Your Trash is My Treasure – RPI ED Candidate Has a checkered Past

Thursday, December 3, 2009, 9:55
Blogs, Krusty Konservative
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28 comments

Anderson Politics is a small, strange world. Politics is also a relationship business. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Sure, there are other professions in which that is the case, but politics is the ultimate networking game.

How else can you explain that the guy rumored to be the next Executive Director of the Republican Party of Iowa was recently fired from the Republican National Committee for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong? Well, if the chatter coming from a few members of the State Central Committee is correct, then the former Deputy Political Director at the RNC, Jim Anderson, is about to take over the reins at the Republican Party of Iowa.

As Deputy Political Director at the RNC, Anderson served under Gentry Collins who is the RNC’s Political Director. Collins, who worked for Romney before becoming a Regional Campaign Manager for McCain’s general election campaign, hired Anderson to run the Victory program here in Iowa. I’m told that Anderson didn’t like to travel outside of Polk County much and lacked motivation. The one thing I’m told he was good at is trashing the house he stayed in.

Anyway, Collins brought Anderson with him to the RNC, but Anderson was canned when he inserted himself into a personnel issue at the RNC. As I said earlier, politics is all about relationships, and when you pick the wrong side, sometimes you get burned. Anderson also has the gift of gab and was a member of the downtown drinking gang during his previous time here in Iowa. Apparently he runs his mouth a little bit after a having a few drinks and ends up sharing a little too much information. People like me kind of enjoy this, but I think you can all understand why that might be a problem.

It’s probably a safe bet that Collins was looking out for his buddy and found him another gig in Iowa. I’m also told that Strawn and Anderson became buddies while Strawn was working for Congressman Mike Rogers and Anderson worked for the Department of Commerce. Rogers serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

On one hand, you can understand why Strawn might reach out to a friend who has experience in operating a voter turnout program in Iowa. One the other hand, since it’s not a presidential year, you have to wonder if the RNC will be dumping a lot of financial resources into the state to fund such a program. In off year elections, it’s typically been the gubernatorial nominee who runs the turnout program for Republicans.

Still, one has to wonder why Strawn would give the keys to RPI who just got fired from the RNC. If Anderson, in his new position, does need to work with RNC, isn’t that going to be a bit awkward since they just fired him? Making matters worse, I’ve had a hard time finding someone that has something nice to say about him. Most of the comments I’ve received about him are not things I would feel comfortable publishing in this article. And, for me, that’s saying something.

Strawn’s selection of Anderson will not become final until Saturday when the State Central Committee votes on his selection. Very rarely does the State Central Committee opt not to confirm a chairman’s pick for Executive Director. Still, anything can happen. My sources on the committee tell me that they would have preferred promoting someone from within the building, but those people where not ever in contention.

Let’s just hope Anderson doesn’t trash the party like he trashed the house he stayed in the last time he lived in the state.

Tags: Anderson, RPI, Strawn

About the Author

Krusty Konservative has written 223 stories on this site.

Herschel Krustofski is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Krusty Konservative, a blog which focuses on Iowa Politics. Created in February of 2006, Krusty Konservative is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Iowa blogosphere. Since its conception, Krusty Konservative has never shied from tackling controversial issues, and providing insight to the inner workings of Republican politics in Iowa.

28 Comments on “Your Trash is My Treasure – RPI ED Candidate Has a checkered Past”

HawkCR1 wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:15
Hmm… very disconcerting news indeed. Who are the other candidates that were under consideration? There are number of very skilled political operative in Iowa who could very effectively do the job of ED.
Blondie wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:17
I volunteered at the mccain headquarters but don’t remember seeing him there… what was his role again?
Battleground Iowa wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:21
Looks to me like his role was “frat-boy-in-chief.” How old is he, like 12? Can we please put some adults in charge for once?
Mr. Truth wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:24
The truth is that he wrecked the house of a Republican operative that let him stay there while she was working for Sen. McCain out-of-state. His work ethic and personal behavior are well known.
Blondie wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:31
I guess I didn’t meet him becuase he would have already left for the day when I got there at 6pm to make calls. Great. Just what our party needs.
Mr. Truth wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:33
Members of the State Central Committee need to resist this move. Make a few calls. Or just look into where he staged Animal House in Des Moines the last time he was here.
HawkCR1 wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:34
Do we really want a guy who ran an unsuccessful “Victory” effort in 2008 to be the guy running the show for 2010?
Blondie wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:38
Hawk, I couldn’t agree more. Has this guy ever run a ’successful’ campaign before? If we are going to get serious about winning in 2010, we need experience at the party not a partier.
Mr. Truth wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:41
All good points. The truth is that all the professionalism and class that Jeff Boeyink brought the party would be thrown out the window with this choice.
Mr. Quagmire wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:42
One thing is for sure, given his track record his expectations could not be any lower. WTF is Strawn thinking? Oh wait, it takes one fired McCain staffer to appreciate another fired McCain staffer i geuss. Giggidy giggidy goo!
LoboSolo wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:44
i would not vote for anyone tied to the Romney/iowa christian alliance money laundering scandal. it make all of us republicans look bad.

