From iepolitics.com
In a long and expansive news article on the collapse of the San Bernardino County Republican Party that appeared this past Sunday in the San Bernardino Sun, one quotable source is none other than Drew Mercy, longtime political consigliere to the husband-and-wife team of GOP State Senator George Runner and Assembly member Sharon Runner.
The Runners have occupied legislative seats in San Bernardino County’s High Desert region for nearly a decade. Sharon Runner first won election in 2002, and George Runner entered San Bernardino County as a state senator in 2004.
In the San Bernardino Sun article, Mr. Mercy is on record as stating “The fallout from the Postmus scandal has thrown everything for a loop,” in regards to GOP underwhelming performance in 2008,
specifically in the region where the Runners have long reigned supreme.
Drew Mercy goes on to state that a legislative campaign in the High Desert utilized its own resources to scrape out a victory in a Victorville-area State Assembly seat that was won by a much narrower margin than expected. Mercy managed the campaign of GOP nominee Steve Knight, who barely prevailed in what had been Sharon Runner’s district, for whom Mercy also carried water.
Oddly, Campaign Manager Mercy publicly stated that he opted to be involved in a Ventura County state legislative contest many miles removed from San Bernardino County.
Therein lies another identifiable problem with the San Bernardino County Republican Party: Absolutely ZERO support from the politically powerful Runner couple or their chief aide, who admitted that he abandoned San Bernardino County campaigns, rather than work to ensure the election of county Republicans. That’s not just irresponsible, that’s borderline malpractice, considering Mr. Knight’s close result.
If Drew Mercy or the Runner Duo were seriously interested in rebuilding the San Bernardino County Republican Party, they would act and not just talk. Neither Runner have contributed any significant resources towards voter registration, a communications program, or a financing plan.
Like the singer of the song “Paper Planes,” the Runner faction is MIA in supporting an effective Republican Party, and Mercy’s own admission that he and the Runners utilize support independent of the County Party illustrate the intentional separation between the two camps that existed before Postmus, during Postmus, and after Postmus’ chairmanship.
This absence and lack of direct involvement means no one from the Runner apparatus is fit to constructively criticize the local party.
Oh sure, they offer criticism, but not a plan for construction.
Until the Runners and Drew Mercy can walk the walk and back up their words with action, they are in no way, shape, or form fit to criticize previous effective leadership of the local GOP.
Ironically, as criticism of the Republican Party is offered, each termed-out Runner instead is busy trying to figure out the next rung on the political ladder for which to aim…or at least find a do-nothing government commission on which to sit.
Both when the San Bernardino County Republican Party flourished and when it began to flounder, the High Desert husband-wife tag team Runner-ed away and were nowhere to be found. Same as today.
At least they’re consistent.
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