Six local Republicans named to county team

Alicia Robinson

A transition team selected by new Orange County GOP Chairman Scott

Baugh will begin meeting today to discuss a political plan to

increase party membership and get Republicans elected.

After being elected party chairman Monday, Baugh named a diverse

23-person team this week that included one member from Costa Mesa,

Kellie Bieber, and five Newport Beach residents, Jo Ellen Allen,

Christine Diemer-Iger, Dale Dykema, Jack Mau and Buck Johns.

“The more people I have invested into the Republican party, the

more resources I have available to help us achieve electoral

victories in the fall,” Baugh said. “There’s a group of people that

know the central committee inside and out, there’s a group of people

that know the mechanics of elections inside and out, there’s a group

of people that will be asked to fund the plan, so it’s important that

they see it developed.”

The team’s makeup is indicative of the stronger financial punch

the party is expected to have under the new chairman. Members include

fundraiser Johns as well as Tracy Price, president of the Lincoln

Club, and Frank Greinke, a member of the New Majority. Both groups

command considerable fundraising clout, but had been alienated by

former GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes and had not worked with the county

party in recent years.

“I think [Baugh] has set the tone of bringing more people into the

party and to the table,” Bieber said.

Also on the team are members of party committees that reach out to

the Asian and Latino communities, two areas where the party wants to

broaden its membership base.

“[What] we’re still facing in the central county is a reputation

problem in the Hispanic community primarily, and I think from the

standpoint of Orange County and making gains in Orange County that’s

probably the biggest obstacle we have to deal with right now,” Dykema

said.

Baugh said his goal is to boost party membership above 50% of

registered voters in the county, and he’s targeting central Orange

County, where the GOP has sustained recent losses.

The team also may recommend plans to increase party staff. The

party only employs three staff members, but it needs a full-time

director, Dykema said.

“Scott is not going to be able to devote a lot of time to this

activity and he shouldn’t have to,” he said. “He is here to provide

vision and leadership to the organization, but we’ve got a lot of

nuts and bolts grass-roots work to be done.”

While increasing voter registration before the November election

is an important priority, the transition team also will look beyond

that, Baugh said.

“So often people lurch from one election to another, and what

we’re doing with our strategic plan is we’re having a short-term plan

as well as a long-term strategic plan that allows us to look at 2006

and 2008 and beyond,” he said.

A plan will be presented to the party’s executive committee by

mid-May, Baugh said.