are and why they deserve to be in a poll concerning the next chair of the CRNC.
Not that I am in the loop at all, but I have never heard of either one of those two guys.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Two years ago, no one talked about Charlie Smith as a potential candidate to be CRNC Chairman. In all likelihood, the next Chairman will be someone that no one is yet thinking of. However, if we must pick someone, you almost have to give the nod to Ryan Bilodeau from Rhode Island.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Is that true? Did the CRNC give a $250,000 contract to Esther Clark’s brother? Was it because Esther Clark is the Treasurer of the CRNC? Isn’t that kind of like an earmark? Aren’t we against earmarks because they are corrupt? Does this mean the CRNC is corrupt? Yes - I think it does. Nothing has changed. We might as well still have Gourley…
February 19th, 2008 at 1:41 am
To nepotism:
If you recall, the amendments passed by the national board last summer required a competitive bidding process for contracts over $10,000, and approval over the Budget and Finance Committee. I have no idea who owns the company that developed STORM, but they’ve also done similar things for gubernatorial campaigns and even Rudy Guiliani’s campaign, so it’s hardly like the CRNC picked unqualified amateurs to develop the system.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:59 am
This is the problem when you put kids in charge of vast amounts of money with little checks and balances from the grown-ups. The CRNC needs to dissolve and become part of the RNC again.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Some of my friends who worked on campaigns that used the political mobilization technology of this company loved it. As someone earlier noted, this technology has been used by gubernatorial and other state campaigns as well as Rudy’s Presidential campaign. IOW, the CRNC signed with the same company as the Presidential candidate who at the time of signing was the GOP front-runner. I’d say that’s a top-class political technology firm.
Esther would never, ever do something that would be unethical. I don’t know the details of this contract, but I have no doubt that the entire process was handled appropriately.
I have no clue who is running for chair. That said, I hope Esther does, and I know that she would do an outstanding job.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:49 am
WeTheCitizens, the company that developed STORM, is a very legit company with some big name clients to prove they know what they’re doing. As for Esther, no idea what her plans are for the future, but she’s a hard worker and would make an outstanding national chairman if that’s what she decided to do.
She’d have our support.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:14 am
To tylenol:
Those “kids” are the ones raising the money in the first place. The College Dems belong the the DNC, and they are not nearly as effective an organization as we are. They also have a much smaller budget, because they are limited to whatever scraps they can beg from the “grown ups.” CRs are well-served by our independence from the RNC.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I think its a little unfair to judge the current CRNC administration until we see how they perform during the election year
February 19th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Won’t most of these people be at least 24 or 25 by the time the CRNC election rolls around? How about some young blood?
February 19th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Agreed- the real test will be how they do during the election year. It was unfortunate that we didn’t have a fall 2007 field rep program, but considering the disarray the CRNC was in when they took over, it’s understandable. It takes more than a month or two to advertise, interview, hire, train, and deploy quality field reps.
However, they have now had plenty of time to get a solid program instituted, and so we should expect quality field reps in the 2008 elections. I’m confident there will be.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
So far around 6,100 College Republicans have signed up for STORM.
STORM cost $250,000
That equals $41 for each College Republican. Did facebook cost $41 per person? No. Why? Because its better. Do we really think it was worth $250,000 to get 6,100 kids to go to a website? This is nuts…..how did the board ever approve this!!!!
I think we could get more College Republicans involved by paying each chapter $41 per member, rather than spending that same amount on a website.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
And just because 6,100 people signed up, doesn’t mean they will actually ever use the site. How many people sign up for website memberships and never use that website? I suspect that 6,100 is perhaps the most they can expect to get because 95% of CRs aren’t ever going to be that involved in politics. For most of them, it’s a social club.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Any thoughts on any non-state chairman/non-board member candidates?
Does one have to hold a state chair position or be on the CRNC board to run for national chair or can anyone run?
Does the current chair plan on running again?
February 19th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Well gee, 6,100 people signed up in two weeks… that’s pretty damn impressive. We’re going to see that number continue to increase as time goes on, as more and more chapter chairs are educated on how/why to use STORM, and start encouraging their members to sign up.
Look, STORM has it’s technical issues right now, but a brand new network of its size and scope is bound to have them. I’m sure that Facebook, MySpace, etc, probably weren’t that great for the first couple of weeks either. It’s going to take a little time for everything to be ironed out.
Also, they haven’t unveiled the full potential of STORM yet. If they launched the network with all of its capabilities at once, it would be too overwhelming. Training people on how to use all of the capabilities would take forever. It’s better to launch the network like they did- with more of the social functions- and then more gradually release the other capabilities the network will have. That way everybody can learn as they go.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I don’t think there is necessarily anything requiring Chair candidates to have served on the board or as a state chair, but it is very unlikely that anyone who hadn’t done so would ever get elected. If someone hasn’t even demonstrated they can run a successful state federation, it’s doubtful anybody would trust them with the national organization.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
6100 People who all signed up at CPAC to get tickets to the CRNC open bar….
February 19th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Facebook is currently valued at around $15 billion, and has received massive cash infusions in excess of $1.5 billion. The people at facebook put in quite a bit more capital than $250,000 in developing the site’s software. I don’t think even our esteemed co-chairs could raise the cash needed to create something on the level of facebook. That said, software that was good enough for Rudy Giuliani and governors is good enough for me. It’s a new program, let’s give it time as the company listens to feedback and improves the site. There is a huge benefit to having a social mobilization site that is less public than facebook, and one whose creators can custom design it to the needs of College Republicans.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I love to embrace new technology. I tried to do it at a chapter level when I was a chapter chair, do so at a statewide level now, and am constantly looking for new ways to improve.
