A Message to NEGOP State Convention Delegates

One of the many important tasks you’ll undertake as a delegate is vote for our next Republican National Committeeman and National Committeewoman.   Each state and U.S. territory has 3 representatives on the 168-member Republican National Committee:  State Chairman, National Committeeman and National Committeewoman.   I’ve served on the RNC since my election as NEGOP State Chairman in January 2009, and our current National Committeeman (Pete Ricketts) and National Committeewoman (De Carlson) recently announced they will not seek reelection.   After Pete’s announcement, I discussed my desire to serve as National Committeeman with my family and a number of Republican leaders, including Gov. Dave Heineman and former 20-year National Committeeman Duane Acklie, and with their encouragement and support announced my candidacy for this position.

What does a National Committeeman do?  In my opinion the National Committeeman should focus on: (1) fundraising for the NEGOP and RNC; (2) representing Nebraska’s interests on the RNC; and (3) assisting the NEGOP Chairman in outreach and other efforts.  I’ve spent the last 3 years getting to know the NEGOP’s larger donors, and it would be unfortunate to end my chairmanship in early 2013 and throw away the goodwill we’ve built up.  Also, I’ve developed a personal friendship with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and he’s already tasked me with several important responsibilities, including serving on the RNC Committee on Contests for the 2012 National Convention.  As your National Committeeman I would hope to continue to foster those relationships for the benefit of the NEGOP.

Why should we elect Mark Fahleson?  I’ve had the pleasure of serving as your Chairman since January 2009, and my current term will end in early 2013.  If I’m not elected, Nebraska will lose all of its seniority on the RNC with the departure of De (47^th in seniority), Pete (73^rd) and myself (110^th).  Many important decisions on the RNC are based on seniority.  By continuing to serve, Nebraska will have an established member on the RNC with the seniority to be involved in the decisions that matter to the NEGOP and its candidates. 

I would greatly appreciate your vote at State Convention! 

A New Chapter

RNC National Committeeman Pete Ricketts recently announced that he will not seek reelection.  On behalf of everyone involved in the Nebraska Republican Party, I want to thank Pete for his service and wish him continued success in his efforts to preserve and protect the principles upon which our nation was founded.

It is my intention to seek the vacant National Committeeman position at the NEGOP State Convention on July 14 in Grand Island. 

I am grateful to have been encouraged to seek the National Committeeman position by so many Republican officials, pro-family organizations and business and community leaders.  I am especially grateful to have the support of Senator Johanns, Governor Heineman, former National Committeeman Duane Acklie and countless others.  I thank you for your consideration, and hope I can earn your support. 

As you may know, I previously served as Vice-Chairman of the Sarpy County Republican Party, Chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Party, NEGOP General Counsel and am now in my second two-year term as Chairman of the NEGOP.   As your Chair, I have had the pleasure of serving as one of Nebraska’s three Republican National Committee members since January 2009, and have steadily moved up 58 slots on the RNC seniority list—something that will benefit our great state if I am allowed to continue to serve on the RNC. 
 
When I ran for re-election as NEGOP State Chair, I made it clear that this term—which will end in early 2013--would be my last as State Chair.  If I am elected as your National Committeeman in July, we will promptly hold an election in conjunction with our State Convention for a new State Chair to complete my term.  Regardless of what happens, you may rest assured that I am committed to working with our Party’s leaders to ensure that Nebraska remains “Forever Red.”

I would sincerely appreciate your support for my bid for National Committeeman.  If you support my candidacy and wish to be listed with Senator Johanns, Governor Heineman, Duane Acklie and the others who have endorsed me, please e-mail me at mfahleson@gmail.com.

RNC Meeting and 2012 Presidential Primaries

I'm reporting live from the summer meeting of the Republican National Committee in Kansas City.  The meeting is relatively noncontroversial, especially considering the tremendous successes Republicans have achieved in federal, state and local elections since Americans woke up from the nightmares known as the Obama Administration and Democrat Congress.  The RNC is united behind one goal--restoring our federal government to the conservative principles on which it was founded.  For that to happen, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid must be dethroned. 

