GOP Panel Is at Odds Over Vote for Top Post

Ventura County Republicans are in a quandary: They have two people for the one chair that is supposed to lead their local political organization.

A moderate faction of the county Republican Central Committee voted Monday to install Santa Paula businesswoman Leslie Cornejo as chairwoman of the local party. The vote came a week after a rival conservative faction elected Jackie Rodgers, a clerk for the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, to the same post.

State party officials weighed in Tuesday, declaring Rodgers the winner--a move immediately challenged by Cornejo and her supporters, who are considering an appeal to state election authorities.

Such feuding has become routine in an escalating free-for-all for the committee’s top post.

Both groups say they held legitimate elections. And both say the other side failed to follow the committee’s bylaws and participated in bogus balloting.

With the general election less than eight months away, members of the dueling factions say they want to quit the squabbling and start working for Republican candidates. But they also say they want to ensure that a fair process is in place for electing local party leaders.

“Whatever decision is made, we will live by,” Cornejo said. “But we are defending our bylaws and defending my personal integrity.”

Rodgers said there is no dispute over who holds the top post.

“I am the chairman of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee,” she said. “I think what needs to be done is that everybody needs to get on board, recognize that [I am] chairman . . . and that it’s time to unite the party and elect Republicans.”

The battle, which has been brewing for months, stemmed from an aggressive fight in the March primary for 22 seats on the GOP Central Committee. The committee raises cash and lines up volunteers for local campaigns.

In the March election, a slate backed by conservative Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) took half those seats and a group of more moderate candidates took the other half.

The clash reflects a struggle taking place across the nation within Republican circles, a bruising ideological battle pitting conservatives against moderates over such issues as abortion and school prayer.

And it is a struggle of some consequence, as the next chairwoman will appoint as many as eight delegates to the state Republican Party committee--a body of considerable clout but one grappling with similar issues of vision and values.

Both sides have tried to downplay the divisions. But differences surfaced earlier this month when Rodgers and Cornejo butted heads over when the election for the leadership post should take place.

Rodgers and her supporters called an organizational meeting for April 10, while Cornejo, who was the committee’s secretary and responsible for scheduling such matters, set the vote for a week later.

At the first meeting, Rodgers received 15 out of a possible 29 votes, making her the first African American elected to the post. The meeting, however, was not attended by Cornejo and most of her supporters, on the grounds that it violated the committee’s bylaws.

“It was an illegal meeting, which means the results are null and void,” said Simi Valley resident Bob Larkin, a committee member and former chairman.

A second meeting was held Monday, during which Cornejo received all 12 of the votes up for grabs. That meeting was ignored by Rodgers and her supporters, who said there was no reason to attend because the organizational meeting already had taken place.

“We had a legitimate meeting, my vote counted, and it didn’t make sense for me to go to a second meeting,” said Camarillo resident Thomas McCoy, who was elected second vice chairman at the April 10 balloting.

The dispute made its way Tuesday to the California Republican Party, which reviewed both elections and recognized Rodgers as the county chairwoman.

State party spokesman Stuart Deveaux said a review showed that the April 10 election was done in accordance with the committee’s bylaws. He said he hoped the ruling would put an end to the infighting so that the focus could return to raising money for Republicans and getting them elected to office.

“This is not just about local county Central Committee leadership, this is about the leadership of California and our country,” Deveaux said. “That’s the No. 1 message we want to deliver to Ventura County.”