AENN

Katy Grimes

With California Congressman Kevin McCarthy voted out as House Speaker Tuesday, GOP tongues are wagging in the Golden State, questioning whether California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Patterson is on shaky ground given her close ties with the now-former Speaker.

“Jessica Patterson has always been more in tune with Washington DC than Riverside,” a California GOP member told the Globe. “She’s worked harder for Kevin McCarthy to be speaker than she has at her current job. She’s turned the state in to a campaign stop for politicians from outside California.”

Some longtime GOP Party members say the party was already showing signs of collapse, and particularly now after the Fall CAGOP Convention in Anaheim over the past weekend.

“To get Jessica Patterson started, the McCarthy for Congress campaign donated $250,000 to the Jessica Patterson for CRP Chair campaign,” GOP stalwart Stephen Frank told the Globe. “From the start, she represented McCarthy, not the Republican Party. With McCarthy out of leadership, her future has also been damaged. Instead of a cushy job with the NRCC or the NRC, she is now on her own. A McCarthy letter of support will no longer cover her efforts to close down the California Republican Party.”

Some say the California Republican Party was saved when Jim Brulte took over as Chairman in 2013 (to 2019 when Patterson was elected). Others say that is when the cracks turned into deep crevasses. The Party was in significant debt and Brulte came with funds attached to pay it off… but at a steep price. One by one, the CAGOP conservatives were removed from party committee assignments, leadership positions, even central committee positions, and the like. It was no secret. And it has continued to today, many Republicans report.

Shortly thereafter, the CAGOP platform began a shift from a focus on California State Republican races to congressional races. And then the focus became Washington D.C. almost exclusively. GOP Assembly and Senate candidates were left to flail about on their own, and told as much when they made inquiries for funding and support from the CAGOP. Several state candidates told the Globe that when they asked for help from the CAGOP they were told “win your primary first, then come see us.” Even congressional candidates say they were snubbed if they weren’t part of the “in-crowd.”

So the “collapse” has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Rather than fill the party and keep it nourished with the “A” Team elected Republicans, and growing and cultivating plenty of candidates for future elected offices, Washington D.C. appears to have been the focus – the entire focus… as if someone was really focused on a job there.

So much has this focus shifted that at the convention last weekend the CAGOP Initiative Committee failed to manage a NO vote on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $6 billion homeless bond initiative. So the message from the State Republican Party is “we’re neutral” on a $6 billion bond, a gift of slush funds to Gov. Gavin Newsom should it pass.

The bond measure of Newsom’s, totaling closer to $6.4 billion, claims that it is the only way to address California’s mentally-ill homeless population, because of a current shortage of mental health treatment facilities and actual beds. We are told the money will be used to pay for 10,000 treatment beds and supportive housing units, CalMatters reported.

“It is startling to me that the California Republican Party is ambivalent and neutral on a $6 billion homeless bond measure by Gov. Gavin Newsom, turning it into his wish list of crap and wasteful spending,” said Jon Fleischman, Flash Report Publisher and former CAGOP Executive Director.

One CAGOP member told the Globe that because Jessica Patterson has locked up committee positions with her acolytes, i.e.her “yes” people who wait for her to direct them on the issues, when it came time to debate and discuss the governor’s $6 billion bond in committee, she was busy and hadn’t prepped them so they didn’t know how to vote on it. That is when they came up with “no recommendation,” all on their own. Imagine a “No recommendation” from the CAGOP on a $6 billion bond initiative by the most leftist governor in California history.

There was a time when the CAGOP was in agreement that pretty much all statewide bond initiatives were a NO vote.

Another startling upcoming issue is the Spring 2024 CAGOP convention – scheduled March 1-3, just days ahead of the March 5th California Primary Election. So while candidates and elected politicians need to be getting out the vote to get as many GOP candidates into the top two positions, while canvasing for supporters, the state Party will be conventioning… rather than helping candidates and incumbents. “This is not a unifying event,” another longtime CAGOP member said. “People need to be out walking precincts – not at a convention.”

Another GOP member who asked to remain anonymous had this to say: “California’s GOP Legislative leadership and the CAGOP leadership are completely beholden to the ‘McCarthy Mafia’ and thus they have been able to keep everyone in line because they control the flow of money, to candidates and the infrastructure. Without that pipeline of money and influence, there may not be much ability to keep people in line. Especially after what happened at the CAGOP Convention over the weekend, the inmates may be taking over the asylum and the establishment will have no way to stop it. Without McCarthy’s backing of political and financial support, I’m not sure how long the house of cards can remain standing. And Jessica can kiss the idea of going back to DC to take over the RNC from Ronna McDaniel goodbye.”

Then there is the CAGOP rule change in the Presidential Primary which sets up a “winner-take-all” 169 California delegates. It used to be a “winner-take-most” per congressional district – the top vote getter who received above the 50% threshold was awarded 2 delegates and the second place vote getter received 1 delegate, a CAGOP delegate told the Globe.

Under the rule change pushed by McCarthy and Patterson, according to several CAGOP members, a Republican presidential candidate who receives more than 50% of the vote in the Primary Election will receive all 169 delegates. If no candidate receives over the 50% mark, delegates will be awarded proportionally.

Yahoo reported on the rule change just ahead of the CAGOP convention last weekend:

When the change was adopted in late July, state party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson predicted it would lure GOP presidential candidates to California to campaign, drive turnout and make the state relevant in picking the party’s 2024 nominee.

But others believe it has had the opposite effect, stifling competition in a state where buying media advertising across half a dozen markets comes at a huge, prohibitive cost. The vastness of the state, home to nearly 1-in-8 Americans, makes it hard to get to all the regions. The previous guidelines encouraged candidates to target specific districts — now, one candidate can collect them all.

“The effect of the change has been to effectively terminate the Republican primary in California,” said conservative activist Jon Fleishman, a former executive director of the state GOP.

Several of the CAGOP delegates agreed that because of the cost of campaigning around the vast state of California, we won’t see many Republican presidential candidates at all now.

“She’s good at raising money, but where is it going? Where is it being allocated?” a CAGOP delegate said. “There’s a disconnect with the Central Committees, which are dominated by grassroots – they don’t like bureaucracies. She’s lost touch with Central Committees and grassroots Republicans.”

According to a delegate, Jessica Patterson is paid $250,000, and received a $25,000 bonus from the Board after the 2022 midterms, even after losing a Senate race and one Assembly race