Gourley Quickie - a brief bio of the new CR Chair (Part 8)
| By Conventionette - Jun 25th, 2005 at 6:45 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog | Undercover at the College Republicans National Convention |
Yikes... Chairman-elect Paul Gourley seemed pretty tame today at the convention, but is no stranger to tricky politics.
He trains how rig mock elections at the Leadership Institute and raised millions of dollars for CR using sketchy, misleading and sometimes just outright lies to coerce people into believing they were giving to the real GOP or even President Bush. This particularly targeted senior citizens in their 80's and 90's, and most of the money didn't even go to organizing, but direct mailing. Apparently the questioning of such tactics (with Gourley's signature) was off limits, and according to 21-year-old Tom Jardon, chairman of Florida's College Republicans, "It's that kind of thing where if you ask a question, somehow you are labeled a Democrat, which in Republican circles is the ninth circle of hell." (LA Times, June 22, 2005 by Robin Abcarian)
Unfortunately, he's also an accomplished grassroots organizer and has had great success in South Dakota on his campus and beyond expanding the CR network, building new groups and making it a stand-out state during the election. Besides the CR, he's also active in Campus Crusade for Christ and student government.
Should be an exciting couple of years coming up... but as long as progressives can stay true to our own values and principles of equality, justice and compassion, I think we'll make it through.
He trains how rig mock elections at the Leadership Institute and raised millions of dollars for CR using sketchy, misleading and sometimes just outright lies to coerce people into believing they were giving to the real GOP or even President Bush. This particularly targeted senior citizens in their 80's and 90's, and most of the money didn't even go to organizing, but direct mailing. Apparently the questioning of such tactics (with Gourley's signature) was off limits, and according to 21-year-old Tom Jardon, chairman of Florida's College Republicans, "It's that kind of thing where if you ask a question, somehow you are labeled a Democrat, which in Republican circles is the ninth circle of hell." (LA Times, June 22, 2005 by Robin Abcarian)
Unfortunately, he's also an accomplished grassroots organizer and has had great success in South Dakota on his campus and beyond expanding the CR network, building new groups and making it a stand-out state during the election. Besides the CR, he's also active in Campus Crusade for Christ and student government.
Should be an exciting couple of years coming up... but as long as progressives can stay true to our own values and principles of equality, justice and compassion, I think we'll make it through.
!
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