The Hot Light of Publicity
Sheik Harris, Chairman of the Alabama Federation of College Republicans, is a hypocrite. What now, you ask?
Sheik Harris spent valuable State funds on a brand new website for his state. It looks good, so what’s the problem? Well, the Sheik did this immediately before the CRNC launched “Operation Big Trunk,” which provided free web space for all State Feds and Chapters in the entire country. The CRNC not only provided this free web space, but also an extremely user-friendly template to actually create those websites.
We wonder how foolish Sheik Harris feels for spending valuable funds (probably a lot of money he couldn’t afford to spend) on a new website for the Alabama CRs right before the CRNC handed him a free website that looks just as good as the one he paid for. This is a perfect example of renegade State Chairmen hurting their State Fed by being more focused on hating the “Establishment” than running their organization. If Sheik Harris could have put aside his hissy-fit for 5 minutes, he would have known about the CRNC web program and could have redirected the money to something that actually helps get Republicans elected (like campaign stipends for volunteers).
Or worse, maybe he pulled a “HughDerek Derek Hugh Hall Hugh Derek” and made a “stand on principal” in refusing help from the CRNC (after demanding for a year that the CRNC help States more). We feel sorry for Alabama CRs.
So here comes the hypocrisy…
Throughout the year following the Gourley administration’s election, Sheik Harris has lead fellow insurgents clamoring for “more transparency” and responsibility in the expenditure of CRNC funds. But the Sheik doesn’t follow his own advice. First, he wastes CRFA funds on an unnecessary website. It is unknown how much this website cost, but it was professionally made so it was surely expensive. The actual amount of the expenditure has not been disclosed (the opposite of transparency… opacity even). What financial controls exist as a check on the Sheik? The only comment on this in Alabama State Constitution is the following in Article III, Section 8e:
“The Treasurer shall be responsible for the monitoring the financial records of the CRFA and shall prepare quarterly reports for the Executive Board.”
That’s it. That is THE ONLY mention of State finances in the CRFA Constitution! No mention of who decides how to spend funds, no votes, no recourse, no accountability. CRFA is about as transparent as a lake next to Chernobyl!
It doesn’t end there. Another talking point for Sheik Harris and the insurgency is that the CRNC should provide more assistance to States and Chapters. The Gourley administration has now taken a huge, unprecedented step through Operation Big Trunk… and we haven’t heard a peep from the insurgency. Also, The Gracchi seem to remember the big complaint against Team Gourley last summer was that their web abilities were not up to snuff compared to the Davidson campaign. We always thought that Davidson’s website was information overload and difficult to follow, and that Gourley’s campaign website was pretty good, but that is neither here nor there. The point is one of the following: 1) The insurgents were wrong and Gourley really was on track in cyberspace, or 2) Gourley was formerly bad, but has put incredible effort into attacking that weakness… and succeeded. Either way, Gourley has done something that insurgents previously complained he couldn’t do… how can anyone complain?
In addition, there is a link to TruthCockus on the Alabama website. Now let’s think about this… if you were a State Chairman, what would you want non-CRs (campaigns, potential donors, and media) to see on your website? If your answer is “a poorly written blog that constantly attacks the very organization I am a part of and makes my organization look like a bunch of arguing children,” then please, never run for any CR office. What a convincing plea to potential donors! “We are a group of infighting political neophytes who are more interested in attacking hardworking members of our own organization than helping the Republican candidate you support get elected, but please give us money anyway!”
The Gracchi think that Sheik Harris should take the following actions to remedy his mistake:
1) Provide a public, detailed accounting of exactly how much CRFA money he wasted on the website.
2) Produce a detailed action plan of how he will raise money to fill that deficit in time to assist in the November elections.
3) Discontinue any payments to the current CRFA web administrators and utilize the CRNC web space and template.
4) Outline a system of financial reporting to make CRFA more transparent.
5) Remove the TruthCockus link from the CRFA website
6) Apologize to Alabama CRs and to the CRNC National Board for being a terrible State Chairman.
