MEMO TO: Georgia GOP Convention Delegates & Alternates
by Bill Simon
Dear Georgia GOP State Convention Delegates & Alternates,
Congratulations on your success so far, and welcome to the world of Georgia Republican Party politics. If you’ve read this edition this far, I presume you would be interested in knowing a few facts about one of the candidates for State Party Chair: Tricia Pridemore.
Tricia has spent the last 3 months tearing-down the current chair Sue Everhart, and Sue’s record. Since a lot of what Tricia has claimed about Sue is untrue and inaccurate, and since Tricia has claimed it to untold numbers of people, I am taking it upon myself to address those falsehoods about Sue, who is a person I’ve known for 10 years to be a very hard worker, a very good person, and a great asset to the Republican cause in Georgia.
What is truly amazing about the support for Tricia Pridemore is that NO ONE who supports her appears to be have actually known her for anything longer than…what? Two years? Three years, max? Most of her supporters do not know her at all, and are just onboard, I guess, due to the fact that they they hate having to think for themselves. And, instead, cede their thinking process to go along with someone they also barely know, the new Governor of the State of Georgia, Nathan Deal.
Yeah, it’s great we have a Republican Governor. But, I didn’t elect someone whom I want to run my entire life or do my own thinking…as, apparently, a lot of Tricia’s supporters have expressed when they express “Well, the Governor should be allowed to have whoever he wants in there.” Yeah, well, sorry, Kiddos…there’s this “thing” called State Party Rules, written and adopted long before Tricia, Sue or even Governor Deal came on the scene that spells-out that the state party chairman is elected from the grassroots, not appointed by the Governor.
The support for Sue Everhart is deep. Her supporters are Republicans who have known her and seen her work for over 15+ solid years for Republican causes. Not talk about what she “might” accomplish…but actually have a proven track record of accomplishment.
Let’s talk about Tricia’s so-called “accomplishments,” but I’ll work backwards, starting from her “co-chairmanship” of the Cobb County Deal for Governor campaign. One would think that if Tricia was such an awesome “grassroots organizer and campaigner”, she would have some real results to show for her work. And, nothing would demonstrate that more than, say, real results from an election in which she and her co-chair had sole and complete control over Cobb County’s Republican voter turnout.
And, what kind of “real results” might that be? The results of the 2010 Primary and 2010 Run-Off for Governor in Cobb County. If Deal actually won Cobb County, then Tricia would have something to crow about. But, according to the Georgia SOS’s office, these are the results of Deal vs. Handel in the July Primary and the August 10 Run-Off:
July 20, 2010 Primary – Cobb County Results
Karen Handel: 24,799
Nathan Deal: 12,050
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Vote Difference = 12,749 to Handel
August 10, 2010 Run-Off – Cobb County Results
Karen Handel: 29,995
Nathan Deal: 24,928
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Vote Difference = 5,067 to Handel
Though Deal did win the Run-Off on a statewide basis, it clearly was not due to Cobb County’s voting results because Handel stomped Deal in Cobb County in both the Primary and the Run-Off. So…what exactly did Tricia Pridemore do that was so wonderful in Cobb for Deal? Seems like a whole lot of talk, but not a whole lot of defineable results to me.
As far as the General Election goes, Deal’s success in Cobb vs. Roy Barnes was not due to anything Pridemore did as that was when the State GOP spent a lot of money on signs that the county party put out all over the county, and a whole lot of ads and direct mail was sent out by the state GOP. The State GOP chaired by Sue Everhart.
Let’s go back even further now to 2008, when Tricia talks about how she went to Ohio to help McCain in the General Election. Do you guys know which way Ohio went in the General Election of 2008? Solid BLUE for Obama, as you can see on this map.
And, what happened in Georgia during the 2008 General Election? Well, Sue Everhart was Chairman, and by golly, the entire state went RED for McCain. And, this was before the time of the “Tea Parties”, “9-12 Groups,” etc.
So, here’s a question that should be asked of Tricia Pridemore: “Tricia, in 2008, under Sue’s leadership of the Georgia Republican Party, Georgia went solidly red for McCain. You spent your time campaigning for McCain in Ohio, which went Blue for Obama. What is it that you learned from your experience in the Blue State of Ohio that you think is going to help ensure that Georgia remains a Red State in 2012?”
