Ron Carey vs Lt. Col. Joe Repya, June 9th, Get Your Tickets Now!
March 29th, 2007 by 
Kevin
Actually it’s already sold out, because the showdown for the seat of chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party will take place at the State Central Committee meeting on June 9th. To participate you have to be a State Central Delegate, and to be that, you have to be voted as such by your district. For that you have to get your fat ass off the couch and be active.
Alas, although I’ll probably be in the building, I doubt I’ll get a vote. I’m a highly ranked Alternate Delegate but the with a contested seat for chairman I’m guessing that attendance will be high, and none of my districts Delegates will give up their seat (thereby allowing me to take it).
So why is Repya running and what does he plan to do?? In his own words….
“I come from a military background where you’re responsible for everything your unit does or does not do in combat. Last fall, Ron Carey lost 20 seats in the (Minnesota) House and six in the Senate. If he were in the military, he would be reassigned to a new position.”
“I came back from two years of military service in early October to a Republican Party in Minnesota that is probably the most demoralized and factionalized that I’ve seen in the years I’ve lived here,” Repya said. “It is in dire need of dynamic, exciting new leadership, and I can provide that.”
“I bring leadership that’s been tested under fire,” Repya said. “We want to get Republicans back into boot camp, retrain and re-energize them, and get them out of the trenches and back on the road to victory.”
Sounds like a breath of fresh air, and would be appealing even in the best of conditions. But the MN GOP is by far from the best of conditions right now. There are alot of activists very very very bitter about this last cycle. Even if it actually wasn’t his fault, it would almost seem better for Carey to step aside and let the slate by wiped clean. No reason to have internal rivalries and bitterness spill over….which seems almost guaranteed to happen.
And while it’s true that military leadership doesn’t always translate to guaranteed success as a civilian leader, it certainly doesn’t hurt. And it’s not like Repya is exactly a novice at this…
He first appeared on the Minnesota political scene in 2003, when he and his wife, Deb, a St. Paul lawyer, formed a grass-roots organization to produce and distribute 30,000 “Support our troops” lawn signs. Later, he organized a Capitol rally to support the war in Iraq and started making frequent television appearances as a military analyst.
In 2004, he served as Minnesota co-chairman of Veterans for Bush-Cheney, spoke to veterans groups across the nation on behalf of the president’s campaign and led the Pledge of Allegiance to open the Republican National Convention.
About the only bad think I can say about his is he’s a McCain supporter, but then again many veterans are, not that I can really blame them. But he still seems shoulders above his opposition in my opinion. In the unlikely event that I get a vote, I’m pretty sure I know where I’m casting it.
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Posted in Local Events, Political Mumbojumbo | 
March 29th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
I’m third in line as far as alternates go, Kevin. But even if all your delegate spots are taken up, you can still fill a delegate seat from any delegation that doesn’t have enough.
See you on June 9th, buddy–
-Leo-
March 30th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
[...] has a post up about Joe Repya’s entrance into the Chair’s Race. (emphasis mine) Sounds like a breath [...]
March 31st, 2007 at 7:38 am
I would like to see a casualty of this last election cycle run - say, Mary Kiffmeyer, who has for years demonstrated a tremedous ability to organize and win elections as a GOPer for a position considered a birth-right of the DFL (anybody remember Joan Growe?).
March 31st, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Interesting idea, Dave, but I don’t know that Mary’s experience translates directly into the chair of a volunteer organization. She’s a great role model for activists, though.
By the same token, I love Col. Repya, but he is used to a command organization, which the GOP is not, by any stretch of the imagination. And as far as I’m concerned, I don’t give a rodent’s derriere as to who has the title. What I care about is how the job is going to get done, and who has the best ideas for wheedling and cajoling the 85% of activists who DIDN’T show up for our convention to get active and involved. I can think of plenty of reasons to keep Ron Carey as chair; I don’t know enough about Col. Repya’s plans or abilities, yet.
March 31st, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Well yes, ultimately it’s the job getting done is the most important.
And while there are reasons Ron Carey to stick around and continue as chairman, you can’t deny there is baggage there. Ultimately, I want a guy in the front office that doesn’t alienate some of our activists with his/her mere presence.
If the fact that he’s in charge turns a sizeable number of people off before we can even get them to show up, what good is he doing?
April 1st, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Sorry, but I’m still not happy with that line of thinking. It seems to boil down to wanting to replace Carey just to replace Carey– to find somebody to blame for our losses last year. But unless you can say for certain that someone else could have done much better (that is, better beyond the large “what if” factor”), you haven’t any REASON to replace. Similarly, you cannot “prove” that someone new will do better, either. It’s all conjecture, guesswork, and a lot of wishful thinking.
Look, I’m going to give everybody that wants the job (which I will never understand) a fair shake, but I don’t want to be changing until I’m darn certain that newer is better. Whoever gets elected, we better put that behind us and not continue to hold grudges.
April 1st, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Nobody can ever say that someone else can do a better job for certain. But if you follow your line of thinking, we should always vote the incumbent back in in any election just because an unknown is scarier than a known.
You can say the grudges should be put aside, but the fact is that they won’t. That’s a fantasy, this is reality. And it’s harsh reality.
April 2nd, 2007 at 12:27 am
Newer frequently IS better. People who are long entrenched in any political field tend towards corruption and the politics of power: ie the job becomes keeping the job, which is self-serving without benefit to the people the politician is supposed to represent. Carey’s been in the Executive Committee for a long long time. I’m inclined towards shaking it up. Now’s a good time to do some housekeeping. We lost bad, the organization has lost it’s way. A fresh idealist is what we need to lead us into the next chapter of GOP history. Is it Repya? I don’t know yet, but I’m all ears.