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House GOP Conference Vice Chair Lynn Jenkins discusses why more women are needed at the Leadership table ROLE MODELS Winning the Hispanic vote: What the GOP can learn from Susana Martinez and Chris Christie by Leslie Sanchez Plus: Tim Penny on the rise of John Kasich, Kim Alfano on closing the gender gap, and Liesl Hickey on the NRCC’s strategy heading into the mid-terms Fall 2013 Volume 47, No. 4 www.riponsociety.org $6.95 U.S./$7.95 Canada

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Page 1: rOLe mOdeLs - Ripon Society · 2015. 12. 11. · Volume 47, Number 4 RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 One Year Subscription: $35.00 individuals $10.00 students The Ripon Forum (ISSN 0035-5526)

House GOP Conference Vice Chair Lynn Jenkinsdiscusses why more women are needed

at the Leadership table

rOLe mOdeLsWinning the Hispanic vote: What the GOP can learn from

susana martinez and Chris Christieby Leslie sanchez

Plus: Tim Penny on the rise of John Kasich, Kim Alfano on closing the gender gap,and Liesl Hickey on the NrCC’s strategy heading into the mid-terms

Fall 2013Volume 47, No. 4

www.riponsociety.org $6.95 U.S./$7.95 Canada

Page 2: rOLe mOdeLs - Ripon Society · 2015. 12. 11. · Volume 47, Number 4 RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 One Year Subscription: $35.00 individuals $10.00 students The Ripon Forum (ISSN 0035-5526)

From � nding the nearest bike share, to � nding a wealth of data on � eld conditions, there’s no limit to what you can do with wireless.

Learn more about climate-adaptive farming and other waysthat wireless drives innovation at WirelessIsLimitless.org.

AMERICA’S WIRELESS COMPANIES

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Volume 47, Number 4

RIPON FORUM Fall 2013

One Year Subscription:$35.00 individuals

$10.00 students

The Ripon Forum (ISSN 0035-5526) is published by The Ripon Society. The Ripon Society is located at 1155 15th Street, NW,

Suite 550, Washington, DC 20005.

Postmaster, send address changes to: The Ripon Forum, 1155 15th Street, NW,

Suite 550, Washington, DC 20005.

Comments, opinion editorials and letters should be addressed to: The Ripon Forum,

1155 15th Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20005 or may be transmitted electronically

to: [email protected].

In publishing this magazine, The Ripon Society seeks to provide a forum for fresh ideas, well-researched proposals, and for a

spirit of criticism, innovation, and independent thinking within the Republican Party.

“Ideas that matter,since 1965.“

From � nding the nearest bike share, to � nding a wealth of data on � eld conditions, there’s no limit to what you can do with wireless.

Learn more about climate-adaptive farming and other waysthat wireless drives innovation at WirelessIsLimitless.org.

AMERICA’S WIRELESS COMPANIES

Politics & Perspective

4 The Conservative Proposal to Reform Health Care By Steve Scalise Beyond calls for repeal exists a Republican alternative to replace the AffordableCareAct.

6 Promoting Safety Through Employment By Henry Rosen and Mai Tran A look at how community workforce development programs are increasing publicsafety.

Cover Story

8 ROLE MODELS Winning the Hispanic Vote: What Republicans can learn from Chris Christie and Susana Martinez By Leslie Sanchez Amid soaring approval ratings and a vast crossover appeal, these two Governors are reaching out to America’s new electorate andcomingawaywiththeirsupport.

12 Behind Kasich’s Rise By Tim Penny Twenty years after they served together in Congress,aformercolleagueofJohnKasich’s looks at his record as Governor and explains whyheisnotsurprisedbyhissuccess.

14 “Democrats have every reason to be worried.” A Q&A with Liesl Hickey The Executive Director of the National RepublicanCongressionalCommitteeweighs in with a preview of the 2014 mid-term elections.

Cover Story (cont’d.)

16 Boot the Zombies! By Kim Alfano One of the GOP’s top strategists argues that the party will not close its gender gap untilitfillsitsdeficitofnewideas.

18 The Decline of Parties and the Rise of Dysfunction By Mark Braden A veteran election law expert looks at the growinginfluenceofspecialinterestgroups, andtheimpactonparties--andthenation.

20 May the Best Candidate Win By Dan Schnur CantwolawstoendgridlockinCalifornia serve as a model for nationwide reform? Thisrespectedpoliticalobserverthinksso.

News & Events

23 Ripon Society Hosts Breakfast Meeting on Expanding the Base of the GOP Reps.Ellmers,Blackburn,Black& Roby headline discussion

25 “Great things have always been done at the intersection of principle and compromise.” Reps.Renacci,Kelly,DelaneyandBarrDiscuss BipartisanEfforttoFindCommonGround

Sections

3 In this Edition

28 Ripon Profile - House Republican Conference Vice Chair Lynn Jenkins

Publisher The Ripon Society

President Jim Conzelman

Editorial Board William FrenzelThomas TaukeMichael CastleMichael Oxley

Billy Pitts Pamela Sederholm

Judy Van RestJim Murtha

Editor Louis M. Zickar

Deputy Editor Jarrad Hensley

Editorial Assistant Stephen Jackson

© Copyright 2013 By The Ripon Society All Rights Reserved

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©2013 CenterPoint Energy 131774

MUTUAL ASSISTANCE IN TIMES OF TURMOIL

The men and women of CenterPoint Energy often go above and beyond the call of duty to help communities keep the power on – every day. On some days, those communities can be far afi eld from our headquarters in Houston. Last November, through our Mutual Assistance Program, multiple caravans of our crews, linemen, and support personnel left their families and hometowns to help devastated Northeastern communities restore power after Hurricane Sandy hit North America’s East Coast. We were happy to help.

Whether it be repairing power lines during electrical outages, or maintaining those lines every day – we keep the electric supply operating safely and effi ciently. We’re always there.

For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com

GIVING MOREEVERY DAYY U

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 3

In this EditionTHE RIPON SOCIETYHONORaRY CONgRESSIONaladvISORY BOaRd

U.S. Senators:Pat Roberts (Senate Chairman)Roy BluntRichard BurrSusan M. CollinsOrrin G. Hatch

U.S. Representatives:Thomas E. Petri (House Co-Chairman)Pat Tiberi (House Co-Chairman)Spencer BachusMarsha BlackburnCharles BoustanyVern BuchananMichael C. Burgess, M.D.Ken CalvertDave CampEric I. CantorShelley Moore CapitoBill Cassidy, MDHoward CobleTom ColeAnder CrenshawRodney DavisCharlie DentSean DuffyRenee EllmersRodney FrelinghuysenCory GardnerJim GerlachKay GrangerSam GravesTim GriffinRichard HannaDarrell IssaLynn JenkinsDave JoyceMike KellyAdam KinzingerLeonard LanceFrank LucasKevin McCarthyPatrick MeehanCandice MillerRandy NeugebauerErik PaulsenTom ReedJim RenacciReid RibblePeter RoskamJon RunyanSteve ScaliseAaron SchockJohn ShimkusBill ShusterLamar SmithSteve StiversLee TerryGlenn ThompsonMac ThornberryMike TurnerFred UptonGreg WaldenEdward Whitfield

Retired Members of Congress:Bill Frenzel (Chairman Emeritus)Bill ArcherHenry BonillaMichael CastleGeoff DavisMike FergusonJ. Dennis HastertDavid HobsonNancy JohnsonSue KellyScott KlugBob LivingstonJim McCreryRobert H. MichelSusan MolinariDon Nickles Michael G. OxleyBill PaxonDeborah PryceTom ReynoldsTom RidgeGordon SmithDon SundquistTom TaukeRobert S. Walker

The famed screenwriter William Goldman once wrote a book about Hollywood called, Adventures in the Screen Trade. In it, he discussed his career working in the film industry and his experience as the creative force behind such hits as Marathon Man and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He also offered up what remainsone of the most widely quoted observations about moviemaking today:

“Nobody knows anything,” he wrote. Goldman was talking about Hollywood and, specifically, the inability of

filmmakers to figure out what American moviegoers wanted to see. And yet if there was ever a quote that could be applied to Washington, it is this one.

Time and again over the past several years, it seems, conventional wisdom has been turned on its head about what is going to happen next in politics and what the American people want in their elected leaders. Remember Hillary’s inevitability in the 2008 presidential campaign? Or the impossibility in late 2009 that Obamacare would actually be approved? Just over a year ago, nearly every top Republican thought Mitt was a cinch, while just over a month ago, nearly everyone thought Republicans were toast.

