Media hits Rand for using AJ Spiker in Iowa

Matt Collins

Matt Collins

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hxxp://www.nationaljournal.com/twenty-sixteen/rand-paul-s-iowa-albatross-20150204



From the article:

DES MOINES—Rand Paul opens 2015 with an enviable base of support in Iowa from his father's two presidential bids. But as he tries to broaden his appeal beyond the hard-core liberty activists who lifted Ron Paul to a third place finish in 2012, the senator is encountering an unlikely roadblock: his own campaign team.

One of Paul's two top Iowa operatives, A.J. Spiker, is so deeply disliked and mistrusted by so much of the Iowa Republican establishment that party activists, officials, and strategists say he is damaging Paul's credibility in the state.

​
"Toxic," Andy Cable, an Iowa Republican activist for more than 30 years, said of Spiker. "Rand Paul will get little or no exposure in the rural counties around Iowa, and most of that will be directly related to having A.J. Spiker as his front man."

Spiker was supposed to have been one of Rand Paul's secret Iowa weapons in 2016: a Ron Paul acolyte-and-activist-turned-party-insider, a man who became the surprise chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa after Paul forces took control in 2012. When Doug Stafford, Paul's chief strategist nationally, hired Spiker away from the party almost a year ago, Stafford declared, "His ability to work with the grassroots is unmatched."

But Spiker's tumultuous and controversial chairmanship—which ran from just after the 2012 Iowa caucuses until early 2014—so thoroughly alienated the Republican grassroots and establishment here that many view him as more of a liability for Paul than an asset.

"Frankly, when it you boil it all down for Rand Paul to be successful in Iowa, I think hiring Mr. Spiker, moving forward, was a mistake," said Don Kass, chairman of the Plymouth County Republican Party, in upper northwestern Iowa.

The Spiker era ended last year with the ouster of his team from the party headquarters. By then, the state GOP was broke and riven by factional infighting. The executive director Spiker had installed, Steve Bierfeldt, walked out the door with $32,000 more than his usual pay in his final weeks, federal records show. And when loyalists to Republican Gov. Terry Branstad took back party control at the end of June 2014, they found only $11,218.50 in federal cash in the bank—not even enough money to cover the payroll that was soon due, according to multiple officials familiar with the state party's finances.

"Unfortunately, he left the party in a difficult financial position," Branstad said in an interview. "He, as a state chairman, wasn't so much a team player. He was more interested on focusing on certain agenda items as opposed to electing candidates."

Iowa Republicans say ill will still lingers among the activist class, especially in Iowa's 99 county parties, and could hamper Paul's ability to reach beyond the libertarian base that Spiker came from and catered to. Several county Republican Party committees demanded that Spiker resign—an almost unprecedented move—before he ultimately stepped down to work for Paul.

​
"The A.J. Spiker regime was disastrous. They couldn't raise money. They couldn't organize. They couldn't shoot straight. They couldn't do anything," said Doug Gross, an Iowa Republican strategist who was the GOP nominee for governor in 2002. "A lot of the county parties did not like the way A.J. ran the party, so there's a lot of grassroots folks out there who are not going to be interested in Paul because of that."

Private comments are even more caustic.

Rand Paul makes his first visit of the year to Iowa this weekend, and some Iowa Republicans are planning an intervention. They intend to lay out, in a private meeting with Paul, exactly the state of disrepair Spiker in which left the party, and his continuing impact on Paul's unofficial candidacy. "Rand is going to be made personally aware of the difficulties and complications," said a senior Iowa Republican familiar with the plans.
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Jessie Benton on the back burner, A.J. Spiker on the front burner seems like the way to go.
 
"Frankly, when it you boil it all down for Rand Paul to be successful in Iowa, I think hiring Mr. Spiker, moving forward, was a mistake," said Don Kass, chairman of the Plymouth County Republican Party, in upper northwestern Iowa.
...
"The A.J. Spiker regime was disastrous. They couldn't raise money. They couldn't organize. They couldn't shoot straight. They couldn't do anything," said Doug Gross, an Iowa Republican strategist who was the GOP nominee for governor in 2002.
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Who are these two characters, and who are they supporting in 2016?
 
Spiker is on vacation, so he can't respond to these allegations right now.

 
Rand Paul makes his first visit of the year to Iowa this weekend, and some Iowa Republicans are planning an intervention. They intend to lay out, in a private meeting with Paul, exactly the state of disrepair Spiker in which left the party, and his continuing impact on Paul's unofficial candidacy. "Rand is going to be made personally aware of the difficulties and complications," said a senior Iowa Republican familiar with the plans.
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Maybe something good will come out of this. It's obvious that Spiker should do what he does best, organize the libertarian activist base, and then a more social conservative guy should do outreach to others in Iowa.
 
