CRNC Housekeeping

-For anyone in Denver this weekend, if you see/hear goings-on that need to see the light of day, my email inbox is always open at redstaterampage@gmail.com, and you can feel free to throw something up on the comments. It is always anonymous.
-In Michigan, candidate for MFCR Chairman Steve Japinga is up and running with a website at www.SteveJapinga.com. I am going to attempt to interview Steve, a CR from Michigan State, to get a better feel on where he stands, but look for whoever wins in Michigan to hold the reform line with regard to the national scene. What will be interesting, however, is where the state's loyalties would lie within the reform movement, whether it be with Brent Ludeman of Washington, Brian Siler of Ohio, or anyone else who enters the race. As it sits now, Michigan is undecided (so far as we can tell).
-Today is the last day in the race for CRNC Chairman without a declared candidate, as Charlie Smith will be kicking off his campaign in grand style during the Winter Board Meeting in Denver. More coming on this soon, but much will be known very soon after we see who stands up with Charlie. The one dynamic of this race that everyone is forgetting at this point, and the one that will prove to be most interesting, is the individual state fed. elections upcoming. Almost every fed will be up for grabs, and quite a few current chairman are not staying on for second (or third or fourth) terms. Some states committed currently will be back at auction come springtime.
-Truth Caucus has some good stuff about the contract with InfoCision, the successor in the CRNC world to the now infamous RDI (Response Dynamics). InfoCision, ironically based in Akron, Ohio, started out as a fundraising firm for Christian groups, and has grown dramatically since its founding in the early 1980s with call centers all over Northeast Ohio and neighboring states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It is clear that they have done remarkable work for many non-profit groups, but the CRNC is not one of them at this point. Boasting a 2:1 ROI, the ROI for the contract with the CRNC is much closer to 1:2. No one was happy with the letters Response Dynamics were using in direct mail pieces, but they surely got better results. Simple solution to the problem: simply have RDI email drafts of the letters for a look-over before they are sent out. Not a big deal at all. The performance of InfoCision will surely be a topic of the campaign upcoming; even more scrutiny will be upon it in light of the sinking financial state the CRNC finds itself in.
Where I break from their analysis is when they fail to see the need for a primetime fundraising program. If we want to be a serious national grassroots organization, money has to be there. We simply need to be smarter with it and get a much better ROI (making a little money would be nice). We absolutely cannot scrap it altogether, though, and expect to have success.