A Message from OCGOP Chairman Scott Baugh (to Central Commitee Members)

Dear Members and Alternates;

In January of this year, I gave a speech to the Central Committee that outlined many issues facing our country, our state and our county. Public employee pension abuses were a focus of the speech. The OCGOP subsequently adopted a policy of not supporting local elected officials who were taking contributions from public employee unions. The purpose of this policy was to change the dialogue in this county over how we deal with the ongoing pension crisis. In order to change the dialogue we needed to do something to bring attention to the matter and bring our political system out of its collective denial of the problem.

Our policy worked and we have changed the dialogue in this county. While it seems that we are finally getting over the collective denial of the problem, we still have Republican elected officials who lack the necessary tools and knowledge to address the problem. This is not necessarily a slight on those officials – most of whom are community volunteers with full time jobs in other areas. Pension issues are complex with a myriad of legal, political and practical issues. I believe, however, if we provide the knowledge and the roadmap for a solution, our elected officials will have more courage to tackle the problem.

Thus, in order to equip our elected officials with the right tools and knowledge to address the crisis, I have been working with Marcia Fritz who is the President of the California Foundation For Fiscal Responsibility. Together, we are putting on a Boot Camp to help local elected officials address this crisis. Attached to this email is information about the Boot Camp.

You will note that the Boot Camp is not an OCGOP sponsored event. In fact, former Senator Steve Peace, former Assemblyman Joe Nation, and Marcia Fritz are Democrats. All local elected officials are welcome to this event – whether they are Democrats, Republicans or Independents. The purpose of the event is to educate all elected officials about an issue that is not partisan. While I understand that public employee unions are identified mostly with Democratic officeholders, we cannot blame this crisis solely on Democrats. Many Republicans have contributed to this crisis as well, and elected officials from both parties need to be educated on the issue.

I encourage you to read through these materials. More importantly, I encourage you to make sure that the elected officials in your communities attend this Boot Camp. There is simply no excuse to vote on a contract for public employees that does not contain reforms sufficient to put our fiscal houses back in order.

You don’t have to be an elected official to attend this important Boot Camp so feel free to sign up as well. In the meantime, let us continue diligently in the fight to save our communities and protect the taxpayers.


Scott