On his blog, Aaron Park has made a multitude of admissions against interest on this subject. For the Parks, the hill that they have chosen to die on is this one. Nevada Republican Assembly cannot be allowed to exist in any form. It must be exterminated. George and Aaron are the Daleks running around the state screaming, “Exterminate”. Thus Tom McClintock (or Barry Pruett) is The Doctor.
Please also note that current CRA President Tom Hudson went nearly psycho when the CRA did not endorse McClintock in 2014. He sent emails to thousands of people and in my opinion, he fought to prop up the Nevada RA for the purpose of making sure the Placer RA could never block a McClintock endorsement again. In so doing, this was the ignition switch for the current state of affairs within CRA. The Nevada RA was the first time where Alice Khosravy, Carl Brickey and Tim Thiesen stopped going after by-law violations.
This quote needs some explanation for the purposes of context.
First, Aaron admits that this is all about Nevada RA, “this was the ignition switch for the current state of affairs within CRA.”
Now let’s talk about the infamous non-endorsement of Congressman McClintock.
Aaron and George Park organized the 2014 CRA Spring Convention held at Knott’s Berry Farm in Anaheim. Per Google Maps, that’s about 429 miles from their homebase in Roseville. To add a little more importance to the convention, Aaron tried to get all the northern California CRA chapters to hold their local endorsing conventions in Anaheim. My chapter, refused to participate in such a crazy idea. Which part of local does Aaron not understand? My club had several email exchanges with him before he took us off the list of participating chapters.
During the local endorsing votes, Tom Hudson handed the gavel to Aaron Park and left to attend to some other convention business. While Hudson was out of the room, Park presided over the vote. Please understand that what Park did next was a deliberate break from the practice of endorsing within CRA. Park started with a motion not to endorse McClintock. A majority voted in favor of the motion and thus Tom McClintock was denied an opportunity to be endorsed.
This slap at McClintock caused much grief for John Briscoe. At the next Board meeting, Briscoe passed a resolution thanking McClintock for being a great conservative leader. I was one of the few folks in the room that voted against the resolution. I thought it undermined the right of local chapters to endorse. It wasn’t until much later that I found that Park effectively pulled his version of the Kobayashi Maru at the endorsing convention.
Nevada RA is clearly a thorn in Park’s side. Does he really believe that the sole purpose of the chapter is “…making sure the Placer RA could never block a McClintock endorsement again”?
Last year, Aaron was singing a very different tune on this endorsement.
Third – I am neutral. The attacks have only hardened my resolve to sit this one out. At a time of my choosing, when it is convenient for me, I may engage on behalf of either one of them, which one it is depends on Tom McClintock. Right now, this is a no-win thanks to the actions of one CRA officer (who I won’t name) who has inflamed this situation causing Steve Frank to get John Briscoe’s email. Our club spoke and the CRA Spoke and the discussion should be on why we did not endorse versus the attacks.
Ok, Aaron are you neutral or wanting to insure you can block a McClintock endorsement? The preponderance of evidence points to the latter.
And now for the bald-faced lie.
The Nevada RA was the first time where Alice Khosravy, Carl Brickey and Tim Thiesen stopped going after by-law violations.
Here again is Aaron projecting his feeling to others. This is a lie, and the greatest mischaracterization of all. This distortion is the cornerstone of all the Park attacks. Charter Review followed the Bylaws. That is their job. They try to fix broken units not euthanize them. These Board members are the focus of Aaron’s vitriol in this situation because Aaron’s side lost the Board vote. And for that we have had a continuous tantrum for five months from George and Aaron.
Let’s go back to the January 2015 Board meeting. Here was my take on this at the time.
Next was the Nevada County RA.
Charter Review wanted to discipline the group since the Jeopardy Letter had not had the desired effect. They have been messing with this group for four years but Nevada RA will not follow the rules everyone else has to follow. The vote Charter Review scheduled was to suspend the group and put them in the care of the regional vice-president; in this instance Aaron Park who was not present at the meeting.
This portion of the meeting was again mishandled, this time by Charter Review Chairman, Tim Thiesen, and CRA President, John Briscoe. First, Thiesen failed to make a cogent case as to why Nevada RA was in trouble to start with. Thiesen did not lay out in a concise format what happened or when. We were given disjointed fragments of information. Had this been done via email with an executive summary and a request to vote, I think it would have been a slamdunk; however, done in real time it was a disaster.
To add to the confusion, a representative from Nevada RA appeared to speak in defense of his unit. A motion was made from the malcontent wing of the CRA to allow this man to speak for five minutes. This motion was made after Thiesen’s disjointed presentation was concluded. The motion was approved and the Nevada RA rep was granted five minutes to speak. In addition three speakers from each side were allowed two minutes each to speak. Briscoe made two critical mistakes at this juncture. First he allowed the three speakers on each side their two minutes speaches to occur first and then allowed the Nevada RA speakers five minutes at the end to wrap this up.
