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More Parsky Watch Parsky Watch - The Magazine Take the Parsky Watch IQ Test Visit the Parsky Watch Store	Back to Parsky Watch archives No White House speakers @ convention Parsky Watch #22 September 4, 2002 PARSKY’S ROAD TO PERDITION, PART 2 Let’s continue our audit of Gerry Parsky’s mismanagement of party affairs. STATE PARTY CONVENTION The upcoming fall convention is a microcosm of how badly Parsky has managed the party’s fortunes. The convention is only a few weeks away, yet there are no – repeat, no – nationally known speakers lined up for any of the convention dinners (because Parsky inexplicably blocks the attempts of others to secure such speakers). These dinners aren’t simply social events – they are valuable fundraising opportunities that are dangerously close to being squandered because Republicans aren’t going to buy tickets to see nobody. Not only will the party lose money, but the media will certainly notice the absence of big names and cite it as additional evidence that the national GOP has written our state off. During the dark ages when the party was “unprofessional,” attracting big names to headlines these events and generate tens of thousands of dollars was never a problem. But this is really par for course for Parsky and Co.. At the spring convention, Parsky managed to turn these no-brainer fund-raisers into money-losers – and now he can’t manage to secure anyone to speak at them at all. That’s professionalism, for you. THE VOTER FILE Parsky claims he is “pleased to announce that Team Cal has provided $80,000 to make the voter file available to organizations working in the field to elect our Republican candidates.” Funny. The CRP has begged Parsky for months for the money to enhance the voter file – it’s just one of those little things a major political party needs in order to win elections. Funding was due for this in April. Now Parsky – typically -- comes through with too little, too late. TEAM CAL FUNDRAISING Not only does Gerry Parsky feed lies and half-truths to the troops regarding his mismanagement of the state party, but he even makes stuff up about his own baby, Team Cal: “Fundraising efforts with the major donors have resulted in more than $1.5 million, already a larger amount than was ever contributed by Team Cal to the CRP in the past. Part of this effort has been a coordinated fundraising program with the RNC. Team Cal has dedicated much of its time and effort to raising money for the Simon campaign as part of our coordinated effort. Additionally, there will be special events, including visits to California by the President and the Vice President this month, which will help us to raise funds for both the Simon campaign and Team Cal directly, as determined by the Cal Plan process.” Actually, Team Cal fundraising is shy of the $1.5 million mark by a couple hundred grand, the bulk of it has come from a tiny handful of individuals such as Parsky himself, Tom Stephenson, Andrew Ludwick and Alex Spanos, plus February and July fundraisers with Vice President Cheney. The point is not so much that Parsky exaggerates what Team Cal has raised – it is that 2002 has been an enormous missed opportunity. If Parsky can raise that much money by holding a couple of events and tapping a few big wheels to contributions, think how much money he would have raised had he delivered on his promise to bring lots of Administration muckety-mucks to power party fundraising? He’d be a hero, not a goat. In his most recent missive, Parsky al least almost admits to taking the money the RNC should have given directly to the CRP. Prior to that, Parsky claimed the money went directly to the state party, instead passing through Team Cal coffers. How much has passed through is unclear – anywhere from $300,000 to $600,000. THE STOCKTON PROJECT The Stockton Project was an attempt to increase Republican registration in the San Joaquin Valley, in order to directly assist Dick Montieth’s campaign for the 18th Congressional District – one of 17 top targeted congressional races in the nation. We say “was” because the Stockton Project has been shut down by the RNC – a shattering vote of no confidence in the project’s godfather, Gerry Parsky. So, thanks to Gerry’s incompetence, Dick Montieth’s efforts in that portion of the 18th CD – which he doesn’t represent in the state Senate and is not well known – have been dealt a serious blow. It’s a good thing the CRP was put in the hands of professionals. IN OTHER NEWS…FIASCO IN FRESNO! The Parsky Protectorate continues to yield its bitter fruit, such as the empty promise of providing state GOP programs with financial resources vastly superior to those generated by past, “unprofessional” regimes. After all, if there’s anything Parsky and those guys know how to do is make money, right? All we can say is read on. Democrat voters pass Republicans By John Ellis The Fresno Bee August 17, 2002 In Fresno County, the Democrats are back in control. Almost two years after the Republican Party took the lead in the number of registered voters, the Democratic Party has regained the advantage, statistics released this week show. The Democrats currently have a 907-registrant lead. "We're pleasantly surprised," said Billie MacDougall, director of the Fresno County Democratic Party office. "I'm glad to hear we've surpassed [the Republicans]. Now we have to hold it, and our big challenge will be to get [the new Democrats] to go vote." Shafter Democrat Dean Florez, an Assembly member who is running for the state Senate, said the party needs another 10,000 new Democrats to ensure the advantage stays. Two years ago, local Republicans stormed past Democrats in party registration for the first time in memory. In seven years heading up to October 2000, the GOP had closed a 55,000-registrant lead by the Democratic Party and gained a slender majority. By February of this year, Republicans had increased that lead to almost 14,000. Fresno County was just one domino as counties from Merced to Kern fell to the Republicans. The Valley was proclaimed the new Orange County, long considered the state's Republican stronghold. Local Democrats were stunned, as was the state party, which stepped in along with the state Senate Democrats and local politicians to craft a comeback plan, which has come with lightning speed during the past six months. Not surprisingly, it involved money: Senate Democrats are paying people $8 an hour to register new Democrats. The local party supplemented that effort by registering new Democrats at naturalization ceremonies. "I knew they'd pass us," said Michael Der Manouel Jr., a local Republican activist. The state Democrats have $11 million cash on hand, Der Manouel said, while the state Republicans have $2 million. "They've got all the money and they've got all the people out registering. ... If we had $11 million we'd be doing it, but we don't." In fact, state Democrats have poured so much money into the local effort that workers seeking registrants are going door to door. Bob Mulholland, campaign adviser to the California Democratic Party, said state party Chairman Art Torres "made sure we had an aggressive voter registration drive around the state, including the Central Valley." Mulholland says the Democratic gain reflects greater problems for the Republican Party across the state. He cited the 18th Congressional District, where Assembly Member Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat, and state Sen. Dick Monteith, a Republican, are facing off to replace Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres. At the time of the March primary, Mulholland said, Democrats had just a 7 percentage point registration edge -- 47% to 40%. It is now 50% to 38%. Locally, some of the numbers are startling. For instance, Democrats picked up 5,000 new registrants in the 29th Assembly District, which is a Republican stronghold. Republicans, who picked up around 2,000 in the district, still hold a 25,000-registrant edge there. In the 31st Assembly District, a Democrat stronghold, the gain was almost 12,000 voters. As of Thursday, Democrats had 146,534 voters in the county to 145,627 for the Republicans. Der Manouel, who questioned whether the new registrants were citizens, said the only way for Republicans to fight back is to get all the area's GOP legislators to work together. He said, however, that local legislators and candidates are being asked for money from the state party's Central Committee. "I'm skeptical there will be local dollars available for registration."