Nobody knows anything.That is why predictions about the 2014 election are so futile. It’s also why, in

this latest edition of the Forum, we don’t focus on predictions about next year’s mid-terms. Rather, we focus on the trends that may shape the results. Trends such as:

• The importance of Hispanic Americans in the nation’s political process and why, in their efforts to reach out to and connect with this growing part of the electorate, Governors Chris Christie and Susana Martinez are providing a model that other Republicans should follow.

• The gender gap that continues to plague Republicans and why, in addition to their efforts to close this gap by recruiting more women candidates to run for office, the party also needs to look at filling the ideas deficit that is turning so many women away.

• The growth of special interest groups, and why, by filling the role that has historically been played by political parties in elections, these groups are fueling the political dysfunction that has brought governance in Washington to its knees.

We take a look at these and other trends with some of the nation’s leading thinkers and strategists, including NRCC Executive Director Liesl Hickey, GOP media gurus Leslie Sanchez and Kim Alfano, and veteran election law expert Mark Braden.

This latest edition of the Forum also features a profile of House Republican Conference Vice Chair Lynn Jenkins, an op-ed about the conservative solution to health care reform by Republican Study Committee Chairman Steve Scalise, and an essay by respected political observer Dan Schnur about two laws passed in California that could serve as a model for election reform nationwide.

As with every ripon Forum, we hope you find this edition informative and interesting, and encourage you to contact us with any comments or questions you may have.

Lou Zickar Editor The ripon Forum

[email protected]

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RIPON FORUM Fall 20134

Politics & Perspective

STEvESCAliSE

The centuries-old oath taken by health care professionals reads, “Do no harm.” It is time for Washington lawmakers to take a similar approach when working to fix the problems that exist in our health care system.

Unfortunately for hard-working Americans and their families, President Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), fails to meet the promise of the Hippocratic Oath. Insurance premiums are rising, access to health care is more limited, and millions of Americans are losing the health care plans that they had and liked. And yet in spite of all of the problems and broken promises, including the delays of key provisions for big business and insurance companies, and the failed rollout of the health insurance exchanges, the Obama Administration remains fixated on barreling forward with this fatally-flawed law at any cost.

Republicans, like the majority of the American people, see this train wreck coming and continue working to counteract the harmful effects of the Affordable Care Act before it is too late. However, there were problems in our health care system prior to the ACA. Thus, simply repealing the law and returning to the old status quo is not enough.

That is why Republicans have not only voted to repeal and delay the President’s signature law, but we have also proposed our own solutions. Conservatives recognize that patient-centered reforms rooted in free market principles that put patients and their doctors back in charge of health care decisions are the best way to lower costs and solve problems in our health care system. The

Republican Study Committee (RSC) is proud to lead the charge to replace President Obama’s health care law and rejuvenate the American health care system by bringing forward the American Health Care Reform Act. A common-sense, practical, and portable free-market alternative to the current health care system, our bill reforms health care in America without the unworkable taxes and mandates in the Affordable Care Act.

Drafted by an engaged cross-section of the RSC, including several medical professionals and small business leaders, our bill repeals the President’s law and replaces it with commonsense reforms that put patients back in charge of their health care decisions so we can lower costs and increase access to the highest-quality health care for all Americans. At its core, our reform bill promotes programs that have proven successful at lowering costs, levels the playing field for individuals and families,

and increases access to affordable health insurance.Arguably the greatest inequality in the health care

market today is the unfair tax treatment of health insurance, which currently favors individuals who obtain health insurance through their employer over those who purchase insurance on their own. It is time to level the playing field by offering a standard tax deduction to any taxpayer who purchases health insurance. This ensures that all Americans will have greater choice when choosing the best health plan for their family, while protecting the incentive for employers to provide health insurance to their employees. The result will be a net tax cut for the vast majority of Americans and increased health options for their families.

TheConservativeProposaltoReformAmericanHealthCare

Congressman Scalise questions Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius during an Energy & Commerce Committee hearing on Oct. 30th.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 5

The American Health Care Reform Act encourages free-market principles by expanding access to health savings accounts, which have proven extraordinarily successful by allowing individuals to contribute pre-tax dollars to an account which they own. Additionally, our bill allows small businesses to pool their resources through Association Health Plans, giving businesses and community groups, such as local Chambers of Commerce, the chance to offer their members the same buying power as large corporations. Additionally, the bill provides greater flexibility by allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines, just like they buy most other products. These sensible provisions will greatly increase access and allow families to purchase the highest-quality health care that they choose is best for them, and all at lower costs.

One of the greatest drivers of health care costs today is the practice of defensive medicine, and our plan reforms medical liability laws. Maintaining a high standard of protection for patients, while guarding against frivolous lawsuits by overzealous trial lawyers, is a crucial step to lowering insurance rates while providing doctors the ability to practice medicine without the enormous burdens of a broken malpractice system.

We recognize that we have a duty to protect those with pre-existing conditions, and the RSC’s bill provides a practical solution to ensure that Americans with pre-existing

conditions have access to affordable health insurance. We put our money where our mouth is by bolstering existing state-based high risk pools and reforming current HIPAA requirements.

Each day, the economic fallout from President Obama’s health care law gets worse, as even union bosses are now complaining that the ACA is destroying the 40-hour work week and the Senate author of the ACA has called it a ‘train-wreck’. Businesses of every size are cutting employee hours and are dropping coverage for families as uncertainty in our health care system increases. Unworkable mandates,

taxes, and federal control are the wrong answer to solving the health care crisis that looms over our nation.

We can lower health care costs, increase access to health care, and fix real problems without a government-run system that puts unelected Washington

bureaucrats and IRS agents between you and your doctor. It starts with repealing President Obama’s unworkable law and replacing it with real reforms that have been proven to work in the real world. With more than 100 cosponsors, the RSC’s American Health Care Reform Act is a better way. RF

Steve Scalise represents the 1st District of Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves as Chairman of the Republican Study Committee.

A common-sense, practical, and portable free-market alternative to the

current health care system, our bill reforms health care in America without the unworkable taxes and mandates in

the Affordable Care Act.

• Fully repeals President Obama's health care law, eliminating billions in taxes and thousands of pages of unworkable regulations and mandates that are driving up health care costs.

• Spurs competition to lower health care costs by allowing Americans to purchase health insur-ance across state lines and enabling small businesses to pool together and get the same buying power as large corporations.

• Reforms medical malpractice laws in a commonsense way that limits trial lawyer fees and non-economic damages while maintaining strong protections for patients.

• Provides tax reform that allows families and individuals to deduct health care costs, just like companies, leveling the playing field and providing all Americans with a standard deduction for health insurance.

• Expands access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), increasing the amount of pre-tax dollars individuals can deposit into portable savings accounts to be used for health care expenses.

• Safeguards individuals with pre-existing conditions from being discriminated against purchas-ing health insurance by bolstering state-based high risk pools and extending HIPAA guaran-teed availability protections.

American Health Care reform ActKey Provisions

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RIPON FORUM Fall 20136

HENRy ROsEN AND MAI TRAN

Every year, approximately 650,000 people across the United States leave prisons and reenter their communities.1 An estimated 40 percent return to prison within three years.2 Millions more cycle through jail every year. These numbers raise public safety concerns, as well as concerns over the cost to taxpayers. In 2011, the total cost to taxpayers was $38.8 billion on corrections,3 making corrections, on average, the fourth largest item in state budgets behind health, education, and transportation.4

The high rate of recidivism is caused in part by the difficulties of reintegration in the community, such as securing employment. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the unemployment rate for people with criminal histories is between 25 and 40 percent across the country.5 Without a job, these people are unable to support themselves and their families or pay taxes, and are more likely to reoffend.

Although employment can play a critical role in reducing

1. “Prisoners and Prisoner Reentry,” U.S. Department of Justice, accessed November 7, 2013, available at http://www.justice.gov/archive/fbci/progmenu_reentry.html.

2. The Pew Center on the States, “State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons.” (Washington: The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2011), available at http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/sentencing_and_corrections/State_Recidivism_Revolving_Door_America_Prisons .pdf.

3. Christian Henrichson and Ruth Delaney, “The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers,” (New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2012), available at http://shnny.org/uploads/Price-of-Prisons.pdf.

4. Public Safety Performance Project,“Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America’s Prison Population: 2007-2011,” (Washington: The Pew Charitable Trusts), available at http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/State-based_policy/PSPP_prison_projections_0207.pdf.

