Restore The GOP

SDGOP Central Committee Meeting: Aug 13, 2012

I was elected by the Republican voters, of the (new) 78th Assembly District, to be one of the six members of the SDGOP Central Committee, for a two-year term beginning December, 2012.  Recently, Mark Olson asked me to be his alternate member, representing the (current) 74th Assembly District and I accepted.

I pledged to publish my voting record when I ran and I will be honoring that pledge here.

Last night, your SDGOP Central Committee deliberated on endorsing candidates.  I represented Mr. Olson, as his alternate, in the 74th Assembly District. 

A slate of incumbent Republicans was presented for endorsement.  Those incumbents were endorsed unanimously. I voted to endorse.

Steve Johnson sought the party endorsement for his re-election to the Lakeside Water District.  He secured the 2/3 required for endorsement.  I voted to endorse Mr. Johnson.

Sherry Hodges  and Rocky Chavez sought the party endorsement for the 76th Assembly District.  Sherry Hodges won the 2/3 required for endorsement.  I voted to endorse Sherry Hodges.

Why Should I Vote For Brian Brady for SDGOP Central Committee?

I received an email this morning, asking me these five questions about my motivation for serving and plans to grow the SDGOP.  I'm thrilled people are paying attention and asking the hard questions of candidates.  When voters ask the hard questions (and they are), we stand a better chance fo reclaiming and restoring the Republic. 

Questiones emboldened.  Answers italicized

1.      Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

I am a husband, father, tea party activist, and small business owner who announced his candidacy for the San Diego County Republican Central Committee, on February 15, 2012.  My conservative activism began soon after I registered to vote in my hometown of Cherry Hill, NJ. On my 18th birthday, I registered with the Selective Service Board then went to Township Hall to register to vote.  Maria Greenwald, mayor of Cherry Hill, was horrified when Mr. Brady registered Republican in the mostly Democratic township.

I smiled, told Mayor Greenwald that I was going to get President Reagan re-elected, and walked out of the Township Hall.  I was immediately approached by a bystander who invited me to the Camden County Republican Party meeting that month.  At the meeting, I committed to become a County committeeman.  I launched my campaign in my District, won at age 18 and 3 months, and the journey began.

Read my full biography

2.      What are the duties and responsibilities of the central committee?

The Central Committee is the governing body of the San Diego County Republican Party and is tasked with recruiting and endorsing candidates, raising money for local races, registering voters, and working to keep Republicans as the majority party.

3.      Why do you want to be on the central committee?

I want to "Restore the GOP" to the majority party in San Diego County, the State of California, and the country.  I believe the best way to do that is to recommit our party to the principles of Liberty and fidelity to the Constitution.

Ourr Founders gave us a "manual for good self-government", also known as The Constitution.  That brilliant document guarantees individual, God-given rights.  Both parties have strayed from First Principles, finding it easier to promise the electorate stuff rather than to follow the constraints placed upon government in Article One, Section Eight.  Not since Reagan and Goldwater have we heard those principles effectively articulated.   I want to help to RESTORE the GOP to the platform of constitutionally constrained government, promotion of free enterprise, and protection of individual liberties.

Read the about my ideas to RESTORE THE GOP here

4.      What specific ideas do you have that will make the SDRP more robust
and successful in its mission to elect conservatives to public office?

Recruit and educate candidates who can effectively articulate why limiting government is legally, morally, and practically the best course of action.

Read those ideas here.

5.      Any ideas on how to attract youth/minorities to the party?

Promote Liberty.  Liberty has a way of bringing people together.  The principles of Liberty are attracted thousands of young people, of all races, colors and creeds, to rallies across California.

Here is what young people said at the linked story about a Liberty rally:

One group of six students, all from different backgrounds, shared two things: They were men, and they were there in support of Dr. Paul. They agreed that if Dr. Paul is not the nominee, they would still absolutely vote in the general election.

They would not stay home.

Most of the six young men said they would lean toward President Obama over Mitt Romney, in varying degrees. They all agreed that they could not support Rick Santorum. These young men were overall very thoughtful. They were worried about crushing debt.

Ron Paul is no Messiah but to ignore the principles he is promoting:  sound money, scaled back military intervention, reducing the size and scope of government, and fiscal resposnisbility, is to ignore the future voters of the GOP.  Voters under 30 can and will passionately support candidates who stand for these principles.  We have plenty of those candidates in San Diego and need to recruit and educate them.