The only item generating much discussion is the report of the "Temporary Delegate Selection Committee," on which our National Committeeman Pete Ricketts was an active member.  This Committee was created at the 2008 Republican National Convention to address issues that arose as a result of some states accelerating their primary schedules.   The report proposes, among other things:

• No primary, caucus or convention to elect presidential delegates shall occur before the first Tuesday in March in the year in which a national convention is held.
• Primaries, caucuses, or conventions occurring between the first Tuesday in March and April 1 must provide for the allocation of delegates on a proportional basis.  "Proportional allocation basis" is to be left to the discretion of each state, but an example would be basing the allocation on the number of statewide votes cast in proportion to the number of statewide votes received by each candidate.
• Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada are exempt from the foregoing requirements, but cannot hold their primaries, caucuses or conventions until after February 1 in the year in which a national convention is held. 
• All of this is contingent upon the Democratic National Committee adopting the same schedule.

The goal of the proposal is to bring some order and uniformity to the presidential primaries without allowing the process to be front loaded by a large state such as California.  All in all, a good proposal.

So long as it's not associated with Nancy Pelosi, it stands a good chance of passing . . . .

We just finished a lunch with Republican Senate candidate Rep. Roy Blunt, who gave an outstanding speech about what is at stake this November and President Obama's campaigning for his opponent because he needs her vote in the Senate. 

What better reason to support Roy Blunt?

In the words of Aaron Tippin "You've got to stand for something . . . ."

As the NEGOP Chairman, I also serve as one of Nebraska's three voting members on the Republican National Committee. In the aftermath of the November 2009 special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District, an internal debate has raged among RNC members about whether a candidate should support certain Republican principles as a precondition to receiving funding the national Republican organizations. One RNC member, Jim Bopp, Jr.--the national committeeman from Indiana and the 2009 Republican Lawyer of the Year--has proposed a resolution that sets forth ten principles; candidates are expected to support at least eight of these principles if they want to run and receive funding as Republicans. This debate has now gone public, with the expected gnashing of teeth from liberals and the press. One example from Politico can be found here.

The resolution:


Proposed RNC Resolution on Reagan's Unity Principle for Support of Candidates


WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan believed that the Republican Party should support and espouse conservative principles and public policies; and


WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan also believed the Republican Party should welcome those with diverse views; and


WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan believed, as a result, that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent; and


WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies and Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama's socialist agenda is necessary to preserve the security of our country, our economic and political freedoms, and our way of life; and


WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies is necessary to restore the trust of the American people in the Republican Party and to lead to Republican electoral victories; and


WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee shares President Ronald Reagan's belief that the Republican Party should espouse conservative principles and public policies and welcome persons of diverse views; and


WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee desires to implement President Reagan's Unity Principle for Support of Candidates; and


WHEREAS, in addition to supporting candidates, the Republican National Committee provides financial support for Republican state and local parties for party building and federal election activities, which benefits all candidates and is not affected by this resolution; and


THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee identifies ten (10) key public policy positions for the 2010 election cycle, which the Republican National Committee expects its public officials and candidates to support:


(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's “stimulus” bill;


(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;


(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;


(4) We support workers' right to secret ballot by opposing card check;


(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;


(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;


(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;


(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;


(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and


(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership; and be further


RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public policy positions of the Republican National Committee, as identified by the voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee; and be further


RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall deliver a copy of this resolution to each of Republican members of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, as they become known, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.

Although I will not be able to attend the January RNC meeting in Hawaii (I'll be in McCook playing host to Republicans who want to replace Sen. Ben Nelson), I'll be proxying my vote to National Committeeman Pete Ricketts.

How should I vote? In favor or against the resolution? If against, why?