5. U.S Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, “Notice of Availability of Funds and Solicitation for Grant Applications of Ex-Offenders (RExO) Adult Generation 5,” (Washington: U.S. Department of Labor, 2012), available at http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/sga_dfa_py_11_02_final_1_11_2012.pdf.

recidivism, research shows that simply placing someone in a job does not guarantee successful reentry.6 Criminal behavior is often the result of several characteristics and circumstances, such as having anti-social attitudes, associations with anti-social peers, poor relationships with family members, and negative perceptions about school or work. Without first addressing these underlying challenges, little can be done to improve an individual’s ability to stay crime-free and keep

a job. What is needed is an integrated approach that corrections, reentry, and workforce development systems can use to triage their resources in ways that reduce recidivism and improve employability among their shared populations.

Recognizing this need for an integrated approach,

the Council of State Governments Justice Center — with support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and with guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration — has released Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies: Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Job Readiness (Integrated Strategies). Integrated Strategies features a new framework that brings together the latest research in reducing recidivism and the best practices in workforce development.

Integrated Strategies helps policymakers, program administrators, and practitioners maximize their investments to improve reentry and employment outcomes for people with criminal histories. The paper offers guidance on how to create effective programs, and recommends using evidence-based assessments of individuals’ risk of reoffending, job readiness, and related needs to ensure an individual is placed in services that are tailored to meet his or her needs. This approach can help decision-makers triage and allocate resources, promoting

6. Edward J. Latessa, “Why Work is Important and How to Improve the Effectiveness of Correctional Reentry Programs that Target Employment,” Criminology and Public Policy 11, no. 1 (2012): 87-91.

Promotingsafety Through Employment

Although employment can play a critical role in reducing

recidivism, research shows that simply placing someone in a job

does not guarantee successful reentry.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 7

an efficient use of taxpayer dollars.Around the country, corrections and workforce

development agencies in several jurisdictions — including New York State and Montgomery County, Maryland—are implementing integrated initiatives between corrections and workforce systems to promote employment among adults with criminal records. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Work for Success Initiative is a first-of-its-kind statewide effort to improve employment outcomes and reduce recidivism among individuals with criminal histories. This initiative involves a dynamic partnership of the state’s Department of Labor, Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Division of Criminal Justice Services, the Office of the Deputy of Civil Rights, and leading workforce practitioners in New York. Work for Success will soon launch a coordinated system to match an individual returning to the community to workforce development services according to the individual’s assessments of his or her risk of reoffending, job readiness, and related needs.

Montgomery County, Maryland is also incorporating elements of the integrated approach to serve the needs of adults returning to the communities from custody. The Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation’s Pre-Release and Reentry Services (PRRS)

Division operates a residential work-release facility for individuals who are within 12 months of release. Using information from risk and job-readiness assessments, case managers and staff work with each individual to create a comprehensive, tailored reentry plan. PRRS partners with Montgomery College and the workforce development organization MontgomeryWorks to prepare individuals to obtain and maintain a job, with a focus on helping them to avoid recidivating and remain committed to their long-term career goals.

While many agree that having a job is a key element for successful reintegration back to the community, the corrections and workforce systems will need to collaborate and integrate services to implement effective strategies to reduce recidivism and joblessness. Integrated Strategies is an important step in this direction. By placing the right people in the right services at the right time, corrections and workforce agencies can help ensure their limited dollars have the maximum impact. This is a benefit beyond fiscal responsibility and smart public policy — it is critical to communities and families across the nation. RF

Henry Rosen and Mai Tran are Program Associates with the Council of State Governments Justice Center.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 20138

Cover Story

rOLe mOdeLsWinning the Hispanic vote: What the GOP can learn from

susana martinez and Chris Christieby Leslie sanchez

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 9

“While we may not always agree, we show up everywhere,” he said. “We just don’t show up in the places that vote for us a lot, we show up in the places that vote for us a little. We don’t just show up in the places where we’re comfortable, we show up in the places where we’re uncomfortable.”

It took a lot more than “showing up” -- and therein lies the lessons for Republicans who seek to regain the trust of America’s fastest-growing community.

True, “showing up” can represent a powerful message to a community so long isolated from the political process. At the Union City rally, Democrat Blanca Diaz told a reporter, “the other governors, they never come here.”

“The governor has built inroads into the Latino community for the past 11 years, going back to his days as a U.S. Attorney,” observes Christie campaign advisor Michael Duhaime.

But it is what happens after Republicans show up that matters. Christie has governed as a fiscal conservative and he has been a sworn enemy of the Garden State’s powerful teachers’ unions. In Union City, however, he’s remembered for working diligently and in good faith

with community leaders and Democrats in City Hall on issues ranging from education reform and charter schools to property taxes and public safety.

His success is also a matter of tone. Calling Christie “plain spoken” is putting it politely, and yes, he can come off as brusque -- but it is impossible to doubt his sincerity or the quality of his intentions. That’s how to build bridges with 51 percent of Hispanics, not by

In a state where 18 percent of the population is Hispanic, the residents of Union City are 85 percent Hispanic or Latino -- more than any place in New Jersey. It was no coincidence that Governor Chris Christie chose Union City as the site for the last rally of his successful re-election campaign, an event that also featured the only out-of-state Republican Governor he brought into the Garden State to campaign for him -- New Mexico’s Susana Martinez.

Christie’s choice of Union City and his selection of Governor Susana Martinez as his surrogate go a long way to explaining how he won an outright majority (51 percent) of the Hispanic vote, the first Republican Governor in three decades to do so -- but it’s only part of the story.

In 2011, nearly two-thirds of Union City voters were registered as Democrats, compared to 6.5 percent Republicans. Just last year, 81 percent of the city’s voters supported President Barack Obama.

Yet on the night before New Jersey voted, Governor Christie and Governor Martinez were talking up a raucus crowd of 200 mostly Hispanic voters who had waited in the cold to cheer them. Martinez delivered half her remarks in Spanish.

They were joined onstage by the City’s Democratic Mayor Kevin Stack, and by Celin J. Valdivia, the Democratic candidate for Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation. The entire Union City Democratic Committee had crossed lines to endorse the Republican Governor, as had many of the city’s other municipal officials.

Christie borrowed from Woody Allen in his victory speech, attributing his success to “showing up.”

Christie’s choice of Union City and his selection of Governor Susana Martinez

as his surrogate go a long way to explaining how he won an outright

majority (51 percent) of theHispanic vote.

SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201310

Leslie Sanchez

insulting their intelligence or pandering. Hispanics want what everybody else wants: a good

job, a nice place to live in a safe neighborhood, and for our kids to have a better life than ours. Christie delivered that, and New Jersey’s Hispanic voters returned the favor by trusting him to continue to do so.

It certainly didn’t hurt that Christie has wisely rejected the shrill anti-immigration rhetoric of some Republicans. It offends and alienates Hispanics -- immigrants and native-born alike. Late in the campaign, citing an improved fiscal climate in the state, he even reversed his position on a state version of the DREAM Act that will allow undocumented students to take advantage of in-state tuition rates.

The Christie campaign’s reported $1 million in Spanish-language TV (from a warchest that allowed him to overspend his opponent by a margin of 10:1) was likewise clearly a factor.

It’s important to note, too, that New Jersey’s Latino population is much more diverse than in many parts of the country. Assimilated Cubans and Puerto Ricans make up fully 50 percent of the Garden State’s Hispanic electorate, and neither group directly faces the broken immigration system that motivates so many other Hispanic communities toward the Democrats (Puerto Ricans enjoy U.S. citizenship due to the island’s being a U.S. Territory, while Cubans have refugee status). New Jersey also boasts significant populations of assimilated Brazilian, Spanish and Portugese-Americans, who tend to be more fiscally conservative than other Latino groups.

Nevertheless, the lessons of Christie’s tenure and his campaign should not be lost on Republicans elsewhere.

Governor Martinez, too, has maintained astronomically high approval ratings in a blue state. According to a poll last month by Survey USA and

Martinez, too, has built support by reaching across party lines to seek compromise wherever possible and by consistently

putting the needs of her state’s hard-pressed population.

Albuquerque station KOB, Martinez enjoys the support of 66 percent of New Mexico’s voters, including 70 percent of women, 64 percent of independents and 44 percent of registered Democrats. (While cross-tabs were not provided, given that nearly half of New Mexico’s population is Hispanic, it is reasonable to believe that her approval numbers are consistently high within those communities as well).

Martinez, too, has built support by reaching across party lines to seek compromise wherever possible and by consistently putting the needs of her state’s hard-pressed population (New Mexico’s poverty rate is second only to Mississippi’s and fully 20 percent of the state’s population is without health care ) ahead of party politics and ideological conformity.