I'm really getting the sense these kind of stories just come up to build a rift between a seemingly big group of people.
 
they found only $11,218.50 in federal cash in the bank—not even enough money to cover the payroll that was soon due, according to multiple officials familiar with the state party's finances.
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That must be a mistake or it is time for the IAGOP to fire a bunch of people.
 
Keith and stuff said:
That must be a mistake or it is time for the IAGOP to fire a bunch of people.
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Six employees at $24,000/yr (or perhaps four at $36,000/yr or something similar) - this pisses you off.
But Spiker's crony cutting himself a $32,000 bonus on his way out the door is no problem.

Hmmm.
 
YesI'mALiberal said:
Six employees at $24,000/yr (or perhaps four at $36,000/yr or something similar) - this pisses you off.
But Spiker's crony cutting himself a $32,000 bonus on his way out the door is no problem.

Hmmm.
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They are both problems if true. I live in NH. It is the most important state for presidential elections. Must executive government workers make nothing. On the other hand, we pay the legislators really well at $100 a year! That is too much though. I support eliminating the extravagant amount of $100 a year for legislators from the NH budget!
 
Political insiders really hated Rand Paul in late 2012

Brian4Liberty said:
Who are these two characters, and who are they supporting in 2016?
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Not real up on Iowa politics, but FWIW:

On November 8, 2012, the National Journal did a poll of "political insiders":
"Who would be the strongest Republican presidential nominee in 2016?"

Doug Gross is listed as one of the 88 "GOP Political Insiders" polled.
hxxp://xxx.nationaljournal.com/magazine/gop-insiders-rubio-for-president-in-2016--20121108

Marco Rubio won the poll with 40%. Jeb Bush was 2nd with 27%. Rand Paul didn't get a single vote.

Here's the numbers (from 11/8/12):

Jeb Bush: 27%
Chris Christie: 8%
Bobby Jindal: 3%
Susana Martinez: 2%
Rand Paul: 0%
Marco Rubio: 40%
Paul Ryan: 9%
Rick Santorum: 9%

Some reasons they prefered Rubio and Jeb Bush (from 11/8/12):

Marco Rubio
“Time for something other than a two-white-guy ticket.”
“Without Hispanics, we don’t win Florida, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia. Enough said?”
“The Latino Republican version of Obama/Kennedy—he inspires, he’s handsome, and what’s not to like?”
“It’s not just that our party has to reach beyond old white males. More fundamentally, we talk in terms of policies and numbers instead of addressing people’s real-life concerns. Rubio is the only one on the list who does that persuasively and relatably.”

Jeb Bush
“We need someone who can expand our coalition while remaining true to strong conservative Republican principles. Gov. Bush is that man.”
“In spite of his last name, Jeb Bush is our best chance of halting the Latino stampede to the Democrats.”
 
Valli6 said:
Not real up on Iowa politics, but FWIW:

On November 8, 2012, the National Journal did a poll of "political insiders":
"Who would be the strongest Republican presidential nominee in 2016?"

Doug Gross is listed as one of the 88 "GOP Political Insiders" polled.
hxxp://xxx.nationaljournal.com/magazine/gop-insiders-rubio-for-president-in-2016--20121108

Marco Rubio won the poll with 40%. Jeb Bush was 2nd with 27%. Rand Paul didn't get a single vote.

Here's the numbers (from 11/8/12):

Jeb Bush: 27%
Chris Christie: 8%
Bobby Jindal: 3%
Susana Martinez: 2%
Rand Paul: 0%
Marco Rubio: 40%
Paul Ryan: 9%
Rick Santorum: 9%

Some reasons they prefered Rubio and Jeb Bush (from 11/8/12):

Marco Rubio
“Time for something other than a two-white-guy ticket.”
“Without Hispanics, we don’t win Florida, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia. Enough said?”
“The Latino Republican version of Obama/Kennedy—he inspires, he’s handsome, and what’s not to like?”
“It’s not just that our party has to reach beyond old white males. More fundamentally, we talk in terms of policies and numbers instead of addressing people’s real-life concerns. Rubio is the only one on the list who does that persuasively and relatably.”

Jeb Bush
“We need someone who can expand our coalition while remaining true to strong conservative Republican principles. Gov. Bush is that man.”
“In spite of his last name, Jeb Bush is our best chance of halting the Latino stampede to the Democrats.”
Click to expand...

Thanks for the research!
 
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