Attack on CRNC field rep: real or hoax?
Posted by punch bowl | Posted in CRNC field reps | Posted on 24-10-2008
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Ashley Todd is a CRNC field representative from Texas. The story yesterday was that Ashley had been attacked outside Pittsburgh and had a “B” carved into her face.
Now, Pittsburgh police say that Ashley confessed to making up the story and will face charges.
So what is the real story? What really happened to Ashley in Bloomfield, Pa?
Update II: The CRNC has contacted CR Nation to comment on the story.
Communications Director Ashley Barbera: “When Ms. Todd initially contacted us claiming to have been attacked our first reaction was obviously to be concerned for her safety. We are as upset as anyone to learn of her deceit. Ashley must take full responsibility for her actions.”
Executive Director Ethan Eilon: “We have terminated her effective today. Obviously, we had know idea she was making this story up.”
Update: Daily Kos is having a field day with this story. Comments look like this:
Collage Republicans are terroristsSeriously she is a CR?
Collage Republicans are domestic terrorists. THe group once lead by Jack Abramoff had Links to RENMO Via he white south african governement and to the Sandanistas and to Pinochet (Abramoff and cronies were real nasty). They also believed in agitprop. They were set up to counter the radical left. And engaged in direct action in the US.
I think College Republicans should have to go
back to high school, and those who can’t “rethink” go back to middle school.
More typical of College Republicans…
not all are douchebags, of course, but they do seem to attract more per capita than most orgs.
And to concur with someone myself, actually two someones.
How does the CRNC contact itself is a very legitiment question, as all signs point that at least one or two of our shadow posters running this blog are CRNC members.
And, it’s again obvious that the CRNC was more interested in helping the McCain campaign and not actually growing CRs, or they would have had a field rep in every state, not just concentrated in battleground states and the chairman’s home state. CRNC isn’t suppose to be helping candidates, there suppose to be growing CRs everywhere.
It’s ass-backwards, because OH, PA, MO, FL, ect should have no problems recruiting CRs. They are exciting places to be CRs for sure. And as far as organizing, I’m sure there are plenty of GOP and McCain campaign organizers to keep the CRs busy. It’s the other states that need help, which could then help the battleground states too.
Clearly not run by the CRNC thats why nothing negative has EVER been posted here that showed the CRNC in a negative light. My chairman submitted a press release earlier…Has not been posted yet…SHOCKER
I can not believe how many ignorant dip shits write on this blog.
I am going to examine two questions in this ordeal. How can you hold an organization responsible for any one person’s actions? Secondly, can you blame someone who has a obvious mental illness?
To the first question, the only way to hold a organization responsible for an individuals actions are if that organization had knowledge of the offense beforehand. Our field rep (Mr. Martin) is off the chain and bad ass all around. He has helped out our State federation in many ways. The CRNC definitely picked the best of the best. I am 100% confident that the CRNC found the best people to be Reps but no one is psychic and sometimes people turn out to be different than expected.
Now, some crackpot conspiracy theorists will try and say that the CRNC masterminded the whole incident but after they put down their joints and come back to reality they will see that such an idea is ridiculous. When it comes down to it, Charlie, Ethan, Will, Esther and the rest of the CRNC are all great Americans. They would never put up for something like this and it proves so with their quick action in relieving Miss. Todd from her position.
To answer my second question how dare anyone talk poorly of someone who clearly needs help. Anyone who has made fun of this woman should be ashamed and I personally suggest that you punch yourself in the face (or if you come to me I will be glad to help you) for making such cruel remarks about someone with a mental illness. Shame on you and may God have mercy on your soul.
“And, it’s again obvious that the CRNC was more interested in helping the McCain campaign and not actually growing CRs,”
Helping Mccain? If that was the case they would have made it absolutely clear that the girl was an employee of CRNC since the media has been trying to tie her directly to McCain.
UMN Chairman,
Thank you for raising the level of dialogue in this debate. “Dip shits” always has a place in intellectual circles.
“How can you hold an organization responsible for any one person’s actions?”
Easy. The same way Charlie and Ethan wanted to hold the Gourley administration responsible for their field rep program, hilighted by such catastrophies in Morgan Wilkins. Ashley Todd, however, and this fiasco is clearly worse for two reasons: 1. it’s a PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR and it happened in a battleground state and 2. it received more national press than what Wilkins did. This is complicated by Charlie and Ethan’s hatred and mockery of the Gourley administration in most everything they did. In the portrayal they wished to give, Gourley and his cronies were evil, lazy, corrupt dimwits that created a Dark Age in College Republicans, whereas they are somehow awesome, hard working, incorruptible leaders that lead us into some Golden Age. The truth has been far from that. Charlie and Co. have shown that they are little better than Gourley and his crew and in some aspects are a little worse. This is one area where they are worse. They put out fewer field reps, wanted us all to believe that they were of higher quality, and oops! Every College Republican in a leadership postion in America is now embarassed. Lovely.
“Secondly, can you blame someone who has a obvious mental illness?”
From everything I’ve read and heard, there has been no official diagnosis of a mental illness. Although, I am willing to be wrong on this one. If she has been, please let me know. As of right now though, her mental illness has just been assumed on this blog…I think.
Patrick,
I love how you start out by conceding that the New CRNC is guilty of manipulation and spin. That was pretty much my whole argument. I’ll still check into that “Marketing 101″ textbook, it’s probably got lots and lots of goodies for naive sheeple like me, right? Good luck on the jokes, I hope they get better!
That would be ludicrous for anyone to suggest that we don’t need a field rep program. My argument was that Charlie and Co. deserve what they get because of their high and mighty mockery of Gourley. I’ve also argued for a database-only STORM (which is what we were promised) and the rest of the ridiculous $250K pricetag that would have been saved should have been invested into the field rep program, thereby expanding it. So I’m arguing for a bigger field rep program, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
While this incident is certainly more visible than any in the past, especially in terms of mass media coverage, it is certainly not the first time a field rep has gone off the reservation, so to speak. Our organization suffered the misguided stunts of Morgan Wilkins in 2006, as well as several other less visible incidents that we unfortunately saw firsthand here in Ohio. This one, by far, was the least excusable–it was a criminal act. Ashley Todd must pay the consequences of breaking the law, and we should all be hopeful that she receives the help she needs. That being said, there is no undoing the damage this episode does to the Republican Party’s image, and furthermore to the standing and perception of College Republicans nationwide.
This situation is really only the second mishap to come to light in connection to the Field Program in this election cycle, and the other situation involved the same field rep, Ms. Todd. As my understanding of the situation goes, the field rep had fabricated numbers with regard to recruitment and had poor execution when it came to turning these supposed recruits into volunteers. Here is a situation where S.T.O.R.M. worked to solve the problem—the recruits were not in the system, and so it was a simple check on the inflated figures. NYCRSC, under the direction of their Chairman John McGrath, asked for her to be removed from their state, a request granted, and Ms. Todd was then moved to Pennsylvania.
Now in 2006, at least one of the field reps removed from Ohio was moved to another state. Moving Ms. Todd to another state was simply following precedent, really. While fudging numbers (in Ms. Todd’s case) and making demands of a candidate (in Mr. Lazo’s case from 2006) are things that may normally get one dismissed from a campaign or party organization, we have a policy of simply relocating the offending party. This unstated policy that now serves as our precedent is what must be examined. People may very well deserve a second chance, but maybe not while representing the College Republicans. The past week’s events involving Ms. Todd could have been entirely avoided had our organization possessed a stricter discipline structure. Less tolerance for deception and poor choices must become the rule from the start—not just when a bright public spotlight is shone on the situation.
There is only so much that can be done to check the makeup and background of a potential field rep without creating a prohibitive hiring cost, and the screening has become more stringent than in past years. We do not have field reps spending hours upon hours doped up on illegal substances or moonlighting, literally, as werewolves, this year. We do have, however, one absolutely insane former field rep with a track record of questionable decisions pre-dating her time at the CRNC. The research into applicants needs to be improved as much as possible without breaking the budget, and the level of supervision and strictness on proper conduct must be higher. People will always slip through the system, but that system must be as foolproof as is feasible.
College Republicans should be as a whole in a state of continuous improvement, and we must stay on that path. We have to step up and demand better. Future Field Programs must continue to work towards avoiding entirely situations like the one we are now faced with. That must be the goal, and nothing should be off the table in getting there. For better or worse, those in leadership are ultimately responsible for the decisions made, and they must also be responsible to not be content with progress made.
Chalk this up as an extremely embarrassing and detrimental lesson—and a painful one learned to be sure–own it, and figure out how to not let it happen next time.