Like Christie, she has worked with a Democratic-controlled legislature to fashion a workable agenda that governs from the center-right. Like him, she rejected the GOP’s prevailing ideology to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare.

As Republicans and Democrats alike study the lessons of Chris Christie’s stunning victory among Hispanics, each side should consider the words of Martin Perez, President of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey: “In the past,” he said, “what has happened is that

the Democratic Party that we have endorsed a lot of times has taken us for granted, and the Republican Party didn’t pay much attention. We have to look beyond labels and look at what is in the best interest of community. He [Christie] tries to find common ground.” RF

Leslie Sanchez, author of “Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other,” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), was Director of the White House Initiative on Hispanic Education and is a Republican political strategist.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 11

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201312

TIM PENNy

Twenty years ago, I teamed up with my then-congressional colleague, John Kasich, to draft a bipartisan deficit-reduction plan. Dubbed Penny-Kasich, our proposal offered sensible reforms and savings in every part of the federal budget – domestic, defense and entitlements. We took on the spenders on Capitol Hill – and the interest groups who always demand more government spending. Our focus was not only to cut the deficit – but to challenge the false assumption that more spending leads to better results.

Today, it is no surprise to me that my friend, now-Governor Kasich, is applying those same principles to state government in Ohio. Three years ago, he inherited a budget deep in the red and an economy that had lost 350,000 jobs. As a way back, he offered Ohioan’s an agenda that combined fiscal prudence with an emphasis on measureable outcomes. By almost any measure, he has since delivered on his promise of a “new day” for Ohio.

Let’s start with the big picture. Without raising taxes, Kasich turned an $8 billion shortfall into a surplus, banked away a $1.5 billion budget reserve, and improved the state’s credit outlook. With $3 billion in tax cuts and an ongoing regulatory overhaul, he has helped create a pro-growth climate in which Ohioans have created more than 160,000 new private sector jobs while reducing the unemployment rate from 9 percent to just over 7 percent.

Equally important as these accomplishments, however, is Kasich’s constant focus on getting better results from government. His efforts to restructure the Medicaid

program by utilizing more coordinated and community-based care have produced both savings and better quality. Education reforms – including special efforts for Cleveland and Columbus advanced in partnership with those cities’ Democratic mayors -- are improving opportunities for students. In addition, Kasich insisted that the higher education establishment spend money smarter and respond more quickly to job-training needs – and it is happening.

Governor Kasich is also accelerating much-needed transportation improvements. By leveraging profits from Ohio’s turnpikes, he closed a $1.6 billion highway budget deficit and dozens of new road projects will soon be underway – many of which would otherwise have waited for 12 years or more. These investments will pay dividends in improving Ohio’s infrastructure to the benefit of businesses and citizens alike.

Based on a friendship of nearly three decades, none of these achievements come as a surprise to me. I have always

known John Kasich to be focused on getting things done. Most politicians are content to tinker around the edges or offer symbolic solutions – and often flee at the first sign of opposition. John is impatient with the status quo, however, and willing to take on the tough issues – and that sets him apart. John’s style may seem at times intense or even brash, but I came to learn – as Ohioans are now learning -- that his intensity stems from a passion to do the right thing and help solve tough problems.

Here is something else I have always known about

Behind

Kasich’sRise

Without raising taxes, Kasich turned an $8 billion shortfall into a surplus, banked away a $1.5 billion budget reserve, and improved the state’s

credit outlook.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 13

John. Though a highly successful Republican leader, John is not afraid to reach across the aisle to get things done. He is more than willing to partner with Democrats when common ground can be found. While in Congress, I observed and admired John as he tag-teamed with liberal California Congressman Ron Dellums to limit the B-2 bomber. Then, as previously cited, he partnered with me on the Penny-Kasich budget. More significantly, when chairing the U. S. House Budget Committee, he partnered with President Clinton to produce the first balanced budgets in three decades.

Now, not surprisingly, as governor, John has reached across the aisle to enlist support for school reforms, expand efforts to combat drug and alcohol addiction, and ease the ability for felons to re-enter the workforce. Most recently, he has won praise from Democrats, while rankling many within his own party, by supporting the expansion of Medicaid to cover more low income families – something his political hero President Reagan himself did at least four times.

Like Reagan, John is an able and pragmatic leader, and

Like Reagan, John is an able and pragmatic leader, and is guided by sound fiscal and

economic principles -- as well as a good heart.

is guided by sound fiscal and economic principles -- as well as a good heart.

President Reagan found common ground with Democrats on a range of issues -- saving Social Security, simplifying the tax code, enacting immigration reform – while still adhering to principle. Similarly, John is not afraid

to partner with other people of goodwill whenever possible and when it makes sense.

His ambition and passion is to get things done that need doing. It all adds up to leadership that is making a positive difference for the people of Ohio and an example from which Washington could learn a thing or two. RF

Tim Penny is President and CEO of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. From 1983 to 1995, he served as a Democratic Congressman representing the 1st District of Minnesota.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201314

Shortly after liesl Hickey was named ExecutiveDirector of the National Republican CampaignCommitteeforthe2014electioncycle,Roll Call published a story about her that discussed her background in politicsandtheskillsshewasbringingtotheposition.The story quoted former colleagues and coworkers who offered their thoughts on the womanwho hadbeen hired to hold and build the House majority in the comingyear.

“When she speaks, you better listen,” saidone.

“she doesn’t get rattled easily,” saidanother.

In reading these and other observations, a common theme emerged – thenewNRCCExecutiveDirector is a no-nonsense individual who has been tested under fire andis more than up to the job. But one other thingemerged as well – Hickey is an individual who not only understands the importance of the Republican base, but understands that the base must be expanded if, in the longrun,theGOPmajorityistogrowandendure.

She cut her teeth onCapitolHill as theChief ofStaff to then-RepresentativeMarkKirkof illinois. inthis role, she was the architect of the suburban Agenda, a positive, issue-oriented plan that was geared around the lives of once-reliably Republican suburban voters whohadbecometurnedoffbytheGOP’smessageinrecentyears.

After spending the 2008 campaign managing the ONE Vote’s presidential advocacy initiative, she joined theNationalRepublicanSenatorialCommitteetoserveas an advisor during the elections of 2010. ShewasrecruitedbytheNRCCtoserveasDirectorofincumbentRetention in 2012. WhenOregonRep.GregWalden

tookoverasNRCCChairmanlastNovember,hemadeHickeyhisfirsthirebyelevatinghertohercurrentrole.

“lieslHickeygetsit,”Waldensaidinastatementannouncingherappointment. “SheunderstandshowRepublicanscanwin incompetitivedistricts.Shehassharp political instincts and led our Patriot Program to help the House retain the second largest GOP majority sincethe1940s.Withthissolidbaseinplace,shewillleadourteamforwardtogaininggroundin2014.”

The Forum spoke with Hickey recently about her job as NRCCExecutive Director, the mood of the electorate, and the Republican Party’s prospects in the mid-terms nextyear.

* * * * *

RF: How do you view the political environment for Republicans heading into 2014?

LH: The political environment looks favorable for Republicans in 2014. Voters have a clear choice between a Democrat controlled Congress that prioritizes

top-down control to protect Washington’s interests or a Republican controlled Congress that supports bottom-up solutions for hard working Americans. Voters have seen what happens when Democrats have sole control of Washington and they understand the need for a strong check on the Obama administration. Washington Democrats promised accountability and transparency in government that they have not delivered. From the IRS scandal, to soaring deficits and wasteful spending, and not to mention all the Obamacare shenanigans, voters are tired of the Democrats’ business-as-usual Washington approach to solving problems.

Our Republican Members are committed to staying on offense in 2014. Romney won 227 congressional Districts to Obama’s 208 in 2012. Thirty-one districts flipped back to

“Democrats haveevery reason to be worried.”A Q&A with Liesl Hickey

Liesl Hickey, speaking at a Nov. 18th Ripon Society discussion with House staff leaders.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 15

voting Republican after voting for Obama in 2008. With 190 seats in deep Republican territory after redistricting, the House is well-aligned and in strong Republican hands. Democrats have every reason to be worried ahead of the elections next year. They are unable to campaign on Obamacare since it’s incredibly unpopular, especially in the Republican-leaning Districts where 15 Democratic Members currently reside. Their caucus is built on shaky ground.