Electing Constitutional Judges: Jim Miller, Jr. For Seat 25

The most important job a Central Committee member can do is to promote good candidates.  I started doing that this election cycle.

Perhaps the most important jobs in our Republic is the Superior Court Judge.  This often overlooked ballot category affects all County resident at one time or another.  Superior Court judges rule in much more than criminal law.  Judges rule on civil matters (contracts, disputes, torts. etc),  family law  (divorce) and juvenile law (both criminal and welfare).

Jim Miller, Jr. is the only candidate, for Seat 25, who has experience in all areas of the law.  He is the head of a law firm, has experience as a private mediator and arbitrator, served as a Judge Pro-Tem, and is a recognized NFL agent.

Most importantly, Jim always refers to the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land and articulates that he will look first to it, to guide his decisions.  Electing constitutional judges is the most important thing we can do to restore the Republic.

Last night, my wife and I co-hosted a fundraiser for Jim in Oceanside, with Rhonda Deniston .  Rhonda invited AZ State Senator Russell Pearce, the author of the existing Arizona immigration law.  Senator Pearce spoke about the challenges made to that law and voiced his support for constitutional judges like Jim.

While Oceanside is technically outside of the 78th Assembly District, a Superior Court judge is a county-wide position.  Strong Central Committee members will recruit, promote, raise campaign funds for, and volunteer for good candidiates like Jim,  I'm not waiting to get elected to Central Committee to start that process.  If you decide to elect me to serve you in that capacity, expect more judges like Jim Miller, Jr.

Senator Pearce and my family.

Jim Miller Jr. and Senator Russell Pearce

Talking Limited Government With The Coronado Republican Women's Federated

I had the distinct pleasure, of addressing the members of the Coronado RWF this week at a beautiful oceanfront home near the Naval base.  My topic was "Why we limit government".  My wife Debra and I were invited to become associate members of the Coronado RWF, after my address,  which we accepted with gratitude.

Mia Freymiller, a candidate for SDGOP Central Committee and Programs Chair introduced me.  Among the attendees were SDGOP Central Committee candidate and my good friend Eric Andersen, and Chairman of the San Diego Republican Party, Tony Krvaric.

Points I made were:

• The concept of a limited government, constrained by the Constitution, isn't novel nor outdated.  Senator Barry Goldwater laid out the framework for the modern restoration to limited government in his watershed work, Conscience of a Conservative.  President Reagan gave special notice to the concept of federalism in his 1981 Inaugual Address.  These men were not libertarians, they were conservative Republicans.  These men weren't "anti-government extremists", they were elected officials.
• American exceptionalism recognizes the concept of natural rights.  For the non-religious, this means that our rights pre-exist government because they are a product of our humanity.  Religious folks believe that we have rights, which can't be separated, as a gift from God. This made America uniquely good because we departed from our European cousins' belief that God make one man or woman a ruler over others.  In these United States, each Man is a King and each Woman is a Queen, but not a one of us is a Ruler.
• This belief makes our nation "exceptional".  Alexis de Tocqueville recognized that limited government unleased the goodness of Americans and that goodness made us great.  The result, as history has revealed, is an experiment which created the most wealth, for the most people, and meted out the most justice in the world, in the history of Man interacting with Man.
• For the well-intentioned but naive people who try to impose burdens on some, to bestow gifts to others, in pursuit of a Heaven on Earth, they are violating the First Commandment (or Laws of Nature for the non-religious).  Stated differently, while Man is made in the image and likeness of God, Man is NOT God,  God is perfect and Man is fallible.
• Since we recognize that Man is fallible, we recognize the empowering Man as a ruler is dangerous.  Lord Acton warned us that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely".  We only need to look at the Soviet Union as an example of abslolute  and absolutely corrupted power.  Of course, that experiment, to create a "Soviet Heaven on Earth" , failed miserably.
• Our Constitution is a flawed but nearly perfect guideline for good government.  When we follow the constraints it placed upon the federal government, and all of the branches of government neither arrogate power from other branches, not abdicate power to the other branches, we handcuff government so that the power to rule over others is limited.
• Free citizens, left to their own devices, solve society's problems best through commerce, charity, volunteerism, and association with others.  Government distorts those solutions with forced, top-down approaches, inducing a sense of casual indifference towards society's problems from its citizens, and ultimately sufferes a collapse.
• It's not too late to fix what is broken.  If we return to First Principles, understand that our morality doesn't come from our laws rather our laws come from our morality, embrace the diverse solutions which different free citizens and citizens' groups attempt, we can restore the Republic.

