Contra Costa Gop Violates Bylaws

Kenneth E. Hambrick 365 Nob Hill Drive Walnut Creek, CA 94596 925.938.3066 Fax 925.935.6480 [email protected]

January 10, 2009 Mr. Ron Nehring, Chairman Mr. Keith Carlson, Treasurer Mr. Steve Baric, Secretary Luis Buhler, Bay Area Vice-Chair California Republican Party 1903 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA 91506 RE: Gross violation of Contra Costa Republican Central Committee Bylaws resulting in illegal seating of Central Committee Chair and Members Gentlemen: I am a newly elected member of the Contra Costa Republican Central Committee (CCRPCC). This past week I attended the organizational meeting and witnessed blatant manipulation of the CCRPCC and total disregard of the CCRPCC Bylaws by Tom Del Beccaro acting in the role of Temporary Chairman. I believe what happened is very serious and detrimental to the Republican Party. I am seeking your help in righting these wrongs. It is clear that this committee is controlled by a small clique headed by a strong individual. It was also clear that necessary changes will not be possible without outside intervention. It is disturbing to see the Bylaws flaunted in order to maintain a group of uncritical supporters in power. This does not bode well for the future of Contra Costa County and the state party. A full narrative of what transpired is attached. A brief summary of what I observed includes the election of a permanent Chairman and filling committee vacancies in direct violation of the bylaws; changing the organizational meeting agenda without committee approval; the failure to provide members (at least me) copies of ANY bylaws prior to the meeting; failure to provide adequate notice of

bylaw changes and then have the Temporary Chair insist the revisions be passed that night despite objections; and clearly having an orchestrated process to seat specific people, all planned prior to the meeting. Again, in the interest of the CCRPCC and the California State Republican Party, I urge you to investigate what is going on in Contra Costa County and make sure proper elections take place for the Central Party officers and members in accordance with the bylaws of the organization and that the bylaws be strictly followed in the future. Sincerely,

Kenneth Hambrick CC. Tom Del Beccaro,

Attachment 1

Observations and Conclusions Organizational Meeting of the Contra Costa Republican Party Central Committee (CCRPCC) Organizational meeting on January 6, 2009 After observing the actions that took place in the Contra Costa Republican Party Central Committee organizational meeting on January 6, 2009, I am compelled to document my observations and concerns. I was both appalled and saddened at what took place. First, I had not been provided a copy of the bylaws prior to the meeting. Had I had them I would have objected even more strenuously to the total disregard for the Bylaws that was exhibited in order to control the outcome of the CCRPCC membership and officials’ selection. Tom Del Beccaro (TDB) was elected Temporary Chair to start the meeting per item 5 of the organizational meeting agenda and as specified in the Bylaws. Bylaws Item 8 on the agenda was adopting amended Bylaws. Article XII, Section 2, specifies the method of adopting amendments to the Bylaws, to wit: “Section 2. No amendment may be considered unless fourteen days’ written notice of the text or the proposed amendment was mailed, hand-delivered or e-mailed to all Regular and Ex-officio Members of the County Central Committee. Members shall have the right to waive notice of proposed amendments, and those present at a meeting who fail to object to insufficient notice prior to the vote to adopt an amendment shall be deemed to have waived notice.” I received no copy of the Bylaws prior to the organizational meeting. At least one other member (and likely more) did not receive the Bylaws either. A copy was included in the orientation package given to us at the meeting. This one said “Amended August 18, 2008” but had no new date on it for this proposed version. In this “new” version, the annual dues were raised along with some hand corrections. Considerable discussion occurred about adopting this document including the contention that it contained many errors and inconsistencies and that it had not been sent out appropriately in advance for member review prior to this meeting. TDB, in his role as Temporary Chair, insisted that we had to adopt this because we could do no business if we didn’t adopt it. This made no sense since there was a set of Bylaws in effect and this was an amended version. In any event, the amended version was approved by a majority. There were a number of “no” votes.

