Fissure Widens Within Local Republican Ranks

The latest chapter in a long-standing battle for ideological control of the Ventura County Republican Party unfolded Wednesday night, when a group of members hoping to oust the chairwoman stormed out of a party meeting.

Jackie Rodgers of Oxnard was elected chairwoman by the party’s right-wing faction in 2000. But from the start her tenure has faced criticism from the half of the group’s 29-member central committee that says it represents the mainstream. At the evening meeting, that group--led by moderate Bob Larkin of Simi Valley--walked out as Rodgers was preparing to ask for a vote of confidence.

That group has yet to say whether it will formally move to oust Rodgers at the next monthly meeting. Rodgers has made it clear she will not go without a fight.

“I am not going anywhere. I am not going to be bullied,” the 36-year-old Rodgers--the first African American to head the county party--told her detractors in a speech that continued long after the last of them had gone. “I grew up in the ‘hood and I’ve kicked big boys’ behinds. I’m not a little girl and I’m not a wimp.”

California’s minority party has long been plagued by infighting between moderates and conservatives, a conflict likely to be highlighted as Republican candidates compete for next year’s gubernatorial nomination.

But the battle in Ventura County--which has more registered Republicans than Democrats--has been especially vociferous. In 1992, the moderate establishment grabbed local party reins after accusing the then-chairman of being a sympathizer of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Racism Charges Surface Again

Last year, the religious right regained its foothold after state Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) pushed to elect his mother and some of his staffers to the central committee and supported Rodgers’ bid. Strickland could not be reached for comment Thursday. Members said the central committee is now split evenly with two or three members considered swing votes between the camps.

Since Rodgers’ victory last year, there have been renewed accusations of racism within the local party, but this time the charges are being lobbed at the more liberal members. Rodgers and her supporters said several older white men in that camp have undercut her at every turn, leaving her with outdated donor lists, ignoring minority outreach efforts and bombarding her with nasty e-mails and letters meant to erode her confidence.

“They say ‘It’s not race it’s [her] lack of knowledge.’ Don’t you believe that,” said longtime party member William Anderson, a Rodgers supporter, who is also black. “These people are hiding behind the robe of liberalism versus conservatism. [Former Alabama Gov.] George Wallace did that.”

Moderate leaders denied working against Rodgers and said their criticism has nothing to do with race. Instead, they complained that local Republican fund-raising efforts have lagged and that the group is being sustained by subsidies from the state party. They also said the local party office is not staffed regularly and the central committee has no direction.

Rodgers countered that under her chairmanship, George W. Bush topped Al Gore among county voters, who in 1992 and 1996 had made Bill Clinton the winner in the county. Her supporters said moderates would rather elect Democrats than conservative Republicans.

Larkin maintained the county went for Clinton because Ross Perot diluted the Republican vote, and that Rodgers can’t claim credit for Bush’s victory.

“It’s a very touchy subject--because she is African-American and a woman--and she’s being publicized around the state in the Republican Party as a really good chairman,” said Larkin, who also led the 1992 coup. “But she was not qualified and has been unable to lead the party. And she won’t ask for or accept help.”

Infighting Could Weaken Local Party

Rogers said former leaders have made clear they don’t want to help her.

Michael B. Preston, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, said the committee’s infighting is irrelevant to some extent. “In California, the local parties tend not to be that important in the broad scheme of things,” he said. “The state party tends to take control.”

On the other hand, Preston said, division within local parties can dampen voter turnout and dilute a county’s usefulness to a statewide candidate. “Candidates may start bypassing Ventura County, because it could be a waste of time,” he said.

The party has months to repair itself before the March primaries. But even those engaged in the verbal combat said they need to get the situation under control long before then.

Some who walked out Wednesday night said a decision must be reached in the coming weeks about whether to force a vote on Rodgers or declare a detente until next year’s regular committee elections in the spring.

Many are embarrassed to be at one another’s throats, particularly in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “It’s sad that we’re here bickering,” Rodgers said, “at a time when we need to be together.”