NY Requested Ashley Todd to be Removed from the Field
For Immediate Release:
New York College Republican State Committee
October 26, 2008
Contact Austin Cheng: austinfcheng@gmail.com
New York: Ashley Todd was deployed to New York in late August through the College Republican National Committee’s (CRNC) field program. During her short tenure in New York, Ashley claimed to have recruited over 6,000 new College Republicans. Unfortunately, there was no evidence provided to the New York College Republican State Committee (NYCRSC) of those recruitment numbers either on STORM (a nationwide online College Republican database) or electronic membership lists. Ashley claimed her numbers were some of the highest in the country; soon, the NYCRSC discovered that the top five recruiting Field Representatives would receive an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas. At this point, Ashley Todd’s credibility came into question by the Committee. Ashley was unable to send any substantial number of volunteers to our Congressional Volunteer Days — despite claiming to have recruited 6,000 new CRs. Because Ashley was unable to substantiate her recruitment numbers and because she refused to set up chapters at schools with no known College Republican presence, the NYCRSC sought her to be removed from the field.
On October 6, 2008 a conference call between Charlie Smith, CRNC Chairman, Ethan Eilon, Executive Director, and the NYCRSC Executive Board occurred detailing the problems the NYCRSC had with Ms. Todd and a request for her to be removed from the field program. Charlie and Ethan agreed; however, to our dismay, Ashley was removed from New York and reassigned to help with the Pennsylvania College Republicans. The NYCRSC is unsure as to why the CRNC would reassign a Field Representative to a battleground state that had numerous complaints against her from her previous assignment.
It makes me sick to watch people demagogue this issue for personal gain. New York should be ashamed of itself. There’s no doubt that this incident has revealed problems in the way we handle the field program. But to purposely air this dirty laundry to the Liberal media is shameful.
I see over 4,000 people in their storm group, how many were there in August?
John McGrath and Austen Cheng had the brilliant idea of sending a press release to the media highlighting supposed mistakes made by the very organization they are a part of. This demonstrates an almost incomprehensible stupidity. Whether or not they have a legitimate complaint, they should keep it in-house. I can’t believe they decided the proper outlet for their complaints was the media. Find some other way of getting attention, John.
“Whether or not they have a legitimate complaint, they should keep it in-house.”
The point of what he is saying is that Ethan was not listening to him and since Ethan runs the show he could not just complain to CRNC.
McGrath has been a thorn in the side of the CRNC since the summer because he’s been resisting the CRNC’s (Ethan’s) efforts to control everything by bypassing the state organizations. The 4000 or so people given as a number does not match up with the numbers listed for each chapter. It is unclear how many places Ashley visited or how she actually “signed” people up. Perhaps Ethan can clarify this.
Ethan also should have been more forceful that Ashley was a mistake by the CRNC so we would not see headlines that start with “MCCAIN VOLUNTEER…”. This girl clearly lacked credibility, was irresponsible and engaged in some activities that were questionable and possibly dishonest.
Ethan moved her around to help cover his ass and it blew up in his face… perhaps someone needs to take measures to oversee his actions.
That being said McGrath’s press release is poorly written. Perhaps instead of a press release he should have sent something to Smith and the national board demanding Ethan’s resignation or at least an apology.
The release details mostly internal issues and did not need to be released to the media. Another option would be to send something saying that Ashley had no credibility, was dishonest, and wanted to have her removed from the field. McGrath does have a duty to the NYGOP and NY candidates to clarify the situation… he is responsible to them before helping cover Ethan’s ass.
they should be forced to resign.
John McGrath is a massive tool who would light his hair (or the CRNC) on fire to get attention. He needs to go.
How many of you are from New York and fielded the complaints from numerous chapters that McGrath had to. Charlie and Co. should have listened when the young lady had recieved numerous complaints against her.
As NY……said McGrath owes his allegiance to his chapters and candidates in NY not the CRNC.
Issueing a Press Release about internal problems to the media may have been in poor taste but College Republican Chapters in New York and Pennsylvania needed to know the history of this girl. Perhaps an internal memo would have been more appropriate.
My chapter stands behind McGrath he has done a fine job in New York holding several events around the state.
Looks like someone has upset the CRNC office and is now the target of another one of Ethan’s online smear campaigns.
And for you people that think everything should be kept in-house, who do you propose people talk to? Ethan runs the show and he has made it very clear that criticism is not allowed. Any request for help that’s not part of the CRNC’s plans is ignored. State chairs that won’t drop everything to spend all semester signing people up for STORM are blacklisted and receive no help and are labeled as uncooperative and said to not be doing their job.
The CRNC office has made it very clear – it’s their way or the highway. Hard working state chairs didn’t make the cut. Ashley Todd did. Tells you all you need to know about new CRNC.