By no means did I or several other members waive notice of the 14 days requirement of delivery in advance of the meeting. On January 7 (the day after the organizational meeting) I received by e-mail another Bylaws document. This document has some changes from the one handed out in the meeting and it says “December 2008 edition” which the one in the organizational meeting did not. I’m not sure whether I have the currently in effect set of Bylaws or not. Conclusion: The Bylaws voted on in the January 6, 2008 organizational meeting are invalid. Filling Vacant Central Committee Positions There was no agenda item for the filling of vacant Central Committee slots. The Bylaws specify that “The agenda for the organizational meeting shall remain as set forth below, unless modified by a majority of those eligible voting Members present” (see attached agenda). There was no vote taken. However, the Temporary Chair chose to interject this into the agenda (without committee vote) in direct violation of the Bylaws. Nobody protested, through ignorance by not having the Bylaws in advance. This action on the part of the Temporary Chair who should have known the terms of the Bylaws was an illegal action. It was announced that there were empty Central Committee positions in Districts 4 and 5. At that point an elected member from District 3 verbally submitted her resignation. Once this was done and three vacancies were announced, a motion was made to immediately fill the three positions. This action is not permitted under the Bylaws. The Bylaws specify how vacancies are to be filled: “ARTICLE IV. REMOVALS AND VACANCIES, Section 8. Vacancies: Whenever a vacancy occurs among the Regular Members whether by death, removal, resignation, or by failure to elect a sufficient number of eligible Regular Members in the direct primary election, the Chairman shall immediately declare a vacancy and call for an election to fill the vacancy. The election shall be held in the following manner: a) the Supervisorial District Chairman from the district in which the vacancy occurred shall solicit the names of all interested Republicans residing in the district where the vacancy exists; b) the Supervisorial District Chairman shall call a meeting of the voting Regular Members who reside in the district for the purpose of electing a qualified Republican to fill the vacancy by majority vote (Alternate Members may vote in the absence of the Regular Members who appointed them); c) if the Supervisorial District Caucus fails to elect a qualified Republican by majority vote, then the vacancy shall be filled by an election of the full County Central Committee at the next regular meeting;

d) The Secretary shall notify the Contra Costa County Clerk and the California Republican Party within thirty days after the vacant position has been filled.” This is the process that should have been followed which would have allowed other interested Republicans to apply for these positions (there were contested elections in some of the Districts, notably 3 and 4). However, the Temporary Chair accepted the motion to fill the vacancies immediately and directed the members of Districts 3, 4 and 5 to caucus and select a candidate to fill the vacancies. It is unfortunate, that those of us who were new, had not had the opportunity to read the Bylaws on this point. Being a member from District 3, I joined the group. A motion was immediately made that Greg Poulos be selected. Greg was the former Chair of the CCRPCC, but had failed to be elected in June. I objected and suggested (not knowing the Bylaws at that time) that the next highest vote getter in the district be nominated (he was in attendance and made it known that he would like the appointment). One lady then opined that “the vote is not important since people don’t really know who they are voting for and the vote is irrelevant." It then became obvious that enough votes had been obtained before the meeting (not mine) to appoint Poulos. The three folks nominated by the district “caucuses” were accepted and sworn in. This included the former Treasurer who had also failed to be elected by Republicans who voted in June. It was now clear that the seating of these three replacement members was carefully orchestrated prior to the meeting. The resignation in District three and then the advance commitment to Poulos by several members from District 3 were set up before the meeting. I highly suspect, but can’t prove, that the same strategy was implemented to seat specific people in Districts 4 and 5. Reviewing the election results, all positions in those districts were filled by voters as was the case in District 3. The resignation of the District 3 member at the meeting and a vacancy in each of the other two districts stretches credulity. And then the motion, not permitted by the Bylaws, to immediately fill the positions. This all adds up to a preplanned and well executed strategy. Conclusion: the three members seated in Districts 3, 4 and 5 have not been selected legally and in accordance with the Bylaws. Permanent Chairman Greg Poulos was elected as permanent Chairman for 2009-2010. Conclusion: Poulos is not legally Chairman nor is Darcy Linn the legal Treasurer since they were not legally on the Central Committee as a result of the invalid method of selecting candidates to fill the three vacant positions.

Overall conclusions 1.

There was clear disregard of the provisions of the Bylaws.

2.

The agenda was arbitrarily changed without a vote of the Committee.

3.

There was an unethical plan, agreed to before the meeting, to place specific people on the committee through the strategy of creating vacancies in Districts 3, 4 and 5 and ignoring the requirements of the Bylaws by immediately seating them.

4.

The version of the Bylaws provided and approved at the organizational meeting is invalid. And there are several versions floating around out there so no one can be sure if he/she has the latest and correct version.

5.

It is clear that this committee is controlled by a small clique headed by a strong individual. It was also clear that necessary changes will not be possible without outside intervention.

Attachment 2

Organizational meeting agenda as contained in the Bylaws ARTICLE XI. THE BIENNIAL ORGANIZATION MEETING Section 2. The agenda for the organizational meeting shall remain as set forth below, unless modified by a majority of those eligible voting Members present: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Call to Order by the out-going Chairman (or Acting Chairman); Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of American Roll Call of Voting Members Administration of the oath of office Election of Temporary Chairman Election of Temporary Secretary Challenges to the credentials of voting Members (if any) Adoption of the Bylaws Election of officers in the following order: - Chairman - First Vice-Chairman - Second Vice-Chairman - Secretary - Treasurer 10. Accept election of Supervisory District Chairman by the Supervisor District Caucuses 11. Appointment and confirmation of the Parliamentarian, Sergeant-At-Arms and General Counsel (at the discretion of the Chairman) 12. Appointment of Committee Chairman (At the discretion of the Chairman) 13. Selection of Standing Committees 14. New Business (if any) 15. Selection of the date, time and place of next meeting 16. Adjournment