FROM:
House Republican Leadership
RE:
Member participation in Mandatory Assessment
Program
Protecting
and increasing the Republican majority in the
House of Delegates is a priority for us all.
We have accomplished a tremendous amount in the
last 10 years, including the abolition of parole,
welfare reform, a total rewrite of the juvenile
justice laws, car tax relief, and SOL
accountability reforms which are raising student
achievement, and so much more. We also
totally revamped the way the House of Delegates
operates by reducing the number and size of
committees, and producing efficiencies and
fairness where they did not exist under Democrats.
Our majority, however, will only continue if we
are willing to work together for it. Having
served for a while now, we would never want
Virginia to go back to the days we experienced
under the Democrats when we first got into the
House of Delegates. This past election, we
lost three seats. Looking ahead, we must
play offense to expand our majority.
Standing still is a formula for losing more seats.
In the last
election, certain members answered and even went
beyond the call of duty. For example, the
Speaker raised over $700,000 in his Dominion
Leadership Trust PAC. And two committee
chairs and several freshmen members raised over
$25,000. At the same time, however, we had
many senior members who gave less than $1000 to
our Republican candidates in the 2003 legislative
elections. In next year’s election cycle,
things will only get tougher. Here are a few
reasons why: (1) We have at least 61 seat to
defend, which makes for a challenging assignment;
(2) The recent Democrat pick-up of three seats
will only embolden them and their desire to regain
the majority; (3) We do not just want to defend
Republican seats, but also challenge more
Democrats where it makes the most sense; (4) For
the first time in almost a decade, Republicans do
not have a governor from our party helping to
raise money for us; (5) Governor Warner has shown
a proven ability to raise money, and no doubt will
use it against us, once again, in the 2005
elections; (6) Changes to campaign finance laws
mean that once valuable types of contributions
from federal election committees and office
holders are no longer available for state
legislative races; and (7) We no longer have a
Republican National Chairman from Virginia.
While not
insurmountable, these changes and challenges are
ones that we must meet and overcome. Finding
themselves in similar circumstances, Republicans
in the U. S. House of Representatives a while back
instituted a very successful program whereby
incumbents are required to contribute to a central
fund. The money in this central fund is then
used to assist vulnerable incumbents, target open
seats, and challenge vulnerable Democrats.
The underlying principle is clear: having
every congressman in the House Republican
Conference participate—whether running opposed
or unopposed—reinforces the fact that each and
every member of the majority party has a stake in
the elections’ final and overall outcome.
The more we learned about this initiative, the
more interested we became in it. Our friends
in Congress find it every effective. We,
too, see a lot of merit and potential in the
program as well as mutual benefits for us all.
After a lot of
discussion about how such a program might be
designed for our circumstances, we have developed
and agreed to implement a modified version of this
initiative.
Recognizing that the
Virginia House of Delegates is different from the
U. S. House of Representatives, we’ve made some
important changes. The new program is
outlined on the attached 1-page overview.
We’ve discussed this program generally on a
prior occasion. But should you now have any
specific questions, please do not hesitate to
contact us. We welcome and appreciate your
contribution to this shared effort.
OVERVIEW
Member Participation
in Mandatory Assessment Program
The “central fund” for the House Republican
Caucus’ Mandatory Assessment Program is the
Dominion Leadership Trust PAC. The
Speaker’s Pac has eight Caucus members who serve
on the Board of Directors and who routinely
participate in making funding decisions.
This creates shared accountability and is
purposefully designed to ensure that all Caucus
members have the fullest confidence that the money
being raised through this initiative will be well
spent.
Universal
participation is out goal, so this program is
mandatory. For this program to be most
effective, it is essential that all Caucus members
do their part. Remember, every Republican
member of the House of Delegates has a vested
interest in this program’s success and our
continuing in the majority.
Participation in
this new program provides fairness. It is
clear that some members have greater fundraising
ability by virtue of their seniority, committee
assignments, districts, etc. Therefore,
common sense dictates setting participation
thresholds at reasonable levels.
Participation levels for each member are defined
as follows over the next two years.
Leadership: $40,000
Committee Chairs:
$30,000
Members who’ve served more than 8 years: $20,000
Members who’ve served between 2 and 8 years:
$10,000
Members who’ve served less than 2 years:
$5,000
Meeting these
requirements incorporates flexibility by allowing
each member to contribute at least 25% of the
applicable amount designated above to the
Speaker’s PAC. And each member may
designate the remaining 75% to a targeted
candidate or candidates of that member’s
choosing—so long as the targeted candidate or
candidates are in competitive races.
The 25% contribution
to the Speaker’s PAC is due before the end of
the first year of the biennium (i.e., no later
than December 31, 2004).
The 75% balance to
targeted candidates is due before Labor Day of the
second year of the biennium (i.e., no later than
September 1, 2005
With everyone’s
full participation, this program will generate
over $1.0 million for Republican incumbents and
challengers in the 2005 campaigns for the Virginia
House of Delegates.
This Mandatory
Assessment Program is effective January 1, 2004 to
help ensure that our entire Caucus is well
positioned and well prepared for success in the
November 2005 elections.
Any questions about
this program, its intent, applicability or
implementation, are to be directed to the House
Republican Leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader,
Caucus Chair& Majority Whip) for resolution.
Posted:
January 6, 2004
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