The old axiom of he who frames the issue wins the debate proved true here. Thiesen failed to prove why the chapter was in trouble so the Nevada RA guy muddied up the waters even more. President Briscoe did not defend his Charter Review Committee and declined to vote on the matter. This was the last straw. The vote which required a two-thirds vote could not break fifty percent. The malcontents prevailed again. Nevada RA begged to be given until the March Convention and this was granted. I don’t think the extra time will solve the issue.
Park wrote,
20 CRA Board members voted to suspend the charter of the Nevada RA. Tom Hudson’s arguments managed to get 20 to vote no, causing the motion to fail.
Tim Thiesen may not be Perry Mason, but John Briscoe seemed to do everything in his power to disrupt the presentation against Nevada RA. He ever stopped Tim in mid stride to allow Jim Brulte to speak to the Board and get endorsed for re-election. Tim had no opportunity to present a cogent argument.
Here are the pertinent Bylaw sections:
ARTICLE V – TERMINATION OF CHARTER AND MEMBERSHIP
Section 5.03. Membership. By January 31, the Membership Secretary shall notify each chartered Republican Assembly with fewer than fifteen dues-paying members that its charter is in jeopardy. The Board of Directors shall also be so notified by the Membership Secretary. If the membership has not increased to a minimum of fifteen members within six months after the notice was sent, then the chartered Republican Assembly may have its charter and membership revoked at the next Board meeting.
Section 5.04. Discipline. Any Republican Assembly that fails to conform to these Bylaws may have its charter and membership suspended or revoked, or may be otherwise disciplined, by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors. At least thirty days prior to any Board vote on such matter, written notice of the alleged offense and the Board meeting to discuss it shall be provided to the last reported President and Secretary of such Republican Assembly by the Membership Secretary, Recording Secretary, or Corresponding Secretary. Acceptance of a CRA charter constitutes agreement by each Republican Assembly that the state Board of Directors has full authority to discipline any Republican Assembly for violation of these Bylaws, including the power to suspend or revoke its charter. Officers, agents, and members of a Republican Assembly whose charter has been revoked shall turn over all money and property belonging to that Republican Assembly to a duly-authorized representative of the state Board of Directors at a time and place designated by that representative.
What really happened was that since the motion to suspend the chapter failed to get a 2/3 vote, that the Board chose to offer Nevada one last chance to reform prior to the Annual Convention. The convention was scheduled in March (two months later). At this point, the Board could evaluate their response and then Nevada RA could have their charter suspended.
Nevada RA viewed this vote as a wake-up call. They thought the warning letters were just toothless documents sent as retribution for their support of Tom McClintock. In fact, the Nevada President was advised by a previous President to ignore the letters.
Carl Brickey and the others on the Charter Review Committee took the Board instructions seriously and worked to get the Nevada RA back into compliance. Brickey—then a CRA Vice-President—made this issue his personal project. Park had jurisdiction of the Nevada RA but there was so much “bad blood” between the Parks and Nevada that Brickey felt only someone outside this divide could work with Nevada RA.
Prior to the convention, these was a meeting held which again Park mischaracterizes to advance his narrative.
The Nevada RA had a meeting at 8:30AM on a Monday in 2015, 4 days before the CRA Convention in a vain attempt to paper over some by-law violations – at the behest of Alice Khosravy who called Barry to tip him off after then President John Briscoe told her he’d be handling the situation himself. Alice needed the votes from the Nevada RA for the 2015 convention for her plan to take out George.
Alice Khosravy, Carl Brickey and Tim Thiesen were all on Charter Review. Charter Review’s job is to help units in distress to again become units in good standing; not terminate them. Brickey was in attendance at this meeting of Nevada RA just prior to the Convention. He personally verified that all members of the Nevada RA were notified of the meeting and approved of the actions that were taking place. Most chapter members were present at the meeting.
At its conclusion, Brickey was satisfied that Nevada RA had put their two months of grace to good use and had fully complied with the instructions of the Board. This is not to say that Nevada RA was off the hook but any thought of terminating their club at the March 2015 Annual Convention was over.
Clearly, the Parks will settle for nothing less than the eradication of the Nevada chapter. However, if Nevada comes up for another charter suspension vote and survives, then they will be granted de facto immunity from suspension. This possibility is untenable for the Parks. So what do they do? They must first discredit the Charter Review Committee members.
Another lie in Aaron’s narrative is that Alice came to the convention with a “plan to take out George”. Park has repeated this claim many times. However, Alice had no candidate. I’m sure she wished that she did, but Rick Marshall was not her choice.
Prior to the election of officers, I spent time with Alice and others that Aaron is currently attacking on his blog and was never told not to vote for George nor asked to support Rick Marshall. Yes we grumbled about George and his recent conduct. As a matter of fact, I even told Alice that if she wanted, I would be willing to run against George. She was not interested. At the election, I reluctantly voted for George.
So what does all this have to do with the Bylaws? Clearly, the Parks are unwilling to abide by them when the vote does not go their way. Are we ruled by laws or men? As members of the Board, the Parks must abide by the decisions of the Board. Yes, they can still dissent and express their opinion but they cannot undermine the whole organization in some sort of cosmic temper tantrum. If the Board’s actions are so disharmonious with their views then they should resign.
…to be continued