Just earlier this year, the DCCC was forced to release a list of 26 vulnerable Democratic incumbents, and it’s clear that with a year to go before the elections, the Democrats are having trouble defending the seats they already have – let alone gain the 17 seats they need to win.

RF: How is candidate recruitment coming?LH: Thanks to our dedicated team of Members who

serve on our recruitment committee, we have an excellent recruitment class this cycle. We also have one of the most diverse recruiting classes to date. Our candidates are community leaders, business leaders, local elected officials, veterans, mothers – all with a strong desire and commitment to making Washington work. They are impressive and respectable individuals who will serve as a stark contrast to their Democrat incumbents who have supported the failed policies of the Obama administration.

We have more women candidates in competitive seats this cycle than in previous ones. We launched a women’s outreach and recruitment initiative this year called Project GROW to ensure our women recruits are equipped with the tools and training they need to win.

RF: One of the storylines that came out of the 2012 election is that the GOP needed to broaden its base. What is the NRCC doing to reach out to women and minorities to win their support?

LH: This cycle, the NRCC has been working hard to expand our outreach across the country to a number of different groups and coalitions. We have spearheaded a woman’s-based initiative called Project GROW, which aims to mentor, recruit and increase involvement with women leaders and voters across the country.

Additionally, we’ve hired a National Coalitions Director who is working to create a clear roadmap to expand Republican engagement efforts in Hispanic, Asian and other demographic groups across the country. She is also helping to strengthen our coalition groups and boost grassroots support for all of our candidates, and has become a crucial part of our team.

Contrary to what the Democrats will say, the Republican Party has the right message and path forward to problems facing women and minorities. We now are focused on effectively communicating those principles in a way that resonates with all Americans while reminding them why the Democrat agenda isn’t going to make their lives better.

RF: One other storyline in recent years is the

political decline of the GOP in the Northeast. What is the NRCC doing to elect more Republicans and strengthen the party in that region of the country?

LH: The political climate in the Northeast may differ from other regions across the nation, but the frustrations with Obamacare and Democrats’ tax and spend agenda is toxic with these fiscally conservative voters. Republicans will compete in the Northeast and we have top candidates, including Elise Stefanik in NY-21, Richard Tisei in MA-06, and Lee Zeldin in NY-01, whose values and priorities will resonate with voters in each of their districts. Like voters across the country, voters in the Northeast are still waiting for the Obama promised solutions to their problems to appear and every day they become more disenfranchised with Democrat controlled Washington.

RF: Talk for a minute about the role of outside groups. How do they affect your planning, and do you expect them to be more of a positive or negative for Republicans next year?

LH: We are focused on our efforts here at the NRCC and are grateful for any groups that join us in the mission to ensure that Nancy Pelosi never becomes Speaker of the House again.

RF: With 2014 being a mid-term election, what does the party need to do to get its voters to the polls?

LH: The destructive policies of the Obama administration will be a motivating factor to large portions of the voting electorate next year. To capitalize on this frustration and use it to our advantage, this cycle we created a Strategy Department to make sure our campaigns are data driven so that we can create sophisticated ground games by modeling our targeted voters, persuading them to vote for our candidate and then turning them out to vote. We’ve created distinct voter profiles for our targeted districts and will also use this data to run more effective and targeted paid media campaigns.

RF: Speaking of polls, what steps has the party taken to make sure it has a clearer reading of the electorate than in 2012?

LH: After the 2012 elections, it was clear to many of us that our strategy and voter outreach needed to be reworked. Our newly-created strategy department, which works directly with our polling director, has taken a forensic look into what went wrong with polling in 2012 and have developed standards for polling in Congressional races. We are also employing micro- targeting more often and earlier this cycle to make sure we are effectively reaching our targeted audiences. We already know more about these seats and the voters than we did in 2012.

RF: If you had to pick an upset special right now, which race would it be?

LH: FL-13 (Bill Young’s seat) will be a very competitive special election next year. The primary is January 11, 2014 and the general election on March 14, 2014. RF

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201316

KiMAlFANO

This article is supposed discuss how Republicans can win the women’s vote given their cavernous gender gap. Well, I am one of those stubborn women and, as we often do, I’m gonna change the subject.

First, it’s important to know this is mostly a federal problem. There are many Republican Governors enjoying just super approval ratings, including New Jersey’s Chris Christie (54% approval), New Mexico’s Susanna Martinez (60%), and Terry Branstad of Iowa (54%).

They know what Washington politicians don’t. This is not a fight for this demographic or that. It’s a fundamental structural problem. We’re crumbling under the weight of policies that haven’t been updated since poodle skirts. And it’s not just women. We stink with all kinds of voters, from minorities to millennials. (I think there are still 714 old white guys that are very happy with us.) And THAT’s the problem.

Republicans address each little demographic as if it exists only in its own tiny box. If you’re Hispanic, your issue is immigration. If you’re young, it’s jobs. Women only care about abortion. Yikes!

Folks, this is NOT your mamma’s electorate. Do you know what the top issue is for all three of these demographic groups? It’s education reform. To young parents, women, and immigrants, this issue -- above most others -- is transformative for their families and future. Sadly, education reform is probably the most “cutting edge” idea Republicans can offer these

days, yet it isn’t cutting edge at all – it’s been around since the ‘80s. And now, Democrats have pretty much stolen it from us anyway.

Contrary to the RNC’s infamous “autopsy” following last year’s election, the Republican Party doesn’t have

a voter contact, or GOTV, or messaging deficit. We have an idea deficit. As far as voters go, Washington has become a bunch of Keystone Cops achieving nothing. And Republicans? We’ve become a caricature of our ideals, believing our core principles are our big ideas.

The Republicans’ central problem is not faulty organization or ham-handed communications – it’s that we are devoid of a fresh, modern view of the future, and can’t begin to articulate what it takes to get there. You can’t lead people with a bunch of moral values and rules – those are what we’re supposed to use to come up with the paradigm-shifting ideas. The principles of small government or personal liberty are nothing even remotely new. And offered alone, they don’t actually achieve anything. They remain our rock solid foundation, but are lying there begging for some new construction.

The Big Innovation Center in the United Kingdom proclaims their mission this

way: “Turn zombies into innovators.” That pretty much sums up the challenge facing Republicans today. You want to close the gender gap? Boot the zombies and bring on the innovators. Women, imagine if we had a government that looked like this:

Bootthe Zombies!

Contrary to the RNC’s infamous “autopsy” following

last year’s election, the Republican Party doesn’t have

a voter contact, GOTV, or messaging deficit. We have an

idea deficit.

Kim Alfano

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 17

As President: Steve Jobs. Vice President: Ronald Reagan.White house spokesman: George Clooney. (Because

who wouldn’t tune in to see George Clooney?) Senators: Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Walt

Disney, Oprah, Bruce Springsteen, Milton Friedman, Billy Graham…

In Congress: Michele Rhee, Isaac Newton, Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich (the 90s version) Mother Teresa, Justin Bieber (yes the Biebs -- Bieber fever = next generation), Ted Turner, Coco Chanel, Colin Powell…

There’d be no shutdowns from these folks! On day one, they’d lay waste to every institution and policy created before cable TV and start over.

Wouldn’t it be nice to hear President Jobs explain groundbreaking new technology that’s transformed education by delivering 100% customized curriculum directly to every child in America? (And is, by the way, much, much cheaper.)

Or to watch Warren Buffet and Oprah hashing out new fiscal policy? Or Isaac Newton and Jack Kemp working to

You want to closethe gender gap? Boot the zombies and bring

on the innovators.

overhaul entitlements?Smaller government. Entrepreneurial freedom. Job

creation. Schools where parents and local communities hold the power. This stuff is not new. It’s the ideal world Republicans have always fought to create.

But if we want to convince women, not to mention minorities and millennials, to join our movement, we’ve got to actually have one. People won’t follow the party of the government shutdown, or of 1950s views on “women’s” issues. They will follow hope. They’ll follow strength and confidence, and the party with a broad, optimistic vision, and with a new way -- a better way -- to get to that “shining city on a hill”.

Until we are that party -- the NOT undead party -- we’d better get used to women coming at us with torches and pitchforks instead of votes. RF

Kim Alfano is the President and CEO of Alfano Communications, a Republican media consulting firm whose past clients have included former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.

