Tomorrow, the Republican Party of Iowa’s state central committee will likely elect a new chairman to replace Matt Strawn who resigned last week. I warned of the possibility that the fallout had the potential to be worse than the status quo. The first such worse alternative announced almost immediately (Dave Funk), and I had some spirited yet informed analysis of that train wreck. We now have two other candidates that currently serve on the state central committee who have entered the race, Bill Schickel and A.J. Spiker. Here is a plug for another good analysis on the chairman race but he failed to list mine as a related article (F.U. Craig).
Schickel currently serves as the Co-Chairman of the Iowa GOP and has been publicly endorsed by Governor Branstad. He’s generally viewed by those who know him as a really good guy, so unless an unknown super candidate emerges at the last minute, Schickel would be my choice for chairman by default. It’s not so much a ringing endorsement of him as it is a repudiation of the alternatives. My thoughts on Dave Funk is well known as to why he is an unacceptable option. Here is why the third choice is far, far worse than even Funk.
A.J. Spiker serves on the state central committee and was the Iowa Chairman for Ron Paul. Yes, you read that right. Spiker is one of five members of the SCC who sold out their responsibility to represent their district impartially and made his role one of advocacy for a candidate competing in the Ames Straw Poll and the Iowa Caucuses. Those lines should never be blurred either directly or indirectly. Not ever. Chairman Strawn was maligned for being in the bag for Mitt Romney rightly or wrongly, but even the perception of bias is very problematic. Spiker could care less and that is huge problem.
The last thing our party needs is a chairman who spends the next 2-4 years laying the groundwork for a Rand Paul presidential candidacy. Ron Paul will be the guest speaker at the next Reagan Dinner and Rand Paul will be the speaker at the Lincoln Day Dinner. Then they will alternate each year. And did I mention that the Ron Paulbots aren’t even republicans? A possible Chairman A. J. Spiker is my opinion is an N.O. Spiker
