This weekend in California, the CAGOP will meet for its Spring Convention. What usually happens at these conventions is a bunch of well to do Republicans arrive and spend most of their weekend meeting with other well to do Republicans and discuss how they can improve the Party. There will be interns running around doing work for these well to do Republicans. Getting them coffee, arranging meetings, clearing the path for them, laying down in muddy puddles for them to walk over (just kidding on that last one…maybe).

These Republicans will then funnel into one room or the other to listen to other prominent California Republicans go on and on about what’s wrong with California. They will nod in agreement with what is said in these rooms, and then after the speaking events are over they will funnel out again and into a giant conference room whereby they sit down for dinner (where the cost of attending is a couple hundred dollars) and listen to even more prominent California Republicans.

After this grand soiree is over, there are different rooms hosting different gatherings with copious amounts of alcohol and then the real deal making begins. Business cards are exchanged, favors traded, attention sought after, all above the noise of drunken interns enjoying themselves too much.

Did I paint a pretty picture of what goes on at the CAGOP convention? No? As someone who attended several of these, I won’t lie, they can be lots of fun. But if your goal is to have a Republican mixer whereby everyone sits around drinking and espouses how much better California would be with conservative leaders, then go start a Meetup Group. If you want something to get done, the CAGOP Convention is the least likely place that will happen. If you want a glimpse into the decadence of the Republican elites in California, then get yourself a ticket and spend the weekend being a fly on the wall (if you can afford all the ticket prices).

This weekend’s convention will be different though. There will be a new Chairman elected. Jim Brulte, the out going Chairman, did a good enough job to not let the Party completely collapse. His best achievement according to his critics was “he got the Party out of debt.” In terms of expanding the voter base or rebuilding grassroots efforts across the state to get more Republicans into local offices, he was a complete bust. We lost a record amount of seats in Congress, and are now saddled with a far left Governor and super majority of radical leftists in the legislature. We have become a one party state under Jim Brulte.

But this weekend there are three contenders hoping to take over the mantle. Travis Allen, former gubernatorial candidate in 2018; Jessica Patterson, political insider; and Steve Frank, a longtime CAGOP member and leader.

Travis Allen most people know is the charismatic assemblyman who ran an intense grass roots campaign against John Cox for the governorship. At the last minute, the most MAGA candidate was snubbed by President Trump in favor of John Cox, who then went on to lose resoundingly to Gavin Newsom.

Jessica Patterson is a center right Republican who is backed by Charles Munger Jr. It makes sense why Patterson doesn’t support repealing Prop 14 when Munger was someone who originally supported it. She is well connected as someone who rose from lowly intern to a higher rank in the CAGOP. Basically she’s been in the establishment most of her career.

Steve Frank has been generally hailed as smart member of the CAGOP but lacks the charisma of someone like Travis Allen to take over and lead.

But in a last minute move that probably shocked the CAGOP establishment to their core, Travis Allen and Steve Frank joined together and sent out a letter stating that they would work together to combine their delegates to defeat Jessica Patterson at all costs.

This letter is nothing short of an opening shot from the grassroots Republicans in California to the establishment types. The fact they are handing out “resistance” stickers to anyone who wants to support them sends a clear message to those who have been in charge.

We are tired of you running this Party, and effectively our state into the ground.

While the branding is a little odd because “resistance” is the phrase used against President Trump, the sentiment is there.

No more can the CAGOP sit around at their fancy dinners and galas and pontificate about how they are going to change California, and then effectively do nothing. The grassroots will be heard. They will not be locked out. People are furious about how California is going right now, and the CAGOP is doing nothing to stop. By failing to be a Party with any sort of legitimacy or power, the Democrats continue to take election after election. Even local offices are being flipped to Democrat.

It’s time to start listening to the people on the ground. Stop worrying about the moneyed interests such as Charles Munger. You cannot retake California without popular support, and that starts by reaching out to the people.

Will the CAGOP need to revamp its platform? Yes. Can it afford to worry about just “staying viable”? Absolutely not. Staying viable has only pushed them farther into a fringe group.

While I am not a delegate and I have no vote, I urge delegates to think long and hard about who they cast their ballot for this weekend. Jessica Patterson equals the death knell for the CAGOP (and most likely the introduction of the New Way California group). To elect Allen or Frank would be a clear message to the establishment CAGOP. The days of clinking glasses and patting each other on the back for being brave conservatives inside the convention hall are over.

Even if you are not a Republican, the CAGOP is the last viable Party standing in the way of the Democrats in California. To lose that would effectively bring a complete totalitarian government to California. If you are anywhere right of far left, that should scare you enough to keep an eye on this weekend’s CAGOP Chairman election.