New Nevada GOP boss fires finance chair, who threatens to fund new GOP organization

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 | 11:47 a.m.

Newly installed interim Chairman James Smack this week informed party finance chief John Chachas, the Wall Street man who sought Harry Reid's seat, that he is cleaning house and relieved him of his duties. Chachas responded in a lengthy e-mail questioning the decision and threatening to take his talents -- and money -- elsewhere:

"If you conclude my help to the NVGOP is warranted further, kindly let me know. If not, kindly inform me of your decision as my plan would be to donate $100,000 to form a 501(c)4 organization and pursue funding for GOP initiatives through an independent vehicle."

And so the caucus disaster fallout continues....

Here's the exchange -- Smack's initial email at bottom:

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Dear Mr. Smack,

One of the basic realities the party in Nevada faces is persistent under-funding. This fact is exacerbated by those who ostensibly wish to lead it but not support it financially. Given there is a limited well of potential donations in state, the leadership has no choice but to fund the initiative. I made such a suggestion and stand by it.

National sources of capital - including the Victory Committee and the NRC and certainly large GOP supporters - view with some considerable suspicion that the NVGOP really has any serious long-range plan to build the party infrastructure. Based on my own observations of the situation, I think that such concerns are well-founded.

This is a state apparatus driven by personal agendas rather than a coordinated effort to build county-by-county level initiatives to close the GOPs 50,000+ registration gap. Everyone inside the state sees these deficits, and people outside do, as well.

As such, any national marketing campaign for funding Nevada also hits a brick wall of skepticism that people are wasting their money donating to a dysfunctional state party.

One larger potential donor recently offered the following to Mrs. Tarkanian and me in response to a recent joint solicitation from us: "This is not how 'best of class' state GOP organizations operate....endless committee calls, internal dissension and puffed-up candidate-centric committee activity designed to emasculate the Executive Director..."

I guess one qualification that made/makes me modestly useful in this context is my willingness to actually put some of my personal money where my mouth is. I suspect the $25,000 I donated to the NVGOP in December was probably pretty meaningful by comparison to any other individual donation from any person on this email? Maybe by every person on this email combined?

At a minimum that demonstrates some degree of financial commitment to the cause of building a productive GOP apparatus. In addition to writing personal checks, I guess the other qualification might be that I raised more than $1.5 mm in donations from individuals outside Nevada interested in politics IN Nevada. Lastly, I have a w5-year rolodex in finance, an undergraduate degree from Columbia and an MBA from Harvard....none of which is particularly important other than providing a useful network of like-minded friends.

In short, the main 'qualification' is I care -- a lot --that the State apparatus is currently effectively unfunded and a bureaucracy with no means to actually deploy any relevant plans focused on winning elections.

In a close election cycle, Nevada's small number of electoral votes tipping blue again will have profound consequences. Affecting that outcome demands a rigorous, well-executed effort on a county by county basis to identify, register and get people out to vote.

But talking about it is form over substance. Building local initiatives takes the efforts of people looking outward into their counties rather than upward into the political heirarchy/puffery of Executive Committee phone calls, which accomplish precious little.

The national committee has to think long and hard about where and how it deploys its money.

If you conclude my help to the NVGOP is warranted further, kindly let me know. If not, kindly inform me of your decision as my plan would be to donate $100,000 to form a 501(c)4 organization and pursue funding for GOP initiatives through an independent vehicle.

Respectfully,

John Chachas

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Dear Chairman Chachas,

As stated in Article 8 of the Nevada Republican Party bylaws, Standing Committee Chairmen shall be appointed by the State Chairman.� In the best interest of the Nevada Republican Party, I feel it is time to evaluate the performance of the committees and make some changes.� Therefore, I'll be reviewing candidates to chair Standing Committees, and I'm relieving you of your duties as committee chairman for the Finance Committee at this time.� Thank you very much for your service to the Nevada Republican Party.

In my evaluation of all candidates, I'm happy to consider your qualifications and make an educated choice based on an objective process.� I encourage you to send me a short resume with accomplishments and objectives for evaluation in the process of selecting a chairman for the Finance Committee.� I request that this information be sent to me directly at the below email address by no later than Monday, February 20.

Thank you in advance for your understanding, and thank you again for your service to the Nevada Republican Party.

Sincerely,

James Smack

Acting Chairman, Nevada Republican Party