Keith Downey announces run for MnGOP Chair

Keith DowneySaying the MnGOP needs a “turnaround” and a “redesign”, Former State Representative Keith Downey announced his candidacy for Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party in an e-mail to convention delegates and alternates.

Today I am announcing to GOP delegates and alternates statewide my intention to run for State Republican Party Chair. We have a lot of work to do, and it would be an honor to serve as your State Party Chairman!

At its core, the State Republican Party’s job is to provide leadership to advance Minnesota for the future. But to do that, we need a turnaround.

We need to redesign our State Party’s operations.  We need to grow our fundraising and fix our finances.  We need to communicate our principles with clear solutions that engage all Minnesotans. And we need to win.

It is a critical time.  We must do all this not for our own sake, but for the good of the people of Minnesota and our country.  These times demand an excellent Republican Party, and together we can get the job done!

A heartfelt thank you to our current Chairman Pat Shortridge for all he has done, and to his team.  We now need to take the next steps, and they are big ones.

As a businessman and recent State Representative, I hope to earn your confidence with the right combination of principle, skill and experience, and a concrete plan for the gains we need to make.  Look for more information from me soon.

Thank you for your service to the people of Minnesota, and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

Regards,

Keith Downey

Rep. Downey, elected to the State House in 2008, lost his State Senate race against Melisa Franzen in the last election.

Repaying Debt

With the MnGOP not paying rent to its landlord, DFL tweeters have enjoyed themselves by taking pleasure at the expense of conservatives. They are right in saying that if Republicans want fiscal responsibility in government, Republicans should practice the principle with their own checkbook.

However, party debts – MnGOP and DFL – are a misuse of fundraising dollars. When debt is the result of a government budget, we are misusing taxpayer dollars.

Mitch Berg makes an excellent point with the following tweet:

A DFL legislature in 2009 took money from schools to balance the budget and never payed that money back. Last year, Governor Dayton requested another education shift to balance budget and Republican legislators – over my objections – conceded.

Last week, those same Republicans passed a bill to repay the debt created by the education shift. The Governor vetoed that bill to repay our schools. (A veto which was endorsed by Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher!)

I can’t defend the mess the Republican Party of Minnesota finds itself in, but I can defend repaying the education shift as quickly as possible. For DFLers, mocking others is easier than defending Governor Dayton’s irresponsible use of school money.

Leaked MnGOP Memo: We're not paying rent

In a memo leaked to Politico, MnGOP Secretary-Treasurer Bron Scherer writes to the State Executive Committee the following:

…we are not paying our office lease rent payment currently (but have been in discussions with our landlord) and have not yet negotiated long-term payment schedules…

Perception is everything in politics. Be prepared for a barrage of “How can Republicans preach fiscal responsibility if their state party can’t pay rent?” from the left. That very question was asked on the April Fools edition of the Late Debate by a number of progressive bloggers.

Not to say that it isn’t a fair question. It will be a lot easier to talk the talk if our leaders are walking the walk.

It is going to take a long time for the fiscal disaster of the MnGOP to be untangled. (MnGOP Chair Pat Shortridge tells the AP’s Brian Bakst that the Party is “making progress”.) Until it’s fixed, conservatives better be prepared for ugly reports from blogs and the press.

Update: The Dems are not without their share of debt either. MPR’s Tom Scheck reported in February that the DFL has a debt of $581,000.