5/26/2021 Chairman's Report

From: [email protected], To: [email protected], Subject: Chairman's Report Date: Wed, Jun 5, 2019 2:56 pm

David J. Shafer, Chairman

Fellow State Committee Members:

I have been on the job now for two weeks and wanted to bring you up to date on my first actions as your State Chairman. The lease expired on our office space two weeks before the State Convention so our two staff members, Executive Director Stewart Bragg and Accounting Director Karen Hentschel, were forced to move the State Headquarters while in the final stages of convention planning. I was therefore greeted the Monday morning after the Convention by an office in shambles, full of unpacked boxes and unassembled furniture. We have spent an enormous amount of time and energy in the last two weeks simply getting the State Headquarters operational.

Headquarters Operation

I have appointed Shawn Still to chair my headquarters transition team. Shawn is a talented businessman who has spent part of virtually every day for the last two weeks at the State Headquarters. He has been meeting with Stewart and Karen, studying our financial records, inventorying equipment and reviewing office procedures. I have asked him to pay particular attention to our record keeping with the goal of making our financial information readily and regularly available to the members of the State Executive Committee and State Committee. Toward that goal, Shawn and I have been working closely with our newly elected Treasurer Joseph Brannan and Assistant Treasurer Vikki Consiglio. We filed a disclosure report with the Federal Elections Commission on the Monday after the State Convention and Joseph provided the members of the State Committee with a summary and analysis together with a link to the https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/PrintMessage 1/5 5/26/2021 Chairman's Report full report. This heightened level of transparency is a starting point for how I intend for us to operate.

We have hired two additional staff members. Joe Proenza started last week as the new Political Director and Emily Grosshans will be joining shortly as my assistant and as Director of the Republican Foundation.

Convention Planning

While the experience was still fresh, I wrote to the delegates and alternates who attended the State Convention and asked them to share with me their observations of the convention and any suggestions for improvement. The response was overwhelming. More than 300 delegates wrote back to me with detailed and insightful comments on virtually every aspect of the convention. There was a common theme to many of the suggestions - streamlined credentialing, electronic voting, better food options - but there were a number of other ideas that would never have occurred to me had I not asked.

I have appointed a working group to review the convention process from start to finish. B.J. VanGundy has agreed to serve as chairman of the working group. Suzanne Powell, Rachel Little, Brad Hughes and Vikki Consiglio round out the initial roster of members. Suzanne has been busy compiling the many suggestions I have received into spreadsheet format. The working group will produce a report that will guide the planners of the next State Convention in an effort to improve the overall experience and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Grass Roots Organization

I ran for State Chairman on a platform of revitalizing our grass roots infrastructure and that is my top priority. I have tapped some of the best and brightest in our Party to assist me.

First, I have asked Ken Carroll to chair The 159 Project, a task force that will spearhead the organization of all 159 counties. Two dozen county parties have ceased to exist in the last two years, many in counties which were carried by Donald Trump and Brian Kemp. My goal is to have counties organized, with functioning county parties, in time to help in the 2020 elections. I have asked Rob Lee, Mike Welsh, Cathy Latham, James Cooper, Dakota Daniels, and Jerold Cade to serve with Ken on this task force, which we will continue to https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/PrintMessage 2/5 5/26/2021 Chairman's Report build.

Second, I have asked Brant Frost V to serve as chairman of a working group to revive the Four Star Program I created in 1991 when I was the Executive Director under Chairman Alec Poitevint. I have asked Stewart Bragg, Joe Proenza, Rich Carrithers, Linda Herren and Sue Everhart to serve on the working group. The updated Four Star Program will serve as the planning framework for our county parties, complete with goals, measurements and incentives. This article published by the Richard B. Russell Library at the discusses the original Four Star Program and the role it played in our successes in the 1990s. My goal is to launch this new program by August 1.

Third, I have asked Bruce Azevado to serve as chairman of a working group to create a new Grass Roots Leadership Academy. I have asked Rebecca Yardley, Jason Shepherd, Joel Natt, Donna Sant, Doug Grammer, Joe Proenza and Dan Coats to serve with Bruce on the working group. In the absence of any recent effort by the to engage in grass roots training, Rebecca Yardley and Jason Shepherd have done fantastic work developing programs for the Ninth Congressional District and Cobb County. We will incorporate their work into our program and replicate it throughout the state. We are working to hold the first Grass Roots Leadership Academy in Middle Georgia sometime in July to unveil the Four Star Program and begin our training.

Fourth, I have asked Ron Johnson to serve as chairman of the newly created Grass Roots Events Task Force. This task force will support the work of the Four Star Program by assisting county parties in organizing multi county grass roots events at little or no cost to the attendees. Ron has already lined up donors of food items and raffle prizes. I have pledged my support in helping him find high quality speakers from the State Executive Committee, Georgia General Assembly and Congressional Delegation.

United Republican Fund

One of my campaign promises was to create a United Republican Fund for recurring small donors. It is my vision that donors to the United Republican Fund will receive a package of benefits including payment of dues to their county party and discounted pricing for major fundraising events. Although simple in concept, this program will require a major overhaul of our record https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/PrintMessage 3/5 5/26/2021 Chairman's Report keeping and database practices. I have asked Joseph Brannan to serve as chairman of the working group on the United Republican Fund. I have asked Vikki Consiglio, Mansell McCord, Karen Hentschell and Stewart Bragg to serve on the working group. I hope to launch the United Republican Fund this fall.

Trump Victory Program

The Republican National Committee has invested nearly $300 million in building out its database, which I understand to be the largest proprietary database in the country. We have not made effective use of this data in Georgia and in many cases have not even made it available to our local grass roots leaders. We have identified hundreds of thousands of Republican voters who are either not registered to vote or who are registered and did not vote in 2018. Many of these unregistered Republicans moved here from other states and live in battleground districts in the suburbs of Atlanta. I want to begin now, in our most ambitious effort ever, registering those unregistered voters and laying the ground work for our 2020 voter turnout operation.

Last week I flew to Washington with our National Committeeman Jason Thompson and our National Committeewoman Ginger Howard to meet with officials of the Republican National Committee. We have agreed to a joint Trump Victory Program that will include field staff working hand in hand with our local party organizations. We will begin volunteer recruitment this summer and conduct training through our Grass Roots Leadership Academy.

Thank You

I appreciate your service on the State Committee. We have a number of housekeeping measures that I have not yet addressed - appointment of officers and committees, preparation of a budget, etc. These are not unimportant and I intend to address them shortly, but because we have already lost the first eight months of the election cycle, I have spent the bulk of my effort these last two weeks getting the State Headquarters fully operational and beginning our grass roots election planning. I will be calling meetings of the State Executive Committee and State Committee as we develop plans that require approval, and in the meantime, will continue to keep you posted.

If you would like me to speak at a county party meeting or other event, please email the details to Emily Grosshans at [email protected]. If I cannot make the event, we will do our best to send First Vice Chairman Carolyn Hall Fish or https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/PrintMessage 4/5 5/26/2021 Chairman's Report another member of the State Executive Committee. As always, feel free to contact me directly at anytime at [email protected].

David J. Shafer Chairman Georgia Republican Party [email protected]

Paid for by the Georgia Republican Party, Inc. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee Post Office Box 550008 • Atlanta, Georgia 30355 404.257.5559 WWW.GAGOP.ORG 404.257.0779 fax David Shafer, Chairman • Joseph Brannan, Treasurer

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