2009 CRFV State Convention

Last Saturday, January 26th was the College Republican Federation of Virginia (CRFV) State Convention. Matt Wolking, Nicole Forcine, Joe Catoe, Daniel Davies, and myself, Willie Deutsch, all attended the meeting from PHC. The purpose of the meeting was to elect a new board for the CRFV.

Before the elections got under way, we heard from representatives of all the Republican campaigns for statewide office. John Brownlee spoke first talked about his background as a prosecutor and a military man, and Dave Foster spoke about his ability to win elections in NOVA and his desire to work on issues like voter fraud. Senator Cuccinelli was unable to speak so I spoke on his behalf, and shared why I am supporting him in this nomination contest. Bob McDonnell's daughter talked about efforts the campaign will be doing with the young people. She discussed a number of creative ideas. The McDonnell for Governor team seems to be running a very smart and creative campaign. A representative for Bill Bolling also spoke briefly about ways we could help with that campaign as well.

The elections were a very positive affair. All the candidates talked of their desire to grow the CRFV: strengthen the chapters we have, create new ones, and ways the CRFV could assist the local CR chapters.

Our new CRFV Board is:

Chairman: Kate Maxwell

1st Vice Chair: Matt Wolking

2nd Vice Chair: Ray Boyce

Treasurer: Jadan Horyn

Secretary: Kelly McCain

Kate Maxwell already has connections with a number of VA state officials including to Bob McDonnell, and Chris Saxman, and plans on using her connections to do a number of creative things for the local chapters.

Congratulations to Matt Wolking on winning 1st Vice Chair. PHC now has a member on the CRFV board. His technological abilities and connections will be a valuable asset to improving the CRFV.

I am looking forward to this upcoming year as the CRFV and its local chapters works to involve more college students in the political process, and get all three of our state wide officials elected in November.

(While Willie Deutsch is actively supporting Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General, this post should not be construed in anyway to be an endorsement of any candidate by the PHC CR club in the Attorney General race.)

Young Voters in the GOP

As the Republican Party seeks to rebuild and move forward it is imperative that the party does a better job with young voters.  This fact was acknowledged in the RNC Chairman Debate when the candidates were asked how they planned on reaching out to new voters.

As we kick this semester off, I hope everyone will join us as we seek to work as college students to grow this party and advance conservative principles through it.

Driving Governor Palin

Besides Student Action Teams, another major project that PHC College Republicans were involved in this past semester was driving the motorcade for Sarah Palin when she was in Virginia.  After the Republican's tickets first trip to Virginia in Fairfax, in all the other swings through Virginia by Sarah Palin, PHC students drove her motorcade.  This was an amazing opportunity for PHC students to be involved with the presidential campaign in a way many students are not able to experience presidential politics.  Some important people believe Patrick Henry College will be able to build on these and other connections and get Governor Sarah Palin to speak at the school's graduation this coming May.  The rest of this article is a copy of an article about this opportunity that was done for the PHC website.       

Driving Gov. Palin and Other Political Pursuits

October 30th, 2008

By Sarah Pride

CONTACT:

David Halbrook Patrick Henry College (540) 338-8727 OfficeOfCommunications@phc.edu

 

From L to R: Todd Palin, Lucas Alm, Molly Wyer, Rebecca Beach, an aide, Erin Pradia, an aide, Sarah Palin,  an aide, an aide, Nicole Forcine

A small fleet of twelve-passenger vans careened down the highway at 85 miles per hour, bumper-to-bumper, ten feet apart. Squealing onto the tarmac at Dulles Airport, the caravan stopped near a large campaign plane and disgorged a small army of Secret Service agents and members of the press.

Patrick Henry College sophomore, Erin Pradia, one of the van drivers, watched intently as Secret Service agents shouted, “Photo op! Photo op!” From the front van, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her husband emerged and graciously greeted the press. Then, before boarding the campaign plane, Palin turned to an aide.

“I want to thank the volunteers,” she said. The van drivers, most of them PHC students, shook the hands of Todd and Sarah Palin and then lined up by the plane for a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity.

“I was really impressed that [Palin] spent so much time with each of us—about fifteen seconds,” says Pradia. “She asked each of our names, and we also had a chance to say something to her. I complimented her on her poise during the debates.”