start over with some honest hard working leadership and not your idiot friends.
HawkCR1 wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:48
Again..there are a TON of Iowa political operatives that could do this job. I could name off 4-6 people right off the top of my head that are up to the task and could step into this role with no problem whatsoever.
Blondie wrote on 3 December, 2009, 10:52
Lobo, I’m not sure what Romney has to do with any of this?
Trixie wrote on 3 December, 2009, 11:18
I interviewed the gal on the right for a job at the saloon… but didn’t end up hiring her for obvious reasons.
Mr. Truth wrote on 3 December, 2009, 11:19
The truth is that there is a lot of garbage that needs to still be cleaned up. Jeff Boeyink started that task and bringing Animal House to Ninth Street is not the answer.
HawkCR1 wrote on 3 December, 2009, 11:38
I mean seriously…what qualifications does this guy have? Has this guy ran a successful statewide campaign before? No. Has he had experience in recruiting candidates… No.

Fundraising experience? Appears to have none….All this guy looks like he has is some connections that got him some jobs he probably wasn’t qualified for.

Meanwhile..here in Iowa..we’ve got people like Nick Ryan…Todd Henderson…Timmy Albrecht…even TIR’s own Craig Robinson..(granted he’s served as ED before, probably would have no interest in it again)..and others who have run or have experience with successful statewide campaigns before..been successful fundraisers….and recruited quality candidates for down ticket offices.

We don’t need someone at 621 E. 9th St, who looks like he’s more interested in putting cool pictures on his Facebook page than running a professional political operation.
Blondie wrote on 3 December, 2009, 12:08
I really can’t believe Strawn is considering this guy. It’s all very disappointing. I was beginning to believe they were getting serious about winning at RPI.
conservativegrl wrote on 3 December, 2009, 12:55
Yes! Finally, something the posters to TIR can agree on! Stupid move by Strawn. Will some at RPI ever learn?
Mr. Quagmire wrote on 3 December, 2009, 13:06
Strawn’s not stupid. Why else would he be spoon feeding the fundraising big fish to his business partner Becky Beach to real in before the RPI finance director can have a crack at them? Do you honestly think its possible to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for RPI when Strawn hands the big $ folk over to his girl Becky first? You cant get there at $25-50 bucks a pop for house parties. I think its pretty unfortunate for the Angela staffer to be put in that situation. Now this move Strawn?
Mr. Truth wrote on 3 December, 2009, 13:40
Does Strawn get a cut of the fundraising Becky Beach does? The truth should be told.
jjenkins wrote on 3 December, 2009, 14:21
I really, really hope that the SCC is smart enough to not approve this guy.
Mr. Truth wrote on 3 December, 2009, 15:50
Who did these interviews? And why was thing just sprung on the State Central Committee that they would be voting on this this weekend? Hard to understand what Matt Strawn is thinking.
Mr. Hawk wrote on 3 December, 2009, 19:00
This is one of Krusty’s worst articles ever. Junior high girl drama stuff.
Mr. Hawk wrote on 3 December, 2009, 19:01
This article should not have even been posted on this site.
jjenkins wrote on 3 December, 2009, 20:28
I disagree with Mr. Hawk – I think it’s good to expose this stuff. The guy is not fit for the job and nobody among our grassroots activists would have known about it until after he was appointed. It’s good because it gives us, the grassroots, a chance to express our thoughts to our elected SCC members so they can consider their constituency when making their vote.
Mr. Hawk wrote on 3 December, 2009, 21:02
Explain, without referring to anyone else, or asking anyone else to answer for you, why he is “unfit for the job”.
HawkCR1 wrote on 3 December, 2009, 21:25
Simple… The fact that he was canned from RNC combined with the fact that he ran the Victory operations last year here in Iowa which were an abysmal failure.

The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again. Why would we bring in the same person to manage RPI’s efforts who couldn’t get the job done just last year.

Its time for new approaches…..fresh, bold ideas. The same 72 hour plan stuff we’ve been doing since 2002 isnt working anymore. The Executive Director of RPI should be someone who has intimate knowledge of the Iowa political scene and knows the dynamics on the ground.

As I stated earlier..there are a good number of Iowa political professionals here that know the people..that know the dynamics.

This isn’t a position that you use to pad your resume. This is a position that people are going to expect results. This guy doesn’t have a track record of success backing him up…
Mr. Quagmire wrote on 4 December, 2009, 8:48
I think Mr. Hawk’s pleted skirt just got ruffled. Must be on the payroll of one of Strawn’s businesses that benefit from him being Chairman. That reminds me of this one time I role played with one of Al’s girls where we did this little Rat Pack theme and I had her call me the Chairman of the Board. Giggidy giggidy goo!