S O U N D   O F F

November 17, 2010

Nov. 16, 2010

Dear Congressman-elect Gardner,

I had the honor and privilege of working with Roni Bell on a couple of GOP congressional campaigns this fall -- Mike Fallon for U.S. House (Colo.1) and Isaac Hayes for U.S. House (IL-2). She's a dedicated American patriot.

I urge you to consider her American Consumer Tax Act as either a bill -- or a resolution seeking the sense of the Congress -- for the 112th Congress.

Looking forward to speaking with you in the future.

Very Respectfully,
Eugene J. Koprowski, Esq.
Managing Partner
Genome-Communications, LLP
http://www.genome-communications.com ;
703-314-2501

Republicans made history on November 2 when they retook the House of Representatives in what was the biggest rout there in 70 years. The GOP gained more than 60 House seats – and won competitive races in the bluest of blue states, like Illinois. You would think the GOP’s Old Guard – national committeemen and state party chairmen – would be happy with the results. Everyone likes a winner, right?

But the old bulls of the GOP are not happy that the credit for much of the win goes to Michael Steele, the RNC Chairman, who forged an unforgettable alliance with the Tea Party and the candidates themselves, in the Midwest, and elsewhere in middle America, as part of his “Fire Pelosi Bus Tour.”

Steele spent six weeks in a bus, festooned with red and white lettering on the side, saying, “Fire Pelosi,” touring all of the lower 48 states and visiting about 116 Congressional districts. This generated vital local news coverage for GOP candidates everywhere he went.

The Tea Party picked up on this theme too. If you cruise the Internet, you can see plenty of Tea Party/Fire Pelosi joint events that were touted on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. The Grand Old Party combined its interests with those of the Tea Party, and the candidates thus ending Pelosi’s tenure, after just four years as Speaker.

As a conservative activist, who worked with the Chairman and his coalitions team on the Fire Pelosi Bus tour, as part of the Isaac Hayes for Congress campaign and Ed Motley for Sheriff campaign in Illinois, I had a first hand look at what Steele did for the GOP on the ground in Congressional and local races. He personally expanded the party’s base. We had 40 African-American candidates running for various offices around the U.S., inspired by his election as the first black GOP chairman.

Many, like Ed Motley, won because Steele campaigned, personally, for them. See http://www.republicanassemblies.org/nfra-endorsed-candidate-wins-in-illinois/

I’ve been e-mailing GOP State Chairmen and RNC Committeeman for the last few days and have been urging them to support Steele for re-election as RNC Chairman. Most are quite enthusiastic, as evidenced by the recent story on the Talking Points Memo Blog/DC that indicated that Chairman Steele has 100 votes – out of 168 possible votes – already in hand, more than enough to win a first ballot re-election when the RNC meets in suburban Washington D.C. in mid-January to choose the next Chairman. See, RNC Member: Don’t Count Michael Steele Out Yet, Talking Points Memo, Nov. 15, 2010, at, http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/michael-steele/ .

But some old bulls are grousing. They’re purportedly upset that the RNC raised less money during this election, than in previous elections, even though conservatives, overall, raised seemingly record amounts of money. They’ve put up a front man, a former Teamster and former Michigan GOP Chairman, as their stalking horse to run to unseat Steele. This is not working for them, though, as adverse media coverage is already surfacing regarding this poseur. New York Newsday put out a poll, online, in recent days, after learning of the relatively obscure Teamster's sudden bid for RNC chairman, and asked if he was “nakedly ambitious” and “engaged in a fevered lunge for self-promotion.” See, http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/spin-cycle-naked-ambition-1.2460970

I’ve never met this hard core unionist, so I can’t say. But, from dealing with RNC committeemen all over the country, I can tell you that the vocal minority supporting the Teamster seems to have completely forgotten the fact that the GOP won the election on November 2. They’re grousing to me that Steele has “embarrassed” them with alleged verbal gaffes over the last two years, and that they want someone they can “unite” behind. My answer to that is – huh?

This was the narrative – used against Steele – nearly a year ago, when these disgruntled insiders tried to dump the chairman previously. This is an old story. But some old bulls can’t seem to get over old stories, old narratives, or old wives tales.

I urge the RNC Committeemen who may be undecided to vote for Steele for Chairman in January. He established alliances with the Tea Party that will serve the conservative movement well in 2012, expanded the party’s base in the black community, had a phenomenal fundraising year, even as newer fundraising vehicles, like American Crossroads, emerged as sources of financing for candidates, and, most importantly, Steele and the Fire Pelosi Bus tour was a big reason the GOP won on November 2. We Americans fired Pelosi, the most viciously partisan Speaker in U.S. history. Now is not the time to get all riled up and hire a new GOP chairman. Now is the time to stick together and stick it to the Democrats in 2012.

--Eugene J. Koprowski, Esq., is Chairman of the Conservative Young Guns Committee, based in Alexandria, Va.