“[Palin] is just as beautiful in person as everyone says,” exclaims freshman Rebecca Beach.

This slightly unusual episode reflects the almost uncanny tendency of PHC students to show up at the right place and the right time, especially in matters political. A few weeks before the Palin rally, a PHC alum in D.C. learned that the McCain campaign needed trustworthy drivers for their Virginia motorcade. The alum connected them to volunteers at Patrick Henry College. So while thousands crowded into McCain/Palin rallies to catch a piece of history, PHC students dashed around behind the scenes, chauffeuring candidates from airport, to hotel, to venue.

“What impressed me was watching how (Palin’s) staffers worked together,” says senior Nicole Forcine. “I could see the positive attitude and excellence of one young Christian woman who was there to serve, as opposed to others who were out to further their own careers.”

Student Action Teams

This type of hands-on civic and political involvement is an important part of Patrick Henry College’s ethic of service to God and country, a striving for excellence and integrity in both word and deed. To further encourage its students to walk out their beliefs in this manner, the College’s Academic Calendar includes a fall break from November 3-4, specifically so that interested students can help on campaigns without losing academic standing.

This year, 75 students and staff have signed up for “Student Action Teams” with Generation Joshua (GenJ), a nonprofit youth organization started by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and other groups. These students fan out across the country to lead more than 1,000 youth, mostly between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, who will canvas for candidates in eighteen races in fourteen different states.

“We have lots of young people as volunteers, but they need someone to lead them,” says Caleb Dalton, Student Action Team Coordinator for GenJ.

Teams are assigned to work in congressional races during the critical last 72 hours prior to the November 4th election, explains Nicole Forcine. They will also be campaigning for candidates through phone banking and door-to-door literature drops. On Election Day itself, the young people will segue into sign-waving. “That’s where we get more involved with any local candidates we can endorse,” Forcine says.

And after election day, whether nursing bruised psyches or celebrating victories, everyone involved will have gained valuable insight into the civic practices of a free country. Having further grounded their political beliefs through the sacrifice of time and energy, participants walk away with a greater appreciation of both the privilege and responsibility of American citizenship.

Adds sophomore Betsy Sayre, who traveled to her home state of northeastern Pennsylvania to work a campaign with seven other family members: “This is an awesome way to live out what [Patrick Henry College] is about—impacting the culture.”

Click on a thumbnail below to see a larger version.

Security check	Lucas Alm, a PHC junior	View from front car in motorcade, behind security and Palins
PHC students by their vans	The Saturday, Oct. 25 crew: Kenny Ly, Erin Pradia, Brian Dutze, Molly Wyer, Rachel Reiley, Lucas Alm	Erin Pradia, PHC sophomore
Motorcycle security crew

PHC College Republicans help defeat an incumbent Democrat Congressman

One of the top activities for the PHC College Republicans this year was stafing and directing the Student Action Teams run by Generation Joshua. One of the teams campaigned for Pete Olson in TX-22. This was Tom Delay's former seat which the Democrats won in 2006. The Generation Joshua team lead by PHC College Republicans helped Pete Olson win his seat by 5 points.

This team was directed by Joey Alm, and lead by Ben Rogers, Rachel Reiley, Jenna Lorence, and Josh McKnight. One of the moms who participated in the Student Action Team created a blog which shares some stories of the campaign, and includes a photo gallery.

Thank You

Happy New Year!! Today marks the beginning of 2009. It is a year with difficult challenges, and amazing opportunities.

The New Year is always a time for reflection, and I want to briefly reflect on last year. We were blessed as a club to have Nicole Forcine as our chairman, and she will be missed as we go forward. In a year that was difficult for Republicans everywhere, Nicole helped build this club. She was willing to work with people who disagreed with her, and she took significant amounts of time to work to avoid difficult situations. She was patient and didn't easily show it if she got stressed out. Under her leadership, the club organized a trip to the March for Life last January, brought Star Parker to campus, organized a trip to the McCain/Palin rally in Fairfax last September, and sent over 80 members to lead Generation Joshua's Student Action Teams during the week before the election--and these are only the highlights of last year's activities. Thank you for yoru work as chair over the past year Nicole, and may God continue to bless your endeavors as you graduate and move on from college.