“And for you people that think everything should be kept in-house, who do you propose people talk to?”
Uhh, how about anyone besides the liberal media? Does that work? It would have been less damaging if McGrath got on the phone with every state chair in the nation and detailed his problems with the field program. Merely BCC’ing every state chair when he emailed the release wasn’t enough for McGrath however. No, he wanted more attention. Let’s just hope for the sake of this great organization that the media doesn’t give it to him.
Bravo to McGrath for having the courage to stand up and let people know what happened. This organization will never improve and reform itself unless those in positions of authority are held accountable for their actions.
The CRNC screwed up big time on this. They knew this girl was a problem but failed to appropriately handle the situation. Ethan’s decision making has failed the CRNC once again.
News releases said that the picture taken of Ashley Todd after the “incident” was ONLY released to the cops and the CRNC. It’s now all over the place – there is no such thing as “internal” with the CRNC, you all should know that by now.
liberal media…these are obvious CRNC sympathizers who refuse to admit that the core wrong doing was by the national office
light is the best disinfectant, and the CRNC is in great need of much light shined on it
Wow. The self-righteous New CRNC is finally being held accountable. After months of mocking Gourley in 2007, who along with Eric Hoplin, helped run the best field rep program ever in 2004, they waste $250K on a worthless tech gimmick, deliver a piss poor field program, and then destroy the reputation of said program and the CRNC by failing to vet the crappy people they recruited. On top of all that, they are all McCain hacks who along with other “reform” types supported this disastrous nominee from the start. There’s going to some real handwringing after 11/4. It will be time to bring the CRNC back to its successful path and to realize what happens when the opposition is in charge of the CRNC and what happens when a “reform” backed candidate like McCain is our nominee. Let’s make sure this never happens again in 2009 and beyond.
I had no idea this girl worked for the CRNC until I read this website. She’s described as a McCain volunteer in most news stories I’ve read, including the ones on Drudge. So I don’t see how this hurts the CRNC’s reputation.
Vet the field reps? Um, this isn’t the Secret Service guys. Smith and company are already making people jump through hoola hoops just to get to the training session, at least from what I’ve read and heard.
Why are a handful of people, internet/blog types still bashing STORM? Do you plan to hideout in dark city alleys when you grow old? I’m sure people can make up their minds on STORM, successful or otherwise, worthwhile or otherwise without listening to the sounds of your grinding teeth.
And having re-read or gazed through this thread one more time before posting, let me reiterate in plain English that I have followed this story for the past week and I had no idea she was a CRNC rep until I read this website. You critic-types are such a drain on our organization.
You New York CR types are an every-cycle annoyance to the national CRs and every person who follows CR workings knows this.
1. You have no business being “upset” that a field rep wasn’t fired. This is the CRNC’s decision. This is not your decision. The most you can do is recommend that she be fired and EVEN from what I’m reading on this very thread, it looks like you people are shooting at smoke: something “looked” fishy and she happened to have problems. Hindsight is 20/20.
2. Moreover, the CRNC has the right to keep a field rep in your state even if you don’t want her there.
3. Lastly, your own member chapters may benefit from a field representative’s continuous presence in your state. This is what I don’t get about the Brian Siler types in this organization. You just don’t get it: field reps recruit members, and chapters need members just to survive.
4. You especially have no business being “upset” that Ashley was assiged to Pennsylvania.
I hope that NYCR/types didn’t gossip on Ashley while she was there in your state. If so, any state officers involved should probably be removed from office for misconduct and lack of professionalism.
Critics should be ashamed of themselves for resorting to such rhetoric like “the field program has been a disaster.” I urge College Republicans to marginalize such useless critics. The field program is what makes the CRNC a worthwhile organization. I would throw every last discretional dollar at the field program and hire as many field reps as possible.
Keep in mind there are establishment/loyal opposition types and then you have, on the other side, people who would burn our organization down to get themselves elected to some pretty-sounding title. William F. Buckley beat back these people and so can we.
If I had any material advice to give to the CRNC about this story, I would actually suggest more independence from state chairs. McGrath may be legitimately mad that his state was involved with this. Great: get the state chairs out of it. The most effective field program possible will work by sending representatives to every Activities/Orientation/Club fair at every school in the whole country, and then dividing their time effectively in the battleground states.
Yes, clearly the answer is to make the CRNC less accountable to the people they serve. That sounds like a great idea. While we’re at it, why even vote on a national chair? Let’s just let the current chair pick his successor every two years – and forget national meetings, maybe those state chairs will start asking questions about how the money is being spent.