They have plenty of energy for the future.Fortunately, so do we.Did you know that the U.S. has enough domestic natural gas to meet America’s diverse energy needs for nearly 100 years? Or that natural gas offers tremendous value, having saved residential consumers $35 billion over the past three years? Natural gas is clean, affordable, and — most importantly — it’s an abundant, domestic resource for our country. And it’s one that’s safe, reliable and can improve our environment while enhancing energy security. Natural gas fuels more than 70 million American homes and businesses. Learn more at aga.org.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201318

As with most American political trends, any single factor is seldom the exclusive cause. While the 24/7 news cycle and increasing use of social media provide a fragmented environment for political communication, one of the principal reasons for the present rise of special interest groups’ influence on the political process is our monumentally irrational campaign financing system.

The Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and in conjunction with state campaign finance rules, has made it much more difficult for political party organizations to raise funds and support candidates than any other groups. Super PACS, tea party organizations, trade associations, unions and wealthy individuals can raise and/or spend money outside of many of the legal limits placed on political parties.

The restrictions imposed exclusively on party organizations have resulted in campaign support that otherwise would have gone to the party being sent instead to independent groups or spent independently. If we understand the essential role of healthy parties in our political system, then at the very least one of the goals of campaign finance regulation should be preserving the vitality of our parties.

Political parties, as we know them, are an American

The Decline of Partiesand the Rise of Dysfunction

invention. Parties were not accidents of history. Our earliest political leaders realized that they were essential in bringing order to America’s tripartite form of government. Thomas Jefferson and James

Madison devised them as means of changing the policy directions of government. Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren revised them as a means of expanding popular participation in government.

Since the earliest days of our Republic, they have, albeit imperfectly, continued to serve these ends. Parties are the only broad-based, multi-interested organizations in this country that can nominate candidates for office, mobilize popular support behind them, and organize those elected into a government.

Unlike special-interest groups, parties must appeal to majorities in the electorate if they are to win; and unlike single-candidate organizations, they must win many races if they are to govern. Parties,

moreover, give coherence to American politics. We have a constitutional system and a political culture dominated by dis-unifying forces – separated powers, federalism, pluralism, and individualism. Parties have been a unifying force in this system, cutting across the branches and levels of government as well as across voting blocs to aggregate interests, build coalitions, and make mass democracy possible.

If we understand the essential role of healthy parties in our political system, then at the very least one of the goals of campaign finance

regulation should be preserving the vitality of our parties.

byMARKBRADEN

Mark Braden

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 19

Individual candidate campaigns and special interest-based groups do not provide the men and women they support with wider programs or principles required to govern. Single-issue groups lead to fragmented government, the neglect of broader policy needs, and the neglect of needs of citizens not represented by groups. Broad-based political parties, on the other hand, can compromise and incorporate the wishes of a wide range of citizens in programs that encompass a multitude of issues and stretch across a greater timespan than a term of office. They can marshal the resources and develop the strategy to recruit, train, support, and guide a succession of individuals to advance those programs during their terms in office. They are able to put forward a broad panel of spokespersons in defense of their programs, informing and educating the citizenry in a debate that extends well beyond the short-range electoral prospects of particular candidates.

In short, only political parties can provide us with the cohesion, continuity and accountability necessary to make our democracy work. Political parties are the only broad-based, popular intermediaries between the people and their government. Voters use them to steer government in directions they wish it to go. When political parties work, government works. When they do not, government falters and drifts – witness Washington today.

Our present failure of governance in regular order is a failure rooted in the corrosion of political party power. Congressional and party leadership can no longer provide or withhold a significant tool of political success – money. Special interests do not occupy a legal level-playing field with political parties, but a superior legal position unbound by most campaign finance prohibitions which, when combined with their lack of responsibility to actually govern, magnify their influence.

Why does the “reform lobby” still argue to limit political parties? The only basis recognized by the Supreme Court for any restriction of political money is corruption or the appearance of corruption.

Political party support is not corruptive, nor does it appear to be corruptive in any reasonable interpretation of the concept. Corruption is an impairment of integrity or the exercise of improper and undue influence – the explicit exchange of contributions for votes. A political party’s financial support to its candidates does not constitute corruption. Parties and their candidates share an identity and self interest in elections – this is a symbiotic, not a corrupting, relationship. The notion

that party support corrupts candidates runs counter to virtually every theory of political party functions in the United States. One of the major purposes of political parties is to sponsor candidates who represent the diverse, but coherent, ideas encompassed in party philosophy.

Parties are not the same as interest groups. For a party to function, it must speak for broader concerns, for some combination of particular claims, for some overall approach to public issues. Parties must raise money to speak and must listen to contributors, but they must listen to majorities rather than exclusively to any particular contributor or group of contributors. Listening to majorities is what we call democracy. Political parties are the most comprehensive and most effective form of political association through which ordinary Americans can influence the direction of their government. We should prize them as the cornerstones of representative democracy and work to assure their vitality.

As a source of campaign funds, American parties constitute the “cleanest” money in politics. Recognizing that political parties are large aggregators of many contributions diffuses any real or perceived undue influence that might arise from a financial contribution. Most politicians are honest. However, most are also distracted, some appear influenced, and a few may even be corrupted by the demands of fundraising. Parties are too large and too diverse to be controlled by

any special interest. The old rule of sanitary engineers applies: the solution to pollution is dilution.

There is no basis in American political theory or practice for any limit on political party contributions or expenditures. Unlike Super PACs, corporations, trade groups, unions or even wealthy individuals, there is no risk of a party corrupting a candidate by giving him or her a large sum of money. The party and the candidate clearly share a common interest in the candidate winning the election, and they presumably also share a common interest on at least major questions of public policy.

To permit greater party fundraising and enable parties to fund candidates at higher levels, tamper the fragmentation of our political process. An enlarged role for parties is the most practical way to check the growing influence of narrowly based special interest organizations. RF

Mark Braden is currently Of Counsel at BakerHostetler. He previously spent ten years as Chief Counsel to the Republican National Committee.

When political parties work, government

works. When they do not, government falters

and drifts – witness Washington today.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201320

DANSCHNUR

In any stadium, the loudest voices are in the bleachers. Therefore it’s only natural that most politicians set up in the end zones, closest to their parties’ most ideologically driven fans but a hundred yards away from the other team. In politics, though, unlike football, the work gets done and accomplishments happen in the space between the forty-yard lines. And in recent years, the political space closest to midfield has become increasingly deserted.

The result is polarized and hyper-partisan politics and governmental gridlock, where the two parties point fingers and hurl epithets at each other, but are less and less likely to work together to solve problems of mutual concern. Not surprisingly, voters become increasingly disenchanted with their elected leaders. Popular support for Congress dropped to nine percent in November polling.

The Republicans’ difficulties are more apparent. Increasing numbers of business leaders, whose economic interests have historically aligned them with the GOP, are viewing the government shutdown agenda of the party’s most conservative members with alarm. And an electorate that is much less white, much less religious, much less straight, and much less old creates even greater challenges for Republicans going forward. But the Obamacare debacle has diminished Democrats’ standing with voters as well, and now both party’s leaders seem to have decided that being the most popular 8-track tape store at the local shopping mall is an adequate replacement for a long-

term electoral strategy.But there are remedies at hand, and the state of

California, which for years has been the nation’s poster child for dysfunctional governance, is demonstrating that small but important changes in the rules governing elections can

have a marked impact on the candidates who run under those rules once they’ve taken office.

The two most important changes that we’ve implemented in the Golden State are reform of the manner in which our legislative and congressional districts were drawn and the implementation of a top-two primary. Taking the redistricting process away from the state legislature has led to the creation of genuinely competitive congressional and legislative districts. Meanwhile, the top-two primary creates an incentive for candidates in strongly liberal or conservative districts to talk to voters in both parties rather than relying solely on the most ideologically extreme members of their own party for support.

Under the old rules, those that are still in place in most states across the country, a politician in either party could be confident that there was almost no possible way that he could ever lose a general election campaign

in a gerrymandered district. The only way he could ever lose his job, therefore, was in a primary contest to an even more ideologically extreme member of his own party.

Our elected representatives learned very quickly that these seats were theirs for life, that they could lie, cheat or steal and still be assured of re-election. The only action for which

MaytheBestCandidateWinCan two laws to end gridlock in the Golden Stateserve as a model for nationwide reform?

The state of California ... is demonstrating that small but

important changes in the rules governing elections can have a

marked impact on the candidates who run under those rules once

they’ve taken office.

Dan Schnur

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 21

“Over the course of the 50 years that Ripon has existed,it really has been very helpful in terms of shoring up our

party – frankly helping to broaden our party.” SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER JANUARY 22, 2013

Founded 1962. www.riponsociety.org

The Ripon SocietyIdeas that matter since 1962.

there was no forgiveness would be compromise, or looking for opportunities to cooperate with members of the opposing party. That instinct would quickly be punished by a primary opponent backed by Moveon.org or the Tea Party. Even those officeholders who might be inclined to work across party lines on occasion had a powerful disincentive not to do so.