When I finished my address, I enjoyed the fellowship of Senatorial candidiates Dan Hughes and John Boruff.  I had fun offering advice to improve upon Dan Hughes' "Bold Solutions Plan", with the principles from my speech.  I'm hopeful to see how if implements those ideas into his campaign

Clairemont Candidate Forum

De Le, San Diego's "go-to" guy, invited me to participate in a candidate forum today.  I had an opportunity to share my vision about what I intend to do as a Member of the San Diego GOP Central Committee.  Here are the key points I made today:

• Our country, state, and city is in danger of an economic collapse
• Debt is driving this threat on all fronts
• We need to elect candidates who understand that 2+2= 4
• I care deeply about the fiscal issues and, the social issues will work out if we address the fiscal problems now
• I see my role as "guardian of the conservative culture".  I advanced that role with the The Promise to California Taxpayers
• When we act like us, we win.  When we act like them, we lose.

Many thanks to De for orgainzing this event.

Volunteer Activists Comprise the SDGOP Central Commitee

Why is it important to elect strong volunteers to the San Diego Republican Party Central Committee?

ANSWER:  We reject top-down governance in Washington and Sacramento.  Why would we stand for it in the San Diego Republican Party?  The Central Committee is comprised of volunteer activists, who represent the registered Republican voters in each Assembly District.  The job of the Committee is to:

• register more Republican voters in San Diego County
• raise money for issues and candidiates
• recruit good candidiates for public office
• endorse and promote those endorsed candidiates

That's a pretty straightforward mission statement.  Sometimes, elected officials try to keep the volunteer activists from performing their duty.  Today, on SDRostra.com, I requested that three of them stop intervening: 

Yesterday, an email was sent from “The Coalition to Retire Filner”, signed by State Senators Joel Anderson and Mark Wyland, and Assemblyman Brian Jones.  It dreams the dream Erica Holloway had about two Republican mayoral candidates in a runoff.  The “Coalition” makes an impassioned plea to the volunteer Republican Central Committee members:

“In order to establish and maintain that focus, we have come together to urge the Republican Party of San Diego County to refrain from forcing an endorsement in this race that will divide many of our most loyal and dedicated supporters, but instead to unify and focus on defeating Democrat Bob Filner in the primary.”

Why would three guys, who don’t even live in the City of San Diego, ask the volunteers to cancel an endorsement vote?  To answer that question, first ask “Cui Bono? ”

Read the whole article over on SDRostra.  Should you vote for me, in the 78th Assembly District, I'll continue to remind the politicians that the SDGOP is a bottom-up, grass roots organaization. 

 

Why "Restore The GOP"?

A few people have asked my why I chose "Restore the GOP" as the title of this website. Let me offer you a long-winded answer:

The San Diego Republican Party is a great organization.  I admired Ron Nehring's work as County Chairman when he constructed the most effective precinct GOTV operations I've seen in 29 years.  Tony Krvaric and I have been friends since 2004.  His work as County Chairman is impressive and his ability to hold the SDGOP together, after the Obama win, is nothing short of remarkable.  Tony had the good sense to listen to the tea party movement, by attending rallies and not trying to co-opt the movement.  When the Liberty movement started organizing for the Ron Paul 2012 campaign, Tony appointed me as the "SDGOP liason".  He asked that I make the campaign (and local organizers) aware that the SDGOP resources were available to them.  Tony's "big tent" philosophy is EXACTLY the type of approach I want to use by making it easy for people to register Republican and vote for Republican candidates.  I want to help to RESTORE the SDGOP as the dominant political party locally.  This is why I'm seeking the Central Committee position.

The California Republican Party is the perpetual minority party; that is unacceptable to me.  California used to be a Republican stronghold.  Since Governor Moonbeam was elected (the first time), California began its slow and painful descent into the Euro-Socialist nightmare that it is today.  It is only fitting that the effects of this "progressive" mess, come to a head, under the now Governor Moonbeam's second trip to the Governor's mansion.  I want to help to RESTORE California GOP to he majority party in the Legislature and Governor's mansion.  They may sound like a tall order but I believe Californians want responsible government.  I created the Promise to California Taxpayers to make that easy to understand.

