The life of a Party Chair
It’s a real honor and privilege to be the Chairman of the Republican Party. Its an important position. Leadership matters. Values and principles matter as well.
Look at the job description: raise $1 million over two years, recruit first class candidates and help get them elected and organize a Party staff that can be a trusted resource for candidates and delegates. Oh and be the spokesman for the Party with the media and in debates. Its not easy. Its basically just a lot of hard work. You hire a competent staff like we have today and its marginally easier. You find fellow Republicans who are willing to contribute to the cause and the job becomes much easier. You have strong, thoughtful committees and work well with them and now the job actually becomes enjoyable.
You run for Chair when elected officials ask you to do it because you truly believe in the Republican cause. It’s a volunteer position. There is no compensation. You become a member of the RNC, but have to pay your way to the meetings (about $2,500 per meeting three times a year). You get delegate status. You get invited to fundraisers for national figures in town running for President for free. Its pretty neat to be recognized as the Party Chair at those events representing hundreds of thousands of Utahns who affiliate with the Party. You also get your share of arrows, spears and bullets cast your way in the Party, outside the Party and in the media. There can be some pain involved. I’m not complaining. Remember I began by saying that it’s a privilege to represent Republicans and the traditional values and principles we believe in.
Then I got to the national convention. I’ve been to two previous conventions, so I know what I’m getting into. It’s a pretty expensive proposition. My guess is that the Lockharts will spend over $5,000 for the privilege of being here with the family. It essentially is our family’s summer vacation. I arrived five days early to make sure everything was arranged well at the national level and for the state delegation. Nothing went wrong, but I tend to fret (and I did). Then Saturday arrived and I went with other Utah leaders to an appointment with the RNC where we received credentials for the entire Utah delegation. They guard these credentials/passes like gold in Fort Knox. I’m not sure what the penalty is for losing these credentials, but its got to be on par with felony crimes. The penalty might even be death, but I’d never want to be in that situation to find out. All of that went like a charm. Then we were ushered to another room (it reminded me of an airplane hangar) where I was given the keys to a brand new car. I was asked whether I wanted the hybrid SUV or the Cadillac (I chose the caddy). I was asked what color. My choices were crème, red or black (I chose black). I felt like I had just won something on a game show. And away I went. When you are driving a black caddy, you (I) get tempted to put on top gun type sunglasses so you (I) can feel the coolness of being a law enforcement/secret service agent. So I have found my first tangible, real perk to the job. Most of the time I’m riding the bus with our Utah delegation from one event to another, so the car remains in the hotel parking lot. Still the convenience of a car is really nice. Since we are on perks, the Chairman of the Party gets a variety of passes to visit various suites and lounges in the convention hall that other delegates don’t have access to. Most are just temporary, so I’ll get a pass for one session to visit the RNC Chairman’s suite. But all the same its VIP treatment and we all enjoy stuff like that.
So there you have it. The life of a Party Chair.
Stan