Ron Nehring looks to take local success statewide

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Tuesday, February 13, 2007 1:08 AM PST ∞

NORTH COUNTY -- After spending the last five years ending internal sniping and increasing the number of local office holders, San Diego County GOP chief Ron Nehring will now take that strategy statewide as chairman of the California Republican Party.

"My focus will be on building the most sophisticated and advanced GOP party in the nation," the 36-year-old Nehring said Monday after being named chairman of the state political party on Sunday. "Being right with the best ideas is critical, but it's not enough to win. You have to match the best candidate with an equally powerful campaign organization."

Nehring says that Republicans now account for 64 percent of the elected officeholders countywide, and he points to recent successes in helping GOP candidates get elected to the state Assembly and the Oceanside and San Diego city councils as proof of what he preaches to the party faithful.

Nehring came to San Diego 10 years ago to help out in local campaigns at the request of former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian. He parlayed early successes in that work to being elected chairman of the local party in 2001.

Part of his strategy as the county chairman was to end the practice of adopting resolutions and complaining about fellow party members. The latter was a lesson he learned from one of his political idols, former President Reagan, who often cited the GOP 11th commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

Any differences the rank and file may have with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over some of his more moderate positions and reaching out to Democrats, for example, are moot when it comes to fundamental goals, Nehring said.

"While we might have different approaches to individual issues, we don't compromise on core values and common principles of lower taxes, limited government and personal responsibility."

Using the same methods he has made work in San Diego County, Nehring said he is confident the GOP can increase the number of seats it holds in the Legislature from the current 32 in the 80-seat Assembly and 15 in the 41-seat Senate.

The party is generally healthy, he maintained, pointing to Schwarzenegger's re-election in November and the Brian Bilbray's victory over Democrat Francine Busby in the election to replace former U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham in North County's 50th Congressional District.

With the 2008 presidential election off to an early start, the Stony Brook University political science graduate predicted that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the Democratic nominee.

"And that will have a powerful effect on energizing Republicans to beat her," he said.

He declined to predict who will win the GOP nomination, saying he looks forward to hearing from the candidates when the state party conducts its annual convention in Indian Wells Sept. 7-9.

The Legislature and governor are near a deal to set the presidential primary for Feb. 5, making California a key early state in the presidential selection dynamics.

A New York state native, he recently launched his own business, Nehring Strategies. That move came after having worked the last several years as a staffer for the conservative Americans for Tax Reform group.

Nehring is the first San Diego County Republican official to head the state party since Gordon Luce held the reins more than three decades ago. His chairmanship will last until 2009 when he can run for a second two-year term.

"It's a point of pride for us that the GOP in San Diego is serving as an excellent model for the state," said Nehring, whose election by acclimation resulted in a congratulatory call Monday morning from a White House official he declined to identify.

-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

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