Kenneth E.

Hambrick
365 Nob Hill Drive
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
925.938.3066
Fax 925.935.6480
hambrick@astound.net

January 10, 2009

Mr. Ron Nehring, Chairman

Mr. Keith Carlson, Treasurer

Mr. Steve Baric, Secretary

Luis Buhler, Bay Area Vice-Chair

California Republican Party

1903 W. Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506

RE: Gross violation of Contra Costa Republican Central Committee Bylaws

resulting in illegal seating of Central Committee Chair and Members

Gentlemen:

I am a newly elected member of the Contra Costa Republican Central Committee

(CCRPCC). This past week I attended the organizational meeting and witnessed
blatant manipulation of the CCRPCC and total disregard of the CCRPCC Bylaws
by Tom Del Beccaro acting in the role of Temporary Chairman.

I believe what happened is very serious and detrimental to the Republican Party. I
am seeking your help in righting these wrongs. It is clear that this committee is
controlled by a small clique headed by a strong individual. It was also clear that
necessary changes will not be possible without outside intervention.

It is disturbing to see the Bylaws flaunted in order to maintain a group of

uncritical supporters in power. This does not bode well for the future of Contra
Costa County and the state party.

A full narrative of what transpired is attached. A brief summary of what I

observed includes the election of a permanent Chairman and filling committee
vacancies in direct violation of the bylaws; changing the organizational meeting
agenda without committee approval; the failure to provide members (at least me)
copies of ANY bylaws prior to the meeting; failure to provide adequate notice of
bylaw changes and then have the Temporary Chair insist the revisions be passed
that night despite objections; and clearly having an orchestrated process to seat
specific people, all planned prior to the meeting.

Again, in the interest of the CCRPCC and the California State Republican Party, I
urge you to investigate what is going on in Contra Costa County and make sure
proper elections take place for the Central Party officers and members in
accordance with the bylaws of the organization and that the bylaws be strictly
followed in the future.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Hambrick
CC. Tom Del Beccaro,
Attachment 1

Observations and Conclusions

Organizational Meeting of the Contra Costa Republican Party Central Committee

(CCRPCC) Organizational meeting on January 6, 2009

After observing the actions that took place in the Contra Costa Republican Party Central
Committee organizational meeting on January 6, 2009, I am compelled to document my
observations and concerns. I was both appalled and saddened at what took place. First, I
had not been provided a copy of the bylaws prior to the meeting. Had I had them I would
have objected even more strenuously to the total disregard for the Bylaws that was
exhibited in order to control the outcome of the CCRPCC membership and officials’
selection.

Tom Del Beccaro (TDB) was elected Temporary Chair to start the meeting per item 5 of
the organizational meeting agenda and as specified in the Bylaws.

Bylaws

Item 8 on the agenda was adopting amended Bylaws. Article XII, Section 2, specifies the
method of adopting amendments to the Bylaws, to wit:

“Section 2. No amendment may be considered unless fourteen days’ written notice of the
text or the proposed amendment was mailed, hand-delivered or e-mailed to all Regular
and Ex-officio Members of the County Central Committee. Members shall have the right
to waive notice of proposed amendments, and those present at a meeting who fail to
object to insufficient notice prior to the vote to adopt an amendment shall be deemed to
have waived notice.”

I received no copy of the Bylaws prior to the organizational meeting. At least one other
member (and likely more) did not receive the Bylaws either. A copy was included in the
orientation package given to us at the meeting. This one said “Amended August 18,
2008” but had no new date on it for this proposed version. In this “new” version, the
annual dues were raised along with some hand corrections.

Considerable discussion occurred about adopting this document including the contention
that it contained many errors and inconsistencies and that it had not been sent out
appropriately in advance for member review prior to this meeting. TDB, in his role as
Temporary Chair, insisted that we had to adopt this because we could do no business if
we didn’t adopt it. This made no sense since there was a set of Bylaws in effect and this
was an amended version.

In any event, the amended version was approved by a majority. There were a number of
“no” votes.
By no means did I or several other members waive notice of the 14 days requirement of
delivery in advance of the meeting.

On January 7 (the day after the organizational meeting) I received by e-mail another
Bylaws document. This document has some changes from the one handed out in the
meeting and it says “December 2008 edition” which the one in the organizational meeting
did not. I’m not sure whether I have the currently in effect set of Bylaws or not.

Conclusion: The Bylaws voted on in the January 6, 2008 organizational meeting are
invalid.

Filling Vacant Central Committee Positions

There was no agenda item for the filling of vacant Central Committee slots. The Bylