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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2012)
Opinion Even in Defeat, Republicans Still Don’t Get It W ith the elections now over, I am stunned with the postmortum coming from the Republican Party and the lack of substantive analysis from its operatives. Those who follow my writings know that I have written exten- sively about the shifting demographics of our country and the need for Republicans to ade- quately address this issue. For this, I have been constantly criti- cized by fellow Republicans, not for the substance of what I wrote, but for sharing my views with the public. Romney was by far the biggest loser of this election cycle. How is it possible in the 21st century to run a national campaign with no Blacks or Hispanics of conse- quence on staff? Well, Romney managed to do it. And you won- der why Blacks voted against Romney to the tune of 93 percent and Hispanics 70 percent? These groups were often not voting for Obama, but against Romney. The sad and unforgivable part was Romney and his team were not even cognizant that they had no people of color on staff. Republi- G OVERNMENT A FFAIRS Raynard Jackson cans are so used to hiring all of their friends and children of their friends, that they have truly become colorblind or just blind to people of color. Let me be clear: When I say on staff, I mean people with hiring authority, budgetary control, or the ability to get a meeting with the boss put on the calendar. But, it’s not just Romney. The RNC, under Reince Priebus, has no Blacks or Hispanics in power- ful staff positions; the House Campaign Committee, under Congressman Pete Sessions? Ditto. The Senatorial Committee, under Sen. John Cornyn? Ditto. So, this issue of lack of diversity is a structural thing that permeates every level of the Republican Party. The second biggest loser was Black Republicans. The harshest criticism of me has come from Black Republicans who are look- ing to be validated by Whites in the Republican Party (most of them are in Texas, Florida and the D.C. area). Whites in the party know they can count on them to validate the most extreme behav- ior and rhetoric coming out of their mouths. I believe I am the only Black Republican with a national media platform who called for Romney to remove John Sununu as nation- al co-chair of his campaign vention over the summer. I am the only one who called for Sarah Palin to sit down and shut up regarding her “shucking and jiv- ing” comment about President Obama. These are just a few examples. So, to these Blacks that have their daggers constantly aimed at my back, you should know that I have helped to raise more than $ How is it possible in the 21st century to run a national campaign with no Blacks or Hispanics of consequence on staff? Well, Romney managed to do it because of the racist language about President Obama. I am the only one who harshly criticized Romney and Priebus for not hav- ing any Blacks or Hispanics on staff. I am the only one who criti- cized Romney for speaking before the NAACP without having a message or anything substantive to say. I am the only one who crit- icized the Party for its dearth of Blacks and Hispanics at the con- 300k for Romney’s campaign and since December, have helped raise more than $ 1million for Republi- can candidates this cycle. In other words, I have earned the right to criticize my party. Post-election, the party leader- ship is talking without saying anything. Republicans are saying things like: “We need to do a bet- ter job communicating our conservative message to minori- ties.” What? Are you kidding me? Why has the media never asked these Republicans to define what “conservatism” is? But, this high- lights the Republican’s problem when it comes to diversity. They want to come into our community and tell us what we have to believe, as opposed to asking us what we believe and use that as the basis of building a mutually beneficial relationship. Until the party actually starts hiring minorities on every level of the party, spending money travelling to meet with minori- ties, and tone down the incendiary language coming from our party, wewill never make any advances with the minority community. So far the party is talking loud and saying nothing. Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Asso- ciates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/gov- ernment affairs firm. He can be reached through his Web site, www.raynardjackson.com. LV’s continued from page 3 The OLCC refutes any claims that LV’s was unfairly tar- geted. According to an email statement from public affairs spe- cialist Christie Scott, “While it may be true that there are historical problems with drugs in the Boise neighbor- hood, the charges in this case stem from the activity occurring at the licensed premises. The neighborhood is changing, and that creates tensions. Nevertheless, neither the neighborhood history nor the neighborhood tensions were the basis for these charges.” The most recent charges were compiled from a period between March and September where undercover police officers were observing the bar. Charges revolved around drug activity on the premise, including people smoking marijuana in the smoking area and an employee selling crack (For a copy of the OLCC’s charges, go here). Van says he was already on probation in January and get- ting ready to fight those charges. At that time, he had gotten a letter from the OLCC, listing four charges, three of which he was at the bar for. In one particular incident, he says he called the police about women doing drugs on the premise but they didn’t respond in a timely manner. He had one of the women kicked out but when the police came around later, they found the ladies behind the building and he was cited for it. Van says he was going to court to fight this when the most recent charges came. In the case of the men smoking marijuana in the smoking area, he says he kicked them out as soon as he was alerted to it. “How are you going to charge me for when someone does something and I kick them out?” Van asks. He says that incidents of people buying drugs from the bar were actually cases where undercover officers went to people playing video poker and those people took them to areas away from the bar to buy drugs. Van takes issue with the use of undercover police because he says there was no communication with him, even while he was making efforts to curb the bar’s problems. “Why did you let a case build up secretly when I was try- ing to clean things up?” he asks. “Rather than take time to support me they wanted to see it shut down.” He says that he was supposed to have a hearing in Octo- ber about the charges from January but it turned into battle over his liquor license after the latest incidents. Van didn’t find it economically feasible to fight, considering he’d already lost 65 percent of his business and there was no sign of the OLCC easing restrictions. Week on the Web Tiger Woods: I Can Beat Nicklaus’ Major Record ... In USA News For The Skanner News on your smart phone go to www. theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. Last Black Owned Bar in Boise Neighbor- hood Closes ... In NW News The Hardest Working Man in Portland Street Music, Working Kirk has Died ... In NW News Dionne Warwick Receives Lifetime Achievement Award in UK ... In Entertainment Book Review: The Color of Christ —The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America ... In Entertainment Mayor Adams and Chief Reeese Pleased with Operation Safe Sum- mer but Some Charge Racial Bias .... In NW News www. The Skanner.com has the latest news from Portland and beyond, on your mobile or your desktop, it’s your go-to place for the news you won’t see in mainstream publications. It’s your community. It’s The Skanner. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com November 14, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 5
