“Why would we give the state party money when we should be distributing everything we’ve got to the candidates in our counties?” an anonymous tipster asks. According to insiders, county parties invest every last dime into critical grassroots party building and local get out the vote efforts. “The state party generally distributes funds down to us, it’s not right that we’re now being asked to prop them up.”

The e-mail appeal may serve as yet another example of growing unrest among activists and party faithful over perceived leadership failures and financial mismanagement (see: “Exclusive: GOP’s Funk Raises Salary, Not Confidence”).

The Oklahoma Political News Service will continue to track this story through Election Day and beyond.

Dear County Chairman:

The November election represents an unprecedented opportunity to move our state forward by controlling the state senate for the first time ever.

We are pulling out all stops to make sure that we achieve success. Over the past 6 weeks we’ve been able to raise over $300,000 to fund Victory 2006, our Get-Out-The-Vote Program. We are really to close to reaching our goal to fully fund our plans, but to ensure success we need additional funds by next Thursday.

Our Chairman Tom Daxon has asked me to contact our county chairmen to see if we could raise an average of $500 per county for this final push. With success within our grasp I think that it is imperative that we do everything that is morally and ethically within our power to win!

If you can help, please let me know by emailing me at david@okgop.com or by calling 405-528-3501.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

David Weston, Director of Finance

Oklahoma Republican Party