California Split-Major Gop donor tells party to stop pissing off voters or no more money. Ha Ha.

[AlCzervik]

Major donor pushing GOP toward center

By Kevin Yamamura -
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, February 22, 2008

The California Republican Party once again faces an identity crisis heading into its annual spring convention, and this time a major donor is calling on the party to become more inclusive.

Businessman Lawrence K. Dodge delayed writing a check to help the party pay off $3 million in debt and wrote a scathing analysis of the party in a private letter, raising concerns similar to those cited by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he said Republicans were "dying at the box office" last year.

The internal strife comes as state records show the party continues to suffer a decline in registration and carry a debt incurred to help Schwarzenegger win re-election in 2006.

Taking place in San Francisco, where GOP registration is a mere 10 percent, this weekend's Republican convention lacks the relative star power of recent state party meetings. The last three featured presidential candidates John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Schwarzenegger also will be absent due to scheduling issues, according to spokesman Aaron McLear.

McCain, the almost certain GOP nominee, hopes to capture the same Republican, independent and moderate Democratic support in California that Schwarzenegger received in his two gubernatorial victories. But the state party, Dodge noted in his letter, has alienated independents and moderate voters in recent years.

In the letter to party Chairman Ron Nehring, Dodge wrote: "Two-thirds of the voters of this state refuse to be members of our party as it is. We do not need to alienate them further, either by the positions we take or by eating our own in public."

Delegates will decide this weekend on a new platform for the state party. Moderates and conservatives have been lobbying Republicans in recent weeks to support their respective versions.

The moderate platform follows through on Schwarzenegger's call last year for a version that concentrates on fiscal responsibility and low taxes with centrist positions on social and environmental issues.

"I think people are ready for a cohesive, unifying platform, and that's what ours is," said Virginia Chang Kiraly, 44, a Menlo Park Republican who is spearheading that effort. "It's not offensive, it's not strident, it's not divisive, and I think that's why we've had such broad support."

The conservative proposal likewise is heavy on fiscal responsibility. But it also has strong language opposing the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, condemns Roe v. Wade, defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and declares that government documents should be printed only in English.

Mike Spence, head of the conservative California Republican Assembly, said of the moderate proposal that "Hillary Clinton could say every word in it and agree with 80 percent of it." He also called Dodge's letter, particularly his call for a toned-down platform, a "blackmail threat."

http://www.sacbee.com/111/v-print/story/730661.html

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