Politics Report: The SD GOP Disintegrates

Thursday, Kristie Bruce-Lane, who is running for the state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Brian Jones, sent out a press release. She’s hoping for a spot in the runoff election (likely against former San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott) but she must first fight off Ed Musgrove, a San Marcos city councilmember, another Republican, to get there.

Her campaign claimed she got a big boost in that battle this week.

“… in a decisive 31-14 vote Monday night, the Republican Party of San Diego sided with Kristie Bruce-Lane and rejected Musgrove’s request for an endorsement and listing on the Party’s endorsement guide,” it reported, violating the Party’s prohibition on public disclosure of votes like that, something I’ll do below as well.

It was an odd claim. If she had gotten support from 31 of the Party’s Central Committee members, she herself would have gotten the endorsement. She did not. The press release touched off a flurry of messages among the Central Committee members who had already been fighting all week after very heated exchanges at the meeting Monday night. More than a year after Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and his allies took over the local Party and promised to unify it, the party is nearly broke, facing paralyzing infighting and now may not send out a voter guide for the first time in many years.

Monday night’s meeting was the highest point yet in the tensions that have beleaguered the party for two years since a falling out between its former leaders and DeMaio. Many of them lined up against DeMaio’s run for the Assembly seat and with his opponent, Andrew Hayes. But after Hayes’ lost, big, DeMaio became the unquestioned leader of the party. Monday, he didn’t want the party to endorse in two key races Republicans may have a shot to win this coming November and it did not.

It prompted an opinion piece we ran this week from the party’s former chairman, Corey Gustafson, who said DeMaio, his allies and the political action committee he controls, Reform California, got just what they wanted keeping the party weak.

“They’ve advocated for a ‘no endorsement’ policy that strips the Party of its most powerful tool in primary elections. This policy is as strategic as it is hypocritical. While Reform California makes endorsements in nearly every race, the Party is silenced, giving DeMaio’s endorsements free rein. The formula is simple: the weaker the Party, the stronger Reform becomes,” Gustafson wrote.

The Monday Night Fight: This account was pulled together from interviews with three sources who attended the Central Committee meeting Monday.

The party, even as its influence began declining 15 years ago, had still been able to hold big events. It’s regular Lincoln-Reagan Dinner, its debates, its endorsement meetings were often packed in big venues like the convention center at the Town and Country Resort.

But Monday the party Central Committee meeting took up a small section of the vast rows of seats at Awaken Church in Kearny Mesa. The era of big events is over.

Paula Whitsell, the chair of the party was on stage. But from the start of the meeting she began huddling with the party parliamentarian and DeMaio as they discussed the first issue: Whether the endorsement decisions would go to multiple votes until someone got two-thirds of the Central Committee’s support or whether it would stop after just one vote. The new bylaws DeMaio and Whitsell had put in place indicated votes would continue until there was an endorsement but DeMaio was now advocating that if no candidate could get a super majority from the start, then the “people should decide.”

The secret discussions between DeMaio and Whitsell elicited some interjections from other Committee members until finally Amy Reichert stood up. “The meeting’s over here,” she said loudly. This provoked a blistering exchange of personal attacks between Reichert and DeMaio of which observers say neither should be very proud.

The Central Committee sided with DeMaio that they would not keep voting on an endorsement until a candidate got a super majority. The meeting was already 90 minutes along and they hadn’t even begun hearing from the candidates.

The two big endorsement votes: Republicans want to hold the seat that County Supervisor Jim Desmond is leaving. The Central Committee was considering either San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones or Vista Mayor John Franklin. The sense was Franklin was the favorite but DeMaio supports Jones and he was working intensely to stop the party’s endorsement.

Franklin won the first vote 27-21 and a second vote 28-20 but it wasn’t a super-majority.

The Committee moved on to discuss the seat that state Sen. Brian Jones is vacating. Again, the Central Committee appeared split between Ed Musgrove and Kristie Bruce-Lane, with an edge for Musgrove. DeMaio supports Bruce-Lane, though, who has been a steadfast ally. He wasn’t going to let Musgrove prevail. Party members said he patrolled the room trying to see how members may be voting.

Musgrove won the vote 25-23, far less than a super-majority. A motion to reconsider was made. This would be a chance to see if some votes might flip to Musgrove and indicate whether he could get to two-thirds support in another vote. But it was late, Central Committee members were exhausted and demoralized. The vote to reconsider failed 31-14.

That’s what Bruce-Lane’s team seized on and blasted to the public as proof that the party had “sided with” her. Some Central Committee members were angry about the spin – if 31 of them had supported Bruce-Lane, that would have been a super-majority of support for her and she would have won the actual endorsement. But the party did not endorse.

With the party staying out of the race, the main voter guide for people who identify as Republicans will be Reform California’s, determined solely by DeMaio. The Republican Party likely won’t send one at all.

After his op-ed came in, I asked Gustafson to tell me more.

“Our party is not united right now. It’s at war with itself and every battle traces back to one man: Carl DeMaio. He’s a divisive character right now. This new leadership team promised unity and delivered anything but,” he said.

I reached out to Whitsell, the chair of the party. She did not respond. When I asked DeMaio to talk, he replied with just “LOL.”

If you have any questions or ideas for the Politics Report, send them to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.

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