A few other things you, as a delegate/alternate to the GA GOP convention, should be made aware of: In Tricia’s G.R.O.W. Plan, she talks about (and I quote as the Plan is currently written…no telling how it will be revised after this email gets published) the following: “…equipping our future party leaders — our Teenage/College/Young Republicans. These activists, our Republican “farm team,†have not been given an appropriate seat at the table.”
OH? Really? No “appropriate seat at the table,” eh? Or so Tricia claims. But, what Tricia does not know is that it is an integral part of the Georgia GOP’s STATE PARTY RULES that these folks ARE given seats “at the table” RIGHT NOW. And, it has been that way for a number of years.
But, you probably need proof of that. Go here to this link, and page-thru it until you come upon 3 of 40, which I will quote here of organizations who ARE given “seats at the table:”
“2) Representatives of the Allied Organizations
a) The President of the Georgia Federation of Republican Women
b) The Chairman of the RNC Georgia Senior Republican Network
c) The Chairman of the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs
d) The Chairman of the Georgia College Republicans
e) The President of the Georgia Black Republican Council
f) The State Chairman of the Georgia Teenage Republicans
g) The Chairman of Georgia Republican Veterans
h) The Chairman of the Hispanic Grassroots Taskforce”
Gee…one would think that if Tricia was such a “veteran grassroots activist,” she would KNOW that these groups she spells-out in her “Plan” that she wants to give a “seat at the table” would already have a seat at the table. And, they have a seat due to the lonnnnnnnnnnng history of the Georgia Republican Party developing, arguing, amending, and voting approval of these rules such as to give them said “seat at the table.”
But, as I’ve argued before, Tricia is, at minimum, a huge embellisher about her “experience” in grassroots GOP politics in this state…and, as the following detail of Tricia’s constantly changing of why she voted Democrat in the 1998 Primary and 1998 Democrat Run-Off, I just think she’s a big liar because…we still do not have any kind of reliable reason as to why she voted “D” in 1998.
Because, if you are a steady Republican voter, you remember when you cross a party line to vote Democrat. You just do. You remember if it was last year or 12 years ago.
Uncontested Facts About Tricia Pridemore
1) On February 12th, 2011, BeaconCastMedia.com published a very in-depth story about the state GOP chairman’s race. Here’s a link to the PDF version of this article. In this story (on Page 5 of 11 Pages), when the subject of Pridemore’s Democrat voting record came up (and, it came up because she had been telling people for the longest time that she worked for Guy Millner as part of her “bona fides†in grassroots), this was the answer: “When questioned, Pridemore said she voted in the GOP primary and run-off, and surmised that the voting rolls were in error.”
2) On March 19th, 2011, at the Collins Hill High School Debate, Tricia answered a question by Shawn Hanley about why she voted in the 1998 Democrat Primaries, Tricia answered (which, if you want to hear it live, go to this link and find the 11:36 Minute Mark to listen): “I was president of the Kennesaw College Republicans and I’ll be real frank: College Republicans get into mischief.â€
3) The following two documents, by their very existence, challenge and dispute anything she can claim about being “KSU CR President” during the time of the 1998 Primaries….which, then, as now, occurred in July and August of 1998:
Document #1: A Memo from February 13, 1998 that is a letter sent to the KSU College Republicans informing them that they missed one of two mandatory meetings they must attend in order to maintain their status as an active, authorized KSU student activity organization.
Document #2: A Memo from September 22, 1998 sent to the “KSU College Republicans†informing them that they have been placed in the “inactive status.†Why? Because…they…were…not… active.
And, when were the 1998 Primary and 1998 Run-Offs held? The Primary was held on July 21, 1998…and the Run-Off was held on August 11, 1998.
Hmmm. Interesting. Interesting because during the precise time period that Tricia states she was “President†of the club, KSU’s records show that the CRs at that time were inactive. Inactive, as in the CR’s not reserving rooms to have meetings and planning sessions and, all that other “stuff†that goes on that would signal that a club was “active†on campus.
Folks, it’s like this: If Tricia is willing to compulsively lie about the littlest things, what else might she be willing to lie about? As can be seen as to who currently occupies the White House, people do not like, nor do they like to follow liars as leaders. It just doesn’t make the system work very well.
April 10th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
You should have known that this is how Deal operates. Anyway, good luck with the circular firing squad.