Finally, America has lost her way.  Our Founders gave us a "manual for good self-government", also known as The Constitution.  That brilliant document guarantees individual, God-given rights.  Both parties have strayed from First Principles, finding it easier to promise the electorate stuff rather than to follow the constraints placed upon government in Article One, Section Eight.  Not since Reagan and Goldwater have we heard those principles effectively articulated.  Today, only Congressman Ron Paul communicates the Founders' vision on a national stage.  I want to help to RESTORE the GOP to the platform of constitutionally constrained government, promotion of free enterprise, and protection of individual liberties.

I sometimes say that I am the only libertarian in a roomful of conservatives and the only conservative in a roomful of libertarians.  My freinds in the anarcho-capitalist community think I'm nuts to try to "fix" government.  My friends in the libertarian community dont think Republicans act in accordance with our stated principles.  I think the GOP offers the best opportunity, to restore America to her founding principles, restore California to its center-right posture, and restore San Diego to the limited government reputation.

I hope you'll give me your vote of confidence this June.

 

Brian Brady Running for SDGOP Central Committee

Brian J Brady, husband, father, tea party activist, and small business owner announced his candidacy for the San Diego County Republican Central Committee, on February 15, 2012.  The Central Committee is the governing body of the San Diego County Republican Party and is tasked with recruiting and endorsing candidates, raising money for local races, registering voters, and working to keep Republicans as the majority party.

His right wing activism began soon after he registered to vote in his hometown of Cherry Hill, NJ. On his 18th birthday, Brady registered with the Selective Service Board then went to Township Hall to register to vote.  Maria Greenwald, mayor of Cherry Hill, was horrified when Mr. Brady registered Republican in the mostly Democratic township. 

"Oh no!  Your grandfater is probably rolling over in his grave" said the late Mrs Greenwald.  "Don't you know that the Democrats are the party of Irish-Catholics? "

At that point, Brady realized the Democrats were the party of special interests.  Racism and bigotry are the byproducts of collectivism.  Mrs. Greenwald, instead of seeing a bright, ambitious young man, simply saw another "Irish-Catholic" voter.  The politics of race and ethnicity were abhorrent to the young man so Brady smiled, told Greenwald that he was going to get President Reagan re-elected, and walked out of the Township Hall.

He was immediately approached by a bystander who invited him to the Camden County Republican Party meeting that month.  At the meeting, Brady committed to become a County committeeman.  He launched his campaign in his District, won at age 18 and 3 months, and the journey began.

As a young adult, Brian Brady was active in the Camelback Young Republlican Club in Maricopa County, AZ.  There, he was fortunate to meet his ideological mentor, the late Senator Barry Goldwater.  Brady read Goldwater's book, "Conscience of a Conservative", in college and the idea of limited government, constrained by the Constitution, spoke to him.  In Arizona, Brady worked to elect Senator Jon Kyl and Congressman Matt Salmon.

The Brady family moved to Solana Beach in 2003.  That year, Brady met Tony Krvaric, current Chairman of the SDGOP.  Krvaric encouraged Brady to become a Precinct Captain and supporter.  Brady walked precincts each election cycle to ensure that Solana Beach Republicans make it to the polls.  He also joined the SDGOP donor clubs and is currently a member of the Chairman's Circle.  Brady addressed the SDGOP twice: as a proxy for Presidential candidate Ron Paul and to promote the Promise to California Tax Payers.

Brian Brady attended his first tea party on Tax Day, 2009.  Soon thereafter, he volunteered to help Stop Taxing Us, the tax payer advocacy and tea party group,  to "Restore the GOP" to its conservative, limited government principles.  Stop Taxing Us hosts the Oceanside Tax Day tea party which was arguably the largest tax day demonstration in the country in 2011.  Brady developed the highly effective Taxpayer Promise at the end of last year.   A liberal columnist promptly called him a bully while over two dozen candidiates for elected office signed the Promise, to halt tax increases and taxpayers' contributions to public employee retirement plans.

Brady was a founding member of the San Diego Republican Liberty Caucus,  He is a supporter of Americans for Prosperity, the Reason Foundation, and Freedomworks. He is married with one daughter and lives in Solana Beach.  He is currently gathering signatures for his nomination petition and would be honored to have you sign it.  Contact Mr. Brady at 858-777-9751