But the combination of redistricting reform and a top-two primary has reversed this incentive system. The result has been to dramatically improve the prospects for not only centrists of either party, but principled conservatives and liberals as well who demonstrate an interest and ability to cooperate across party lines. Under California’s new rules, politicians who reach out across the aisle are less exposed to pressure from their own party’s base, because that pressure can be mitigated with increased support from independent voters or centrists of the other party. Conversely, candidates who won their campaigns by attracting support from voters of other parties would be more likely to seek out opportunities to cooperate across partisan boundaries after taking office.

The predictable partisan voices fought hard against the new redistricting and primary rules. But the combination of these two essential changes has been to reorient legislators

from a single-minded focus on the ideological extremes within their own parties to a broader awareness of the priorities of larger swaths of the electorate. Because it has become much more difficult for candidates to rely solely on their party bases to win election, they have begun to look for opportunities for bi-partisan cooperation. This past year we saw politicians of both parties finding ways to work across traditional partisan

boundaries. Several Republican legislators advocated for immigration reform and many of their Democratic counterparts voted for environmental deregulation.

These reforms do not magically overcome a state’s political, governmental, and policy challenges: all they could do is create opportunities for smart men

and women to work together to solve them. As has been the case with many other policy and political reforms in the past, California is once again poised to lead the way in creating a more cohesive and productive means of governance. RF

Dan Schnur is the director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. He was the national communications director for the 2000 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John McCain.

This past year we saw politicians of both parties

finding ways to work across traditional partisan

boundaries.

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News & Events

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – After recent GOP losses among women, The Ripon Society hosted a breakfast meeting on October 4th to discuss what can be done to reverse that trend. The discussion featured four members of the Republican Women’s Policy Committee, who are spearheading an effort to not only recruit more women to run for office as Republicans, but to make sure the message the party is communicating does not turn women away.

The members included Reps. Martha Roby (AL-2), Diane Black (TN-6), Marsha Blackburn (TN-7), and Renee Ellmers (NC-2), who chairs the RWCP and opened the discussion by talking about the challenges before them. “The Republican Party as a whole has got to do a better job reaching out to women,” Ellmers stated. “There are only 19 of us in the Republican Conference. We’re only 8 percent of our conference, and we need to get more women here. That’s one of our objectives. Whether it’s Project GROW or the Republican Women’s Policy Committee, we’re highlighting all of the work that our colleagues are doing every day, working on important issues.”

Ellmers, who worked as a nurse for more than two decades prior to her election, is serving her second term in the House. In addition to her role as Chair of the RWCP, she also oversees Project GROW, an effort launched by National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden to recruit more Republican women candidates, and one which Ellmers also discussed. “We’re working hard to get more women elected,” she said. “Recruitment is a big part of that. But we also need to make sure that we’re going out and meeting with women and helping them understand that it’s not just about birth control and abortions. Women are worried about how they’re paying the bills, why gas prices are so high, and the price of groceries, milk,

Ripon society Hosts Breakfast Meetingon Expanding the Base of the GOPReps. Ellmers, Blackburn, Black &Roby headline discussion

eggs when you go to the grocery store.” Blackburn – who is serving her 6th term in office and

helped co-found the RWCP last year -- echoed this sentiment and pointed to a set of statistics that helped bolster her case. She also pointed out that the group’s purpose is not only to help GOP women, but GOP men.

“When you look at what’s happening in society,” the Tennessee lawmaker stated, “women are now 53 percent of

the electorate. Women hold 52 percent of all jobs. Forty-seven percent of all households are headed by female breadwinners. Women make 54 percent of all car purchases. Most importantly, when you look at who pays the family bills, 75 percent of all households report that the checkbook is managed by the mom. And 80 percent of all health care decisions are made by women. So it is imperative that we continue to help and assist -- through the Republican Women’s Policy Committee and Project GROW -- our male colleagues who are seeking to get a footing with how they appropriately communicate in a current, concise, succinct method with all of those women, their female constituents.”

Black – who was elected in 2010 and also helped cofound the RWCP last year – expanded on the importance of finding qualified Republican women to run for office, describing it as an

effort that not only requires persistence, but may also take a few years.

“We are trying to recruit good female candidates,” she stated. “And as Renee has always reminded me, women have to be asked. Not like males who will make that decision on their own. Women want to be asked. We know that, and we want to ask the right women to come and join us to fight on the Hill. But the other thing we are doing is not giving up when we find

“There are only 19 of us inthe Republican Conference …and we need to get morewomen here.”

Rep. Renee Ellmers

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201324

a good woman who says the time is just not right. Because they do make decisions differently. If I have kids that are 10 and 13, even though their husband says, ‘Go and do it honey -- I can take care of it,’ I’ve had them say to me, ‘It’s not that everything won’t be okay without me being there -- it’s what I will miss that will make the difference.’

“What we are trying to do is keep those women engaged, so that when the time is right, we will have already cultivated them. They are who we are. We keep in contact with them. We ask them to help us in their communities to help identify other women who the time is right for. We’ve got to do that, so we don’t come up on every election and go, ‘Oh boy, who are we going to call this time?’ We need to cultivate those women, so when the time is right, they can come and join this fight.”

Roby – who also was elected in 2010 and served on the Montgomery City Council prior to her election to the House – discussed the pitch she makes to prospective candidates, as well as some of the personal joys – and considerations -- that must be made.

“What I tell young ladies is that you don’t have to wait your turn,” the Alabama Republican stated. “You don’t have to sit down and take a number and wait until somebody else tells you it’s your turn. It’s not a DMV line. We’ve got to encourage young women to laugh in the face of the adversity and the good old boys network and say, ‘No, I’m going to do this. It is my turn and I don’t have to ask permission from anybody.’ But the other thing is the balance that comes from women believing in their minds that they have to choose between running for office and being a mom and a mother. You don’t have to choose. You can do both, and it’s hard.

“Margaret, my 8 year old daughter -- on her own, without any influence from her mother directly -- decided that she’s running for student council today, and she’s giving a speech

today in front of the entire student body. She practiced for me over FaceTime last night, while her brother was in his Spiderman costume running around. You know, it’s hard, and being away from your kids is tough. But the fact that my daughter -- on her own -- wanted to be a leader in her classroom, in the third grade at Forest Avenue Elementary, means we must be doing something right. So when I speak to young women, the message is that you don’t have to choose. You got to have a good support network -- here and back home. You’ve got to have people that will help you. Hillary Clinton got it right when she said it takes a village. But choose your village. Make sure you’ve got people around you that you want.”

Roby concluded by talking about three lessons she believed that all Republicans should take away from the last election.

“We have to start listening,” she said. “I don’t think we spend enough time listening to the people we are trying to draw in to our party and our beliefs. We’ve got to listen. Number two, we have to stop blaming the other side. We have to be the party that we are -- that is, the party of ideas and solutions. When we go out there and say Obamacare is wrong, we have to say what’s right. And we have to make sure it resonates with the American people. Lastly, I believe we have to preach beyond the choir. We all thought we were going to win the election. At least I did. And I think part of the reason we lost is that we only hear each other. We’re not speaking to the people in the grocery store line that may have different political views than us. So we need to engage in that conversation.”

The October 4th breakfast meeting was the third discussion The Ripon Society has held in recent years that focused on broadening the base of the Republican Party by increasing the number of women who join, run for office, and play a leadership role in the GOP. RF

Reps. Martha Roby, Diane Black, Marsha Blackburn, and Renee Ellmers at The Ripon Society breakfast on Oct. 4th.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 25

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With partisan tensions running high on Capitol Hill in the wake of the government shutdown, The Ripon Society and the Franklin Center held a breakfast discussion on October 24th featuring a bipartisan working group of House Members who have been meeting on a regular basis in an attempt to put politics aside and find common ground.

The Members included Reps. Jim Renacci (R/OH-16), Mike Kelly (R/PA-3), John Delaney (D/MD-6), and Andy Barr (R/KY-6). Renacci is one of the organizers of the group and talked about its origins in his opening remarks. “I’ve been a businessman for 28 years and always thought that’s what you normally do,” stated the Ohio Republican, referring to bipartisanship and the importance of talking with those on the other side of the aisle. “I never knew if there was a Democrat or Republican in my business. You just had a common goal and you got it done.