Instead, let’s actually focus on building up state federations. The states that have strong federations, like California, thrive because they have the resources and manpower to build chapters and create excitement year round – not just the 10 weeks before election day every two years that the field rep program provides.
If anything, bring state chairs more into the fold, provide them with more training and spend actual time on the ground with them. Here’s what I would do: hire some experienced political operatives to spend like a week or two in every state to do nothing but build the state infrastructure. Then send in these field reps for the last ten weeks every cycle to do the table recruiting and basics. If there’s no structure to build from, switch it around, send in the field rep first and then the experienced operative to whip them into shape.
CRNC Staffer/Officer, er, I mean, “East Coast GOP”,
“The field program is what makes the CRNC a worthwhile organization. I would throw every last discretional dollar at the field program and hire as many field reps as possible.”
Our thoughts exactly. But remember how you bashed people for still bashing STORM? All STORM was supposed to be was a database, then they spent the majority of the ridiculous $250K on servers and different web building and hosting costs for a shitty version of Facebook. THAT’S why people are still bashing STORM: it’s major function (the social networking aspect that we spent the most money on) is still not being used. We could have used all or most of that money to fund a bigger, better field program.
“I urge College Republicans to marginalize such useless critics.”
That’s the spirit! We need LESS dialogue on this topic! Couple that with your do-away-with-state-chairs sentiment and you’ve got yourself a dictatorship, which also happens to be quite near to the present situation.
“You have no business being ‘upset’ that a field rep wasn’t fired. This is the CRNC’s decision.”
New York CR’s have every right to be upset about this. Imagine that you are working in some store and someone working in your section was a loose cannon that could really hurt the store’s image/bottom line if that person ever did something crazy. All management does is TRANSFER that individual, and oh, big shock, that person does something crazy and it hurts business. I’d be a little pissed too, especially if we’re all a team and since good news and bad news helps or hurts this organization as a whole.
“Moreover, the CRNC has the right to keep a field rep in your state even if you don’t want her there.”
Well if that doesn’t have autocracy written all over it. And you wonder why people, some of them state chairs, hate the CRNC?
Oh, and their new logo terribly pathetic. Just thought I’d be the first to say that on this blog.
East Coast GOP, you could not be more wrong!
These critics are the best thing going for CRs right now. STORM has been a massively expensive failure, the field rep program was ambitiously lied about and has resulted in the most embarrassing scandal in its history.
And through all of this, the CRNC office has ignored or attacked anyone that wants to improve things. The arrogance of the national office will be their downfall.
Who is this “East Coast GOP” fool? We can complain all we want. The CRNC should be working for the College Republicans not the other way around. This field rep needed to be fired but wasn’t. The CRNC screwed up big time.
I believe his name is Ethan…
Saw her in handcuffs on MSNBC today. Great publicity guys! Thanks!
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^ Chad, hindsight is 20/20. McGrath # accused # Ashley of inflating recruitment numbers and he doesn’t even know whether she did or not. Who makes an accusation without evidence or asks for an employee’s termination without proof? Field representatives do hard work, seven days a week without days off. Have you seen the field reps at work? Their job is more intense for ten weeks than those of even the most dedicated CR chapter chairs. They do get paid for it, but I imagine there is nothing worse than working your butt off full-time, around the clock, and having an immediate supervisor openly campaigning to get you fired because of a bad rep — or worse, because of his political ambitions. I would like to think that McGrath didn’t have ulterior motives behind his actions, but certain personalities may be attracted to the idea of running for a state chair title. Leadership offers the potential for real accomplishment, and it also offers the potential to make the people around you completely miserable if you think the organization isn’t opening every door humanly possible.
Facts: your last paragraph already describes the role of the CRNC, but the only thing that will really help state feds is good leadership from within. Either a state group finds itself good leadership or it doesn’t. The CRNC can’t really change that and I would go farther and say that some of the smaller states are so poorly served (hurt, actually) by their state chairs that they would be better off having no state fed altogether; it just interferes with the club chairs and what they need to do and even causes bad publicity not infrequently, including inside the GOP state parties.
Well New York obviously has a good state fed. They saw what a crazy person Ashley Todd was and asked her to be fired.
-Field Reps are independent contractors. The CRNC does not have authority under such an employment arrangement to supervise and dictate Field Reps work.
-The background/reference checks for the position consisted of Facebook account reviews. It appears that Will wanted to determine how many friends each potential Field Rep had on Facebook so as to use it as an indicator of how many people the Field Rep might be able to recruit to STORM.