After that, maybe the Sheik could start doing what he was supposed to be doing all this time… enabling his organization to help Republicans get elected.—TG
Sheik Harris spent valuable State funds on a brand new website for his state. It looks good, so what’s the problem? Well, the Sheik did this immediately before the CRNC launched “Operation Big Trunk,” which provided free web space for all State Feds and Chapters in the entire country. The CRNC not only provided this free web space, but also an extremely user-friendly template to actually create those websites.
We wonder how foolish Sheik Harris feels for spending valuable funds (probably a lot of money he couldn’t afford to spend) on a new website for the Alabama CRs right before the CRNC handed him a free website that looks just as good as the one he paid for. This is a perfect example of renegade State Chairmen hurting their State Fed by being more focused on hating the “Establishment” than running their organization. If Sheik Harris could have put aside his hissy-fit for 5 minutes, he would have known about the CRNC web program and could have redirected the money to something that actually helps get Republicans elected (like campaign stipends for volunteers).
Or worse, maybe he pulled a “HughDerek Derek Hugh Hall Hugh Derek” and made a “stand on principal” in refusing help from the CRNC (after demanding for a year that the CRNC help States more). We feel sorry for Alabama CRs.
So here comes the hypocrisy…
Throughout the year following the Gourley administration’s election, Sheik Harris has lead fellow insurgents clamoring for “more transparency” and responsibility in the expenditure of CRNC funds. But the Sheik doesn’t follow his own advice. First, he wastes CRFA funds on an unnecessary website. It is unknown how much this website cost, but it was professionally made so it was surely expensive. The actual amount of the expenditure has not been disclosed (the opposite of transparency… opacity even). What financial controls exist as a check on the Sheik? The only comment on this in Alabama State Constitution is the following in Article III, Section 8e:
“The Treasurer shall be responsible for the monitoring the financial records of the CRFA and shall prepare quarterly reports for the Executive Board.”
That’s it. That is THE ONLY mention of State finances in the CRFA Constitution! No mention of who decides how to spend funds, no votes, no recourse, no accountability. CRFA is about as transparent as a lake next to Chernobyl!
It doesn’t end there. Another talking point for Sheik Harris and the insurgency is that the CRNC should provide more assistance to States and Chapters. The Gourley administration has now taken a huge, unprecedented step through Operation Big Trunk… and we haven’t heard a peep from the insurgency. Also, The Gracchi seem to remember the big complaint against Team Gourley last summer was that their web abilities were not up to snuff compared to the Davidson campaign. We always thought that Davidson’s website was information overload and difficult to follow, and that Gourley’s campaign website was pretty good, but that is neither here nor there. The point is one of the following: 1) The insurgents were wrong and Gourley really was on track in cyberspace, or 2) Gourley was formerly bad, but has put incredible effort into attacking that weakness… and succeeded. Either way, Gourley has done something that insurgents previously complained he couldn’t do… how can anyone complain?
In addition, there is a link to TruthCockus on the Alabama website. Now let’s think about this… if you were a State Chairman, what would you want non-CRs (campaigns, potential donors, and media) to see on your website? If your answer is “a poorly written blog that constantly attacks the very organization I am a part of and makes my organization look like a bunch of arguing children,” then please, never run for any CR office. What a convincing plea to potential donors! “We are a group of infighting political neophytes who are more interested in attacking hardworking members of our own organization than helping the Republican candidate you support get elected, but please give us money anyway!”
The Gracchi think that Sheik Harris should take the following actions to remedy his mistake:
1) Provide a public, detailed accounting of exactly how much CRFA money he wasted on the website.
2) Produce a detailed action plan of how he will raise money to fill that deficit in time to assist in the November elections.
3) Discontinue any payments to the current CRFA web administrators and utilize the CRNC web space and template.
4) Outline a system of financial reporting to make CRFA more transparent.
5) Remove the TruthCockus link from the CRFA website
6) Apologize to Alabama CRs and to the CRNC National Board for being a terrible State Chairman.
After that, maybe the Sheik could start doing what he was supposed to be doing all this time… enabling his organization to help Republicans get elected.—TG
posted by Tiberius | 9:14 AM
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