Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, wrote a piece recently about the Republican Party needing to unify at the local, state and federal level (“Vitriol tainting politics,” April 1).

We agree.

We don’t think we’re going out on a limb here when we say we’re sure Smyth meant the current Republican leadership needs to return to the days when the Santa Clarita Valley was a Republican powerhouse. It starts at the top.

Smyth has been very successful in reaching out to others and pulling people together to make a difference. Maybe our leaders should take a lesson.

The current GOP leadership needs to rebuild its credibility with the local Republican club memberships. Instead of stepping up and showing support for current local Republican clubs, they have splintered these groups and populated them with membership intended to ensure only their candidate choices are supported and endorsed.

Case in point: The only two clubs not participating in an upcoming Assembly candidate roundtable are the splintered group and another group led by those on the payroll of the current local GOP leadership.

Answering letters, emails and phone calls from concerned local Republicans should be swift and courteous, not ignored, delayed or curt. It is time to show a true interest in doing the right thing, not what serves the few or is designed to assist an individual candidate.

Bylaws by design are to be applied within each group consistently. They are to the benefit of all Republicans, and all candidates.

There seems to be a clear intent to use the letter of each club’s bylaws as a weapon to prevent unwanted actions, and depend on the spirit of the bylaws selectively when it serves an intended purpose.

Worse, changes to club bylaws seem to reflect the needs of the few, not the majority. This is wrong and needs to stop.

The current local GOP leadership improperly disqualified a 140-member club from voting on candidate endorsements. Instead, a select five-person panel, chosen by GOP leadership from the remaining 40-member club, decided how candidates would be endorsed by the entire combined club membership. Can you say “disenfranchised?”

The current GOP leadership secured, for their candidate, the Los Angeles County endorsement of a major local Republican club, before the candidate filing period was over — before the selected candidate even spoke at an event, and the local club membership was not given the opportunity to vote at all. Is this really the way to ensure club membership is represented, not to mention the matter of fairness to other worthy Republican candidates?

This is the same kind of contentious leadership fought by Ronald Reagan during his early bid for president. Their divisive tactics damaged the party. They were not listening to the people. Reagan listened. He acted boldly and brought the party together. Some may not have liked how he did it, but the party was unified, nonetheless.

The current local GOP leaders cannot keep alienating solid Republicans and established local Republican clubs. Such tactics are not going to attract the decline-to-state voters or moderate “Reagan” Democrats.

The days of “divide and conquer” must come to an end. It appears the current thinking is to keep the Republican groups divided so we have more individual or concentrated power. This “ends justifies the means” approach is not working. Nothing is more important than unifying the Republican Party, especially now.

So to our leaders, we say, your methods are not working. Check your pride at the door. Do what’s best for the party and emulate Reagan in what he did for the party. There is time to do it right and unify the party correctly, by following a different path.
Republicans have reason to be proud. The GOP is not desperate. There is no room for this “anything to win” mind-set.

Real Republicans don’t hide, lie, mislead or keep things from the membership. Republicans prefer to be known for a strong moral code, with the utmost integrity, honesty and openness. We win or lose with dignity and grace.

If the local GOP leadership cannot or will not change, the GOP in the SCV will remain divided, splintered and fractured when the need is to become one powerful group again.

So the question to the local GOP leadership is: Are you willing to step down for the good of the party?

Joe Messina and BJ Atkins are both members of the 38th Central Committee, and past committee chairmen.