California Republican Party out-sources politics

Yes, 'Blame Canada' is normally a joke on our friends to our north, but it looks like my states RNC is setting them up for the blame when they lose badly next year.

San Francisco Chronicle
State GOP goes outside the U.S. to hire top aide

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

Thursday, June 14, 2007

The California Republican Party has decided no American is qualified to take one of its most crucial positions -- state deputy political director -- and has hired a Canadian for the job through a coveted H-1B visa, a program favored by Silicon Valley tech firms that is under fire for displacing skilled American workers.

Christopher Matthews, 35, a Canadian citizen, has worked for the state GOP as a campaign consultant since 2004. But he recently was hired as full-time deputy political director, with responsibility for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country's largest state Republican Party operation, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring confirmed in a telephone interview this week.

In the nation's most populous state -- which has produced a roster of nationally known veteran political consultants -- "it's insulting but also embarrassing ... to bring people from the outside who don't know the difference between Lodi and Lancaster ... and who can't even vote," said Karen Hanretty, a political commentator and former state GOP party spokeswoman.

State GOP goes outside the U.S. to hire top aide

the article goes on to detail how they applied for the H1-B visa over 2 months ago so this is not some sudden choice. Add to that that he was hired by someone in process to becoming a citizen (Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen who was hired this year as the state GOP's chief operations officer) and the new hire has been working under a TN visa till now. Now you can also note that of course they didn't go for any 'brown' ferriners, but good white-bread ones only. But of course that doesn't mean anything...right?

After all a former real estate agent who sold property in the Dominican Republic (Kamburowski) has to have more talent for these kinds of things then any American (this from republican insiders, not me) 28%'er.

•  shooting themselves in the foot, again

  can't say it makes me sad  :)

  by tony the American Mutt on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 07:17:19 AM PDT

  •  Yeah, it's the CA Republican Party

    Not any sort of California branch of the RNC.  They just got a new chair, and apparently he couldn't find any Californians who wanted to work for the CRaP. Understandable.  dday posted a story about this at calitics.

    Also, you should put the Marinucci story in blockquotes, to clarify that it is an external source.

    by UTBriancl on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 10:25:03 AM PDT

•  man the RNC really needs to

  open an outbound donations  call center in India

  by Tamifah on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 07:20:05 AM PDT

•  Skirting the law

  While the hiring of Matthews under the H-1B visa for "specialized workers" is legal, it appears to skirt the intention of the program -- which calls for most employers to make a good-faith effort to hire Americans first, according to U.S. Department of Labor regulations

  Hard to believe a Calgarian would be better suited, but then the Straussians are strong in Alberta, they spend a lot on Koolaid.

  by ohcanada on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 09:00:43 AM PDT

•  They wanted someone who could speak, read, and

  write in English. I don't think the schools in California are graduating many people with that ability these days, and most of those turn into Democrats.

  by skrymir on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 09:06:57 AM PDT