IL GOP's Grassroots ride Dean White into the Winner's Circle in Collinsville, IL. Could this be a turning point for the IL GOP?
Public Affairs TV
Yesterday, about 300 “Grassroots” county delegates to the IL GOP convention overcame strong recent GOP historical precedent and took control of the Party, at least for an afternoon. The grassroots wrested control away from the Establishment IL GOP State Central Committee (“SCC”). Usually, the seventeen member SCC chooses the IL RNC Committeeman and Committeewoman and the delegates in attendance at the convention docilely ratify the choice, almost proforma. But, not yesterday.
Choice of a new IL GOP RNC Committeeman.
This weekend, about five hundred IL Republicans gathered in Collinsville, IL to choose their new IL RNC committeeman and committeewoman to serve on the 168 member Republican National Committee, as IL committeeman Richard Porter, watch by clicking here (12 years of service) and IL committeewoman Demetra Demonte (16 years of service) were both term limited from continuing on the RNC.
The main job of an RNC committeeman is to be the link or nexus between the state GOP and the RNC on national campaigns. Large elements of that nexus include national fundraising, message development and political organizing, especially for the national Presidential and mid-term elections.
The primary interest of the IL GOP grassroots is the recruiting and election of quality state and local candidates and a party apparatus related thereto, not a national committeeman. But the symbolism and precedent of yesterday’s reversal of the establishment SCC was important to the grassroots, and they seemed to shout, as they descended on Collinsville, Carpe Diem, sensing victory would be theirs.
On the other hand, get a sense of what could happen if these two often divergent parts of the IL GOP worked together— by watching RNC Committeeman Porter, linked to above (18:58-19:58), as he explains more than three years ago, the potential interaction between IL State operators, GOP U. S. Senators, the entire Congress and the RNC to solve Illinois’ fiscal issues, including the need to lower public sector pension and education costs— and taxes to make IL more fiscally stable and attractive in the long run to taxpayers and residents.
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The three candidates for IL RNC Committeeman:
For the IL Committeeman race, three candidates- Vince Kolber, Mark Shaw and Dean White had stepped into the arena well before this weekend.
But, the SCC apparently eliminated on Friday Kolber, 70, from Chicago- as he was the lowest vote getter in the initial SCC vote. Kolber is Chair of the IL GOP Finance Committee, twice a GOP nominee for Congress in the IL 5th CD (important tactically for the IL GOP 2014 Gov win), and a very significant donor to both IL state and federal GOP candidates. The IL GOP will want Kolber to continue as an important part of its team.
Also on Friday, Mark Shaw, 63, an attorney who held various GOP party offices in Lake Forest, West Deerfield and the 10th CD of the SCC for many years, held an early 10-4 vote lead in the SCC over Dean White, 55, a businessman from St. Charles, who had apparently been absent from GOP party politics until becoming an 8th CD SCC member for almost the last two years.
White, an amiable, thoughtful and successful construction and fencing entrepreneur, who has been courting the grassroots for perhaps the better part of the last year, emerged as their darling, and his lack of history in IL politics gave him the advantage of no baggage, and the appearance of being a new, but constructive disrupter of the IL GOP establishment.
Shaw, on the other hand, had gotten cross wise with the grassroots during the 2020 IL GOP Primary race and perhaps elsewhere, read here, and the grassroots were now looking for a scalp- so the IL RNC Committeeman race seemed the opportune time for the IL GOP grassroots to flex their muscles.
Moreover, they did a good job of organizing, getting familiar with the rules of the road and getting their troops to Collinsville with their voting credentials literally in hand.
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Establishment goes for a Cram down.
The grassroots understood the SCC establishment types had a majority for Shaw, but the roots thought they could narrow the gap, and did by Saturday to 9-8, only a one vote margin for Shaw. Nevertheless, the “ GOP Establishment,” thought they could do the equivalent of a bankruptcy “Cram down” manipulation on Saturday afternoon of the assembled 400 or so county GOP delegates from around the State, who were still present at the IL GOP convention.
The establishment thought they were in control of the afternoon meeting, but made the mistake of way overplaying their hand. They seemed to do little to get their troops to Collinsville and they paid the price when they tried to muscle their way through a voice vote among delegates to approve the SCC’s bare majority choice- Mark Shaw.
The GOP establishment, running the meeting, contended that Shaw had gotten the majority of the county delegates to ratify the SCC’s pick of him for RNC committeeman. But the grassroots stood their ground and demanded a re-vote, contending that Shaw had fallen far short of a requisite majority to approve his nomination. After the re-vote, it was clear the roots were right and White had strongly won both voice votes.
So, the establishment next called for a vote by standing- with each voter displaying his or her credential, a badge identifying the person as a registered voter for this weekend’s meeting. This time, Dean White was the overwhelming winner: 314 to 107. The GOP establishment had been caught with their pants down, so to speak.
Score one for the grassroots.
Even worse for Shaw, the GOP establishment seemed perplexed as to what to do next but invited both Shaw and White to meet with the SCC, a meeting that was open to delegates and other observers, so the 17 member SCC huddled with Shaw and White and about 30 others in close quarters. The SCC voted again for RNC Commiteeman- but by then Big Mo had shifted in favor of rookie Dean White, propelling him to a 10-7 SCC victory over Shaw.
And Shaw had grown visibly annoyed (lawyers generally know better) that he had lost his initial majority backing of the SCC. Moreover, he knew that even if he could pull a rabbit out of the hat and miraculously reverse the SCC vote, the county delegates in the Hall were never going to approve him, no matter how many votes were taken, so the only sensible option was for him to throw his support to Dean White, which he did and the assembly of Delegates overwhelmingly approved that recommendation of White for IL GOP RNC Committeeman.
Rhonda Belford, GOP Chair of Hardin County, was the SCC’s choice over Joan Lasonde for IL GOP Committeewoman, and Belford was easily approved by the Delegates in the Hall. Lasonde, residing on Chicago’s North Shore, is the 9th CD member of the SCC.
The next steps for the IL GOP.
So, we’ll find out in due course if Dean White, who is a bit of an unknown commodity in IL GOP politics, is everything the grassroots hope he will be.
More importantly, we will no doubt learn soon if the SCC has learned how to make effective use of the grassroots’ energy to start producing some general election wins, perhaps even for IL Governor, since the stakes for IL are so high. And, many in the IL GOP almost surely will start chanting that familiar phrase: “Now is the time for all good men [and women] to come to the aid of their Party.”