Revamping California's Republican Party

Tom Del Beccaro wants to change the direction and the image of the California Republican Party.

The Walnut Creek attorney was elected chairman of the California GOP last month and already has sprung into action.

Del Beccaro, who lives in Lafayette, has embarked on a 20-city tour over the next 40 weeks to tell Californians why they should vote Republican.

He began in Fresno last week and will next visit Riverside on April 21.

Del Beccaro says the Republican Party has lost touch with much of California. He believes it needs to communicate better with residents, especially minorities and voters under 30.

Del Beccaro grew up in Lafayette and graduated from Acalanes High School in 1979. He attended U.C. Berkeley and Santa Clara University.

Del Beccaro, who turns 50 this year, is a divorced single dad whose daughter is a freshman at San Diego State.

The political activist writes a column on his website, politicalvanguard.com. He also is promoting CA GOP Cares, a site that informs people of volunteer efforts by California Republicans.

Del Beccaro is a more moderate Republican who says he will be the "face of the GOP" as chairman.

"I am definitely going to be out there," he said.

Del Beccaro sat down last week with Patch.com to discuss his plans as chairman of the state Republican Party.

Patch: What would you say is the state of the California Republican Party right now?

Del Beccaro: It has a great opportunity to connect with voters on a variety of issues, but it definitely needs to change the way it's been interacting with voters if it wants to be competitive statewide.

Patch: What are some of the things you think the party has been wrong about the past few years?

Del Beccaro: For the better part of the past decade, the party has interacted with an ever decreasing number of voters. Whether that is Latino voters, Asian voters, black voters, voters in L.A., voters in the Bay Area and voters under 30 years old... If we want to make a comeback, we need a sustained effort of talking to people not just at the end of the election cycle but throughout the cycle.

Patch: Is that what happened in November when the Democrats in California had a very good election?

Del Beccaro: I think the results last November were in part due to the fact that for a decade the party had stopped talking to so many people... We also had a muddled message as a party that followed the fact that our brand was very good throughout the past two cycles... The third factor is the California Democrats with their union friends and their ability to get the maximum out of the media outworked the Republicans.

Patch: What as chairman are you going to do differently?

Del Beccaro: We're completely overhauling our communication processes. We're going to stop being the party of Sacramento and get out there throughout the state and reverse the Democrat dominance in statewide communication. That's why I'm starting this 20-city tour so we can begin talking to voters where they live and in terms they understand.

Patch: Are there issues that the California Republican Party is going to have to modify or change its position on?

Del Beccaro: Historically, minority parties that come back do that by concentrating on core issues within which they have shared values with Independents and Democrats. If we're going to make a comeback we need to concentrate on the economy in California, government reform and law and order.

Patch: What can the party do to attract more Hispanic voters?

Del Beccaro: Right now, for the better part of the past four to six years, the party's only interaction with Latinos seems to be with immigration, which is an incredibly difficult subject. Latinos agree with us on jobs issues, on education, on law and order. So, we need to not limit our interaction with Latinos to the immigration issue. We should be talking to them and building bridges with them on issues like jobs and education and law and order. And then when we go to work with them on the difficult immigration issue, we've already built a bridge.

Patch: What about voters under 30?

Del Beccaro: With all of these, we have to show up. We have to be part of their lives. I go to college campuses as much as I can ... We have to communicate where they live. We have to be consumer friendly. We can't expect them to come find us. We have to talk to them in terms they understand. They get their information in different ways. We really have to concentrate on the prosperity issue because they are greatly concerned about their economic future.

Patch: Why can't we get a state budget approved?

Del Beccaro: We've had about 10 years of bad policy when it comes to state budgets. The problem each year has been getting worse, yet the policy remains the same whether it's Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger or Brown. These politicians have to come to grips with the laws of economics. We've been chasing off jobs and killing the revenue stream for years. One of the things we need to do is make California economically vital again.

Patch: The Democrats won all the top state posts in November. They have large majorities in both houses of the Legislature. Do you think it's right for a party that has such a minority status to hold up the budget?

Del Beccaro: I think any minority party should do what it thinks is politically and economically correct. That's why we have a two-party system. They should be the loyal opposition, but they also should provide alternatives to solve the existing problems. A problem for Jerry Brown is he is just tinkering on the edges on almost every regard.

Patch: What's wrong with putting the tax increases on the ballot and letting the voters decide?

Del Beccaro: They've turned down the last six statewide tax increases. Special elections cost $100 million. You could pay 52,000 mortgages in California for a month for that amount of money. All the polling now shows voters would turn it down... A spending cap would pass. Pension reform would pass. And the tax increases would fail.

Patch: Is it time to get rid of the two-thirds approval on tax increases?

Del Beccaro: No. California is at the bottom of the country when it comes to places to start a new business, tax rates, regulatory rates. Higher tax rates are just an additional nail in the coffin in the California economy... Jerry Brown needs to come to grips that he is just pushing old policies that just aren't going to help.

Patch: Do you have a strategy for unseating (state Assemblywoman) Joan Buchanan?

Del Beccaro: The most important broader strategy for the Republican Party is to turn the tables in the minds of voters to what's going to help them or not. The reality is Joan Buchanan has supported big government policies and that's not helping anyone locally. If  we're going to take back Assembly seats, we have to be able to convince voters statewide that their economic prosperity does not lie with more government programs and taxes.

Patch: What about Congressman Jerry McNerney?

Del Beccaro: His fate is more impacted by national politics. We're going to have to see who emerges as a candidate. The $64,000 question is redistricting. Will his district be essentially in the Bay Area or will it all be in the Central Valley? If it's in the Central Valley, then I think the odds grow longer for him.

Patch: On your 20-city tour, what can people expect to hear you say?

Del Beccaro: I'm going to talk about why Jerry Brown's tax-and-spend policies have failed over the past 10 years when tried by others. How we can reform California and make it more competitive for jobs. Then, of course, the big part of the program is listening to voters and getting their perspective on how things are difficult for them and ways they want to see things improve.

Patch: Are you ever going to run for public office?

Del Beccaro: It really depends on how well I do in this job. My goal is to have the party perceived as being part of the solution in this state. If I'm able to do that, I will have brought Independents and some Democrats to have a more open view of the party. In which case, the prospects of me running running for public office would probably increase.

Patch: So, it's a possibility.

Del Beccaro: It's a possibility. Sure.