Local GOP delegates ready for battle

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press February 24, 2001.

By LISA WAHLA
Valley Press Staff Writer

They began trickling in more than a month ago - first one piece of campaign literature, then another and another. Recent days have brought a flood of letters, pamphlets and brochures to a select group of decision-making Antelope Valley residents.

The reason? They will choose the next set of Republican leaders for the beleaguered state party, which faces large deficits in voter registration statewide and in elected leadership in Sacramento.

The state's Republican convention is this weekend in Sacramento, where nine party faithful from each of the local legislative districts - state assembly, state senate and Congress - will cast their votes.

The main fight is between Republican state committee chair candidates Shawn Steel and Brooks Firestone. Steel, the current state party vice chairman, is the more conservative candidate and is considered by many to be the front-runner. Firestone, a former assemblyman from Santa Barbara, is supported by the more moderate California Congress of Republicans.

The competition has been as fierce as John McCain vs. George W. Bush. One delegate called the race a "dogfight," and local delegates say they're looking forward to tonight's Steel-Firestone debate. Party chairpersons are instrumental in fund-raising and in organizing grassroots volunteers.

Steel has drawn support from some Antelope Valley delegates, including longtime Lancaster Republican Mary Miller.

"He spoke at the Palmdale Republican Women's club, and I introduced myself," Miller said. "We talked at length ... I think he's a fine gentleman. I think he has a forward-looking agenda with many plans for the future and for changing the election process so we will gather in the independents and the moderate Republicans - this is what we're after."

Delegate Richard Loa, a Palmdale attorney, also praised Steel. "He's very accessible and a very affable individual," said Loa, who said he's leaning toward Steel but is keeping an open mind. "He may be conservative but he's certainly accessible. He has been very helpful to the Hispanic Republican Assembly group in Sacramento."

Miller and Loa are two of 14 local residents slated as delegates; some have attended numerous conventions, while others are new to the convention scene. All have been active in Republican politics, and all are being inundated with campaign literature.

"Holy smokes - my mailbox is packed," said first-time delegate Dean Henderson, a mortgage broker who serves on the Palmdale Planning Commission. "I've never been polled for anything before, and I've been polled three times" by groups vying for leadership.

Delegates say they are sifting through their mail and forming decisions about which slate to vote for - an important ballot that will determine how party leadership will try to make up its numbers deficit.

"I think it's a very important crossroads for the Republican Party because there have been quite a few statewide seats lost," delegate Isaac Diaz Barcelona said. "We need to get the message out to the public that Republicans are not monsters."

Barcelona said a key is communicating the party platform to Hispanics, who tend to vote Democratic.

Hispanics "are hard-working, religious and family-oriented," agreed Valley dentist Ralph Waugh, who has been a delegate for about two decades. "They would fit right into the Republican mold."

Several delegates cited the lingering complications from former Gov. Pete Wilson's anti-immigration rhetoric.

"English only - it's over," said three-time appointee Larry Logsdon, a Palmdale School District trustee. "The Southwest is going to be bilingual; it's a bi-cultural area. That's not a negative; that's a positive."

Palmdale City Councilman Mike Dispenza, appointed to his first stint as a delegate, offered two solutions to make California a "two-party state again."

"We have to be able to accept more opinions in our party and really give them credence and a platform to talk from," Dispenza, who considers himself a moderate. "Also, we need to go out and bring in these individuals (from other demographics). We don't have to worry about raiding the Democratic party because so many people aren't voting in any party."

The Republicans' situation is all the more pressing with the upcoming reapportionment process, in which seats in state government and Congress will be allotted for the next 10 years.