STORM may not have all the features that every single one of us would want to see, but give them a little bit of a break. It was just launched and after many conversations with Esther and others, there are a lot more features to come. Most notably: a newsletter capability for chapter chairs and state chairs. How many of you pay upwards of $20/month for Constant Contact accounts? Probably all State Chairs and many chapter chairs. I personally am hoping this can help cut that cost out of our budget.
At local College Republican chapters membership lists tend to get lost. It happened when I took over as a chapter chair (or well, it was non-existent), and I’m sure it’s happened at many of your chapters. If we, as state chairs and chapter chairs, encourage our members to sign up (i.e. a laptop for people to sign up for STORM at every meeting or event), we will completely eliminate the chance of membership lists ever getting lost; making a transition between officers much easier. Not to mention, I hear there are plans in place to add an alumni feature to STORM (can someone say amazing fundraising list?).
To respond to someones “$41/member” comment: It just launched! I’d say that’s pretty good considering most of those people were signed up at CPAC. Field reps, I hear, will be carrying laptops so when they sign CRs up in the fall they will sign them up directly to the STORM network, eliminating annoying data entry.
——–
I’m not saying STORM is perfect, but it’s a start. This is the first time (that I know of) that CRNC has attempted to create a national database of College Republicans. The more all of us embrace new ideas and new technology, the better off College Republicans will be next fall and even years from now.
The Republican Party is the party of ideas; I’d say a national interactive College Republican database is a pretty damn good idea. Let’s at least give it a try.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel? It would be much easier to use a Voter Vote type program.
And … I wouldn’t be bragging about Rudy Giuliani’s success with STORM. He didn’t get too far.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Did you mean to say Voter Vault?
I really hope you’re joking. That’s a database of registered voters, lacking the capability or capacity for any sort of use in CR management.
Unless, for some reason, you want to call every 18-22 year old who’s registered to vote… which would be a colossal waste of time if you’re just looking for CRs.
STORM isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it’s a solution to many of the problems chapters and federations across the nation face on a regular basis. Other than Voter Vault, what alternative would you suggest?
February 19th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Voter Vote?
Voter Vault maybe? …if so, one of the upcoming features (I hear) of STORM is the ability to link your vote history (located in votervault) with your profile.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Voter Vault is phenomenal, especially the new and improved version rolled out last fall, but it certainly is not anything close to the potential tool that STORM can eventually be. For those of you who have been in college for more than a year or two, when Facebook started, there were only a handful of schools and an even smaller amount of students at each. Now it is clearly a powerhouse website over three and a half years later. STORM has the potential to entirely revolutionize the way that CRs commnunicate and organize, along with other technology like blast text alerts that can be used on the chapter level. It may not ever be the behemoth network that is MySpace or Facebook, but it does not hurt at all to try, especially when considering the relatively small start-up cost. CRs asked for new ideas, a change in tactics, and all-around reform to the CRNC as a whole, and you simply cannot fault the new crew for giving CRs what they asked for. The jury is out on what the end results and legacy of this administration may be, but the approach is certainly more welcome than the hunkered-down secretive approach taken by the previous cast of characters. There is always room for improvement, and the CRNC is back on the road to finding new and better ways of operating and achieving our shared goals: electing Republicans and advancing the Republican message on college and university campuses the nation across.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I’m not saying Mrs. Zatkoff is perfect, but she’s a start.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
This is Mrs. Zatkoff, and I am formerly endorsing Ryan Bilodeau for Chairman of the CRNC!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Very nice, Ryan. Thank you. Your mom owes me new glasses, by the way.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
This is Mrs. Bilodeau. My son is a terrible person and I would never support him for CRNC Chair. I would, however, encourage you all to look at Justin Zatkoff (MI). Not only is he smoking hott, he has the skills to go along with it.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
As the mother of Justin, I have to adamantly oppose my son’s continued participation in foozball, I mean College Republicans. Everyone knows that College Republicans is tha devil! Now, if you will excuse me, I have a candlelit dinner date with that nice young man Ryan Bilodeau from Rhode Island. Justin’s father has been “away” for some time now, and, well, you know…
February 20th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
My vote goes to Brian Gwozdz.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Gwozdz 09
February 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am
Blake Harris, so the South can rise again.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Adam Bitely was just elected State Chairman in Virginia. He is a pretty conservative guy and was elected unamimously - pretty popular in Virginia.