My suggestion yesterday that the Nevada GOP should consider electing First Lady Dawn Gibbons as its Republican National Committeewoman elicited responses ranging from chills to thrills. One friend went so far as to ask if I’d lost my mind, while another wrote, “This is absolutely brilliant!” First, let’s get a couple things on the record:
(1) I have not discussed this with the First Lady whatsoever. I have absolutely no idea if she’d even WANT the job. I was merely suggesting this would theoretically be an idea to consider.
(2) This was not GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden’s idea, as some have suggested. To the contrary, Sue has told me in no uncertain terms what a great job Washoe County GOP Chairwoman Heidi Smith - who has announced she’s running for the national committeewoman position - has done, especially in running the Washoe County GOP caucus and her help in organizing next weekend’s convention.
This isn’t about whether or not Heidi would be a “bad” national committeewoman; only that Dawn, given the choice, would be better. Here’s why…
About a decade ago, the Nevada Republican Party made the conscious decision that the primary role of its national committee members would be fundraising. And that role is even more essential now than it was back then.
You see, Republicans no longer control Congress. Which means they’re no longer raising as much money at the national level as they were before. Which means the financial support the Republican National Committee (RNC) used to provide its state parties has dried up. Which means the Nevada GOP is on its own when it comes to funding its operations. And with that in mind, ask yourself these questions:
Who would be more likely to raise the most amount of money for the party, the state’s sitting First Lady who has statewide name recognition, or a relatively unknown county party chairwoman from Reno?
Are potential major donors more likely to take a call from the First Lady or a county chairwoman?
Who would likely have the best chance to lure big-name Washington speakers to Nevada to headline fundraising events, the state’s First Lady or a county party chairwoman?
And would the average Republican Party voter be more likely to respond to a fundraising letter signed by First Lady Dawn Gibbons or someone they’ve never even heard of?
Exactly. It’s just that simple.
The fact is, Dawn has built up a long list of major contacts with donors, elected officials and movers-and-shakers in Nevada, Washington, DC, and throughout the rest of the country over the many years she served in the Nevada Legislature and her husband served in Congress. Indeed, I checked this morning and verified that Dawn raised over $800,000 for her unsuccessful GOP primary race for Congress in 2006. That ain’t exactly chump change.
Her fundraising abilities and Washington contacts were two of the reasons former Rep. Barbara Vucanovich was such a successful Nevada GOP National Committeewoman when she was in Congress. It’s also the reason why Nevada Democrats have chosen folks such as former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones and state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus as their national committeewomen. They have keys to the vault.
A couple more points.
First, some folks have suggested a number of other possible candidates for this position who live in Las Vegas. But because of a ridiculous rule in the Nevada GOP bylaws which doesn’t exist, I believe, in any other state in the union, the national committeeman and national committeewoman cannot come from the same county. And since Nevada Republican National Committeeman Joe Brown is from Las Vegas, the national committeewoman has to live somewhere other than Clark County.
Secondly, I know some pro-life folks object to Dawn’s pro-choice position. And that’s fine. But bear in mind, the RNC isn’t primarily a policy body. In fact, I believe the last time the RNC members dealt with the abortion issue seriously was at their Palm Springs meeting in 1997 when a proposal was offered to withhold RNC donations from any Republican candidate who wasn’t pro-life. And while this issue will surely be debated at the national convention in Minnesota in September, it’s simply not an overriding issue normally handled by the national committee.
What IS a huge issue for the RNC these days, however, is how to handle primaries/caucuses in the future. As it is, Nevada has been tentatively carved out as one of only four approved early-voting states…along with Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But that decision hasn’t been finalized and certainly hasn’t been set in stone. Nevada’s national committee folks are going to need to fight long and hard all the way to keep its status as an approved early voting state.
And remember, Heidi Smith OPPOSED moving the Nevada GOP caucus up to January 19th last year. That was simply bad judgment on her part. I sure hope she doesn’t still oppose Nevada remaining as an early-voting state. But I’m sure she’ll clear that up before the election on Saturday.
So there you have it. If you’re asking yourself, “Is this just about the money?” the answer is…yep. Like it or not, money is a critically important cog in any political machine. After all, as Virginia National Committeeman Morton Blackwell says, you can’t save the world if you can’t pay the rent.
In closing, let me repeat that I’ve had no discussion of this with Dawn Gibbons. I’m simply laying out the case that it’s not a crazy idea for the First Lady to serve as the Nevada Republican Party’s national committeewoman were she interested in taking on the role, responsibility and challenge. But in the end, this is a decision Republicans at their convention will have to make on Saturday. I don’t have a dog in these party fights any longer - now that I’m independent, like Nevada.
Posted on April 20th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
How about Sharon Angle?
First Lady DAWN Gibbons IS IDEAL for this assignment. She IS NOT AN IDEALOGUE thus highly suited for this assignment. This job requires a very well known & hard working political person who is respected by other national Republican leaders. Dawn Gibbons is such an individual. I know Ms Gibbons and she is the RIGHT CHOICE for our next RNC COMMITTEWOMAN for the state of Nevada.
How about Dema Guinn, Lynn Weidner or Montery Brookman? all would be great fundraisers.
Sharron would scare off too many potential young and moderate republicans. If we want to keep the numbers high, we need someone with positive, uplifting energy-and yes, someone who is socially moderate. Dawn and Dean scored big points for saying they were pro-choice in debates against Sharron. Sharron needs to be in a more socially conservative milieu- she’s a force of nature and can get a lot of great work done, but would be better as an elected constitutional officer. Dawn’s fundraising ability, political clout and that smile are a winning combination!
It would be a big conflict to have Dawn as State Committee Woman. She will have to go Washington and the State would be paying for security and she would be doing political fundraising. Can you hear the Dems screaming? The Republicans certainly would if it were reversed. On the other hand, Heidi Smith took over an in debt county committee, has done a fantastic job and has more money in the bank than the State Party, way more!! Heidi was also President of the National Federation and spent 4 years in DC and has certainly shown that she can raise money and has many contacts here and DC. Maybe you should get out to more functions. We do miss you, JC
Dawn would have security if she went to Disneyland. She gets security for wherever she goes, so this is a false argument. In any event, she need not travel to DC to raise money from DC folks or to invite DC folks to come to Nevada to do events for the party. That’s why Al Bell invented the telephone and Al Gore invented the Internet.
Your blog is a clear indication that you do not have any historical reference of Heidi Smith. You only mentioned her as a county committee chairman. Never did you mention that she was the NATIONAL President of Republican Woman. You didn’t mention that she has been heavily involved in Nevada GOP politics for more than 20 years. During those 20 years she played key roles in raising funds for the Vucanovich war chest, helping raise funds for ALL the Gibbons campaigns, as well as other local and national GOP politicos. You mentioned that Heidi is unknown which tells me that you are not that keyed into the local and state levels politics. I am sure that if you were to ask Dawn if Heidi was qualified and would be ideal she would agree. Heidi has many contacts both locally and nationally that she can use. You forget that the people behind the scenes are usually the ones that put others on stage in the first place.
I never said Heidi wasn’t qualified. I merely pointed out that from a fundraising perspective, Dawn would be better. Which is absolutely true.