GOP Names 1st Woman to Top Post

Rosemary Barrett-Smith, a longtime GOP activist who said she hopes to infuse new blood into her party to strengthen it in preparation for next year’s presidential race, was elected Monday night as chairman of the San Diego County Republican Central Committee.

Describing her elevation to the top Republican post as her “political swan song,” Barrett-Smith was elected to a two-year term as the party leader at a meeting of the GOP Central Committee at the county courthouse downtown.

In becoming the first woman to head the local GOP organization, Barrett-Smith defeated fellow Central Committee member Jeff Scott, 28 votes to 23. Scott, an official at General Dynamics, later was elected to the party’s first vice chairmanship, a post he had previously held by appointment.

Barrett-Smith will succeed Bob Schuman, a 32-year-old stockbroker who chose not to run for reelection as county Republican chairman in order to accept a post in the presidential campaign of Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.).

Beyond the change of personalities, the leadership switch also reflects a generational change in the GOP leadership. And, though she is 63 herself and has served on the Central Committee since 1978, Barrett-Smith acknowledged that the effectiveness of the committee, the party’s basic organizational apparatus, has been undermined by older, longtime incumbents “who really don’t do that much anymore.”

“Like many organizations, the Central Committee has members who hang on year after year, for whatever reasons, but aren’t very active,” Barrett-Smith said. “I find that sad. But we have that situation because being an incumbent on the Central Committee virtually guarantees your return to office. Most people really don’t know who or what they’re voting for.”

In order to attain her goal of “bringing young people and new blood” into the party, Barrett-Smith explained, she hopes to lead by example.

“I decided to run for chairman because I’m reaching the point where I want to move on myself,” she said. “This is rather my swan song politically. My feeling is, if you have something to give, give it and move on. That’s what I intend to do, and I hope others see that message and perhaps do the same.”

Barrett-Smith referred to that theme in her acceptance speech Monday night, telling the Central Committee members that she and the party’s other officers “will expect you to carry your share.”

Active in a wide range of party activities over the past decade, Barrett-Smith organized the local GOP’s get-out-the-vote campaign for last November’s election. Her goals for the next two years include enhancing the party’s Election Day operations, as well as taking a more active role in grooming future candidates and continuing the successful voter registration drive begun during Schuman’s tenure.

Born and reared in the Chicago area, Barrett-Smith and her husband moved to the Los Angeles region in 1948. In 1970, the couple moved to a citrus ranch in Pauma Valley, where they still live.

Jokingly noting that “you don’t have too many activities to choose from” in Pauma Valley, Barrett-Smith became politically active shortly after moving here. She served as a Pauma Valley School District trustee in the 1970s and, following her election to the Central Committee, served as the group’s secretary under Chairman Allan Royster from 1982 to 1984. For the past two years, she has been second vice chairman under Schuman, who encouraged her to seek the party’s top post this year.

Gov. George Deukmejian appointed Barrett-Smith last year to the 14th District Medical Quality Review Board. A supporter of former San Diego County Supervisor Paul Eckert, she also serves on the county’s Welfare Advisory Board.

Barrett-Smith described her election as the GOP’s first woman county leader as a historical footnote to which she attaches “no special significance one way or the other.”

“I’m proud of it, but it’s no great matter,” she said. “If you do the job well, what difference does gender make?”