“When I got here, I went to my first Financial Services Committee hearing, and I remember the opening statements started by throwing a hand grenade over to the other side, and the other got a hand grenade and threw it across the aisle, and back and forth. It finally got to me and I said I’m not throwing any hand grenades. I thought it was a committee meeting. And people kind of looked at me like, ‘What’s this guy talking about?’ But it actually worked out because a Member from the other side, John Carney, walked over to me and said, ‘One thing we notice about you is that you don’t throw any hand grenades, you don’t talk about the other party, you want to get the facts, you want

“Great things have always been done atthe intersection of principle and compromise.”Reps. Renacci, Kelly, Delaney and Barr DiscussBipartisan Effort to Find Common Ground

to get the information, you want to get something done.’

“So John said, ‘Why don’t we have breakfast one day?’ And that was the start of the breakfast group. I went out and grabbed a few of my colleagues, John did the same, and we started having meetings about every two or three weeks ... In the first two years, we introduced

five pieces of legislation and actually got something through last year, which was reforming the unemployment insurance part of the big payroll tax extension. So we were able to work together, and we’re still meeting. We’ve added, of course, some people. We went from six to 10 to 12, and now we have a group of about 20 members. It’s ultimately where we need to go. And I’ll tell you -- not only are we colleagues, but many of the members have become my closest friends.”

Kelly echoed Renacci’s comments, and touched on the fact that he and

many other members of the group are driven not just by their shared interest in bipartisanship, but by their shared business roots.

“Jim and I are both car dealers so we really hit it off right away,” stated the Keystone State lawmaker, who employs over 100 people at his own auto dealership in Western Pennsylvania. “But what

he’s talking about is something so common in the private sector. There’s nobody who looks at what we’re doing and says, ‘This makes sense -- I can run my business this way.’ Yes, you could -- but only for a very short period of time … I cannot run my business without negotiating and without compromising and without having a common goal. And I think sometimes it’s so polarized right now. I think that we’re not really Democrats versus Republicans, or vice versa. We’re two parties doing the best thing for this country.

“I played on sports teams all my life, and I would say that there is no team where the offense criticizes the defense, or they forget that right across the field is the team you’ve got

to beat. So if we’re together as a group, as legislators, trying to do the best thing for America, that’s easy. Who has more assets than we do? There’s nobody in the world who comes close to who we are. The only thing that’s missing is our ability to work together to get it done.”

Delaney, who is also a successful businessman, agreed.

“Working with people on the other side of the aisle comes naturally to people who have a business background,” stated the Maryland legislator, who founded two New York Stock Exchange-listed

“I said I’m not throwing any hand grenades. I thought it was a committee meeting.”

Rep. Jim Renacci

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201326

companies before the age of 40. “I know I speak for Jim and Mike when I say this: in my business career, someone’s political persuasion was the least relevant thing in any kind of relationship I have with them. In fact I have done business with people for 10, 12 years sometimes, and I know a lot about them, I know a lot about their family, we trust each other, and I would never know their politics because to some extent it wasn’t even polite to bring it up.

“I think that we have moved from a world where principles used to matter to a world where ideology matters. One of the problems with ideology is that people go to the answer before they look at the facts. And I think that’s a really troubling trend, because we all have high principles -- things we really care about -- and traditionally speaking, great things have always been done at the intersection of principle and compromise. The problem is when you move from principle to ideology, you almost definitionally lose the ability to compromise because it’s never a fact-based discussion.”

“People ask me, ‘How do you get people to work on these things in a bipartisan manner?’ And I say that my first rule is I try not to say bad things about them. Because in the private sector, it was hard to do things with people when you constantly said bad things about them. So it’s a rule of thumb -- I try not to say bad things about people. The second

thing I try to do is actually come up with ideas that I think are receptive to their perspective. In other words, I come to the debate and I say I’ve got an idea and I’ve actually formulated it in a way that I think should be appealing to you. And then I try to spend a lot of time with them.

I’ve got a large infrastructure bill. We’ve got 24 Democrats and Republicans on the bill. Andy Barr is on the bill. It funds infrastructure and it uses a tax break on repatriation on overseas income to fund it. I had 90 meetings in Republican offices for the first five months I was in Congress. I set up an appointment with Andy and got on his calendar. I had a little presentation and I went through it. And it was surprising to me how little of that actually goes on -- people going to the other person’s office, sitting down, and actually working through something. I think we need more of that.”

Barr, an attorney from Lexington who was elected last November, concurred.

“John is exactly right,” the first-term lawmaker stated. “We don’t really have as much interactions in the office as we should, but I give John so much credit for reaching out to Members like me -- freshman colleagues who are new Members, who are still trying to find our way around. And when he presented his idea to me, I was struck by his intelligence, I was struck by his thoughtfulness, and when you strip away

any preconceived notions about political party affiliation and you just look at the ideas on the merits, I recognize what a powerful argument and how persuasive he was at presenting the idea. So I give great credit to him and it taught me an important lesson in my Congressional career, and that is that you’ve got to have an open mind. You’ve got to listen to one another and you’ve got to recognize that there are a lot of bright people up here who have really good ideas. Don’t come to these things with partisan glasses on. Take a look at the idea.”

“I come from the district of Henry Clay. Henry Clay was known as the ‘Great Compromiser.’ What I hear from my district – from people who are paying their taxes, paying their bills, trying to save for college for their kids – is that they don’t understand why the politicians in Washington are putting political agendas ahead of solutions for the American people. They really do want us to solve the problem, which is why I believe that, in the spirit of Henry Clay, the only way forward is through negotiation and compromise.”

Also appearing at yesterday’s breakfast discussion was former Ambassador and Congresswoman Connie Morella (R/MD-8), who introduced Renacci and talked about her own experiences working across the aisle to open the event. RF

Reps. Andy Barr, John Delaney, Mike Kelly and Jim Renacci at The Ripon Society breakfast on Oct. 24th.

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RIPON FORUM Fall 2013 27

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RIPON FORUM Fall 201328

Name: Lynn JenkinsOccupation: U.S. Representative, Kansas’ 2nd DistrictBefore your election to Congress, you served in the Kansas State Legislature, and were the State Treasurer, as well. What prompted you to run for public office in the first place? I saw an opportunity to make a difference for folks in my community, because I wasn’t particularly pleased with how either party was handling fiscal matters. I wanted to make things better for Kansas families, and help provide a secure future with more opportunities for my kids and their generation.

You’re one of only 10 Certified Public Accountants currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. How has your training as a CPA shaped your perspective in office? As a CPA, and a former state treasurer, I’m a numbers nerd, and I know when the math doesn’t work. Racking up trillions of dollars in debt has grave consequences for our nation’s economy, and we cannot afford to continue to ignore our unsustainable spending problem that is largely driven by mandatory spending programs. If we want these programs to be around and adequately provide for future generations we must start fixing them now.

You’re also one of only 19 Republican women serving in the House. Why do you think there are so few of you, and what do you think needs to be done to reverse that trend? Women generally tend to be more hesitant about running for office, and oftentimes simply need to be asked. It’s important to help utilize and support our current Republican congresswomen, while encouraging other ladies to step up and join our strong conservative voice. I enjoy working with several organizations who reach out to women, recruit them for public office, and support them once they win like Maggie’s List, VIEWPAC, the National Federation of Republican Women, and the NRCC’s Project Grow.

As the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, how important do you think it is to have a woman at the leadership table? It is incredibly important. Women bring a unique perspective and set of skills to the work environment – especially moms – who tend to be great listeners, consensus-builders, and problem solvers. These qualities are what make us an asset when you need someone to get the job done. Having three women in House Republican Leadership is a big step forward, but we still have strides to make. I am confident as more women succeed and achieve, they will motivate more women to follow.

Let’s talk about issues. As a member of the Ways & Means Committee, are we going to see a tax reform bill this year? It has always been my hope, and the committee’s goal that we would see a bill this year, but we are in a challenging environment. Those of us on Ways and Means have been working for the last few years talking with our constituents and colleagues in an effort to lay the foundation to move forward on comprehensive, pro-growth tax reform. I applaud Chairman Camp for his leadership on this truly vital economic issue, and the committee remains committed to making sure we get the job done.

How about the Farm Bill – how important is that legislation to the people you represent back home? Considering Kansas is the bread basket of the world, the Farm Bill is imperative to Kansas, and not only the farmers and ranchers. Agriculture commodities alone bring $15 billion in economic benefits to Kansas. We need a five-year Farm Bill, to give folks some certainty, and help them plan for the future. Our agriculture and nutrition policy both need serious reforms to work better for Kansans and the American people.

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