Linn County GOP plots new course

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County’s newly elected Republican chairman believes his party must do a better job at reaching out and “speaking the language” of all its constituents and embrace new communication outreach techniques. While accomplishing that goal, however, he also says it is important the group not neglect tried-and-true techniques for traditional organizing.

“Republicans will acknowledge all day long that the model that proved this to work was the [Barack] Obama campaign,” Tim Palmer said in an interview with the Iowa Independent. “You know, when that campaign first began using these tools and reaching out in that fashion, people were skeptical. Even when Howard Dean, for example, said that he was going to have a 50-state strategy, he got vegetables thrown at him from within [the Democratic] Party. But, look what happened.”

Palmer, who is a Cedar Rapids business owner, husband, father to nine children and a blogger, was elected to serve as county chairman earlier this month. Before his election, he put together a slate of leaders who have been publicly described as “young professionals” — people Palmer hopes provide a good representation of Republican voters in his county.

“We are reaching out to all Republicans,” he said. “This is not a faction or a group of conservative, religious people. I mean, I am a conservative. That’s for sure. I’m also religious and I attend church. But, to characterize our county or our committee by my own personal affiliation isn’t fair.

“I intentionally went out of my way to recruit a moderate Republican — Mark Hudson — to serve as my co-chairman. I thought that was the best way to embody where we, as a party, need to go.”

Hudson, an attorney in Cedar Rapids, has already initiated conversations with other moderate Republicans in Linn County — individuals Palmer described as always being “somewhat skeptical” about the party.

“We are making it very clear to them that they are invited to participate and that we want them,” he said. “It’s key for us, because we have to be a larger party than what we’ve been. We need to start a dialog that can diminish some of the confrontations that we’ve had. There has been too much party in-fighting.”

Party in-fighting, however, continues to be a factor impacting Republican effectiveness. Former county chairman Jim Conklin, former county treasurer Laurie Hamilton and a handful of other Republicans formed a Facebook group for Linn County Whigs, seemingly in an attempt to protest perceived religious influence from the newly elected GOP executive board.

“I want to remind Republicans that we have far more to gain by working together than by sitting in our own respective camps and never really having any success on the issues that we care about,” said Palmer.

In addition to Hudson, Palmer recruited Dawn Brown, a relative party newcomer and local real estate broker, to serve as secretary. Brent Schulte, a former Rockwell Collins project manager turned pastor who is married to Iowa Rep. Renee Schulte, was elected as the group’s treasurer.

As a testament to the executive board’s commitment to extended outreach, the entire group can be friended on Facebook or followed on Twitter.

“Twitter, Facebook and the other social media options are definitely a direction that as a party we need to go,” Palmer said, noting his belief that such tools are effective even on the precinct-organizing level. “We do have a four-part plan on how we re-organize Linn County, and Part 4 of that plan is embracing new technology.”

The Linn County plan, which echoes Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn’s views on new media, perhaps had its first tangible reward the night the new officers were elected.

“As we took comments and questions from the floor, we had a young man in his early 20s stand up and tell us that he didn’t feel welcome as a part of the committee, and that he didn’t feel that the county party was reaching out to him,” Palmer said. “I told him that the county party has not been speaking his language. When he acknowledged that he was using Facebook and Twitter, I could then assure him that we were going to start.

“To contrast that, I want to say that there are several good Republicans in Linn County who aren’t going to be on Facebook and who do not Twitter. So, we can’t abandon them either. We have to combine both strategies to effectively reach out to voters.”

Palmer, who was prompted to seek his new position after organizing the 2008 caucuses in Linn County, said he was drawn to and supported Strawn not necessarily because of the state stance on utilizing technology, but because of Strawn’s belief that organizing begins and succeeds at the precinct level.

“What happens at the precincts are the fundamentals of grassroots politics,” Palmer said. “All politics are local. As a county organization, we’ve simply not done what we’ve needed to do in the 86 precincts that comprise Linn County. That’s where we have to put our attention, and that must be our focus.”

Linn County politics 10 or 20 years ago was nearly dominated by the Republican Party. Since that time, however, Republican influence has vastly diminished. At the county level, there is currently only one Republican elected official, Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson, who was elected last fall.

“I don’t consider [the election of an entirely new Linn County GOP executive board] a drastic change, but it is going in a different direction and applying some fundamentals that I think we’ve not done a very good job of doing in the past,” Palmer said. “I’m not saying this to accuse or disparage any one person, but I think the means that we’ve used in the county have not been as productive as we would like them to be.”

Palmer added that although he knows Linn County has a responsibility and role to play in statewide and 2nd District races, his attention is going to be on county organizing.

“I’m not focused on Des Moines or other places,” he said. “I agree that we are all part of the 2nd District, but for right now our focus has to be on Linn County. That’s where we have to put our attention.”

Contrary to popular dictates, however, the Republican Party isn’t alone in its challenges. Many of the areas in Cedar Rapids that were hardest hit by 2008 flood damage were Democratic strongholds. While some of those voters have returned to their neighborhoods, others remain displaced to residences both inside and outside of the county. Many maintained their flood-impacted residences for voting purposes in 2008, but most are likely to register in and vote from their new homesteads in 2010.

In the wake of the floods, there is also a growing sentiment of displeasure in overall government. Since Democrats hold majorities at nearly every level that affects flood victims, the party appears to be taking the brunt of dissatisfaction.

One of the biggest and most recent county controversies dealt with wages paid to the Linn County Board of Supervisors, a topic that continues to incite outrage in residents who believe they were misled by supervisors prior to the 2008 ballot. Further, two Democratic county officials — County Attorney Harold Denton and County Treasurer Michael Stevenson — have announced plans to retire. An additional difficulty for local Democrats is the perceived, if not actual, disdain some county officials have for others within their same party.

Control of the county, which will be decided on the November 2010 ballot, will boil down to which party has a more motivated base and has organized the best ground game. If neither of the major parties is able to overcome its challenges, then the county might see its abundant bloc of independent voters play a significant role for the very first time.