This is an open letter to the National Chair of the Republican Party - Part 1

Chairman Preibus,

My name is Willie Lawson. I am the host of the Willie Lawson Show on blogtalkradio.com. I am also very active in Republican affairs in Tampa. Tampa Republicans are excited about the Republican National Convention coming to our town a year from now. A great number of very hard working Republicans have worked very hard to insure that when convention goers get to Florida we are a Republican run state.

Republicans are outnumbered by democrats here in the state of Florida by some six hundred thousand registered voters. It was the hard work of the regular Republicans that made sure not only that there is a Republican Governor, but the entire cabinet are Republicans. Those same hard working Republicans insured that both the house and the Senate in Florida areRepublican controlled. Did I mention that Republicans are outnumbered by six hundred thousand registered voters?

As I look back at the 2010 election I can remember the thousands of phone calls, and the thousands of doors that were knocked on in the name of our Republican candidates. The sore feet and sunburns of those great volunteers. I also remember the endless work of the many county chairmen keeping things organized and people encouraged. Countless hours for no pay. And it is because of this I write this letter to you, Chairman Preibus.

Before you assumed charge of the Republican Party in January of 2011, many of us were very excited about something that was going on in the party. This something was not making the main stream media. But it was set to put the political world on its head. That something was putting an end to the lip service Republican leadership has played to so called minority outreach. It has long been the joke of politics that the Republican party has a minority outreach program or even thinks that reaching out to anyone past a checkbook is the least bit important.

But before you won the chairmanship Chairman Steele was making great progress in this area. Not that he did not have a great deal to learn but it seemed that he was at least willing to learn. It was he and his staff that called a meeting with the Black Republicans in Tampa to get our take on how best to involve the entire community with the bounty that will be the RNC convention. He seemed to understand that the more that bounty was shared the better chance we as a party would have of beating back Barack Obama.

Thanks to his leadership and his staff person here in Tampa a number of organizations met with the party's contact on a regular basis. We even set up and had a meeting with 40 minority business owners to help explain what the vendor process would look like and to get their input. What we were building was something that the republican party sorely lacks in the Black community, trust. The hard fact Chairman Preibus is that the republican party is absent in any community that might not write a check to the party, and because of that there is no trust of the republican party or republicans in general.

I must say that when you took over I was told by any number of Black republicans and sadly democrats as well that it would be back to business as usual in the republican party leadership. That all said, whatever "open-door" polices would come crashing to an end as soon you took the reigns. I was sure as soon as you got your "bearings" you would be thrilled about the work we were doing right here in the place that would be the center of the republican universe. I was sure that you would help us with our community "infusion" program and efforts. I told people there is no way that chairman Preibus would not value our work and the goodwill we were building. Well the hard part for me was that it seems that the nay-sayers were right.

It seems that your approach has been entirely "good ol' boy" based. Only looking to those that can and will write a check and completely ignoring the public relations win that could turn into a republican renascence in the minority community in Tampa. But at this point there is zero buy in to the bounty that will be this convention in the minority community. And chairman Preibus the time is over that the party can parade some token blacks in for a photo op to pacify us. Change, real change must come to the republican party, today!

The Willie Lawson Show

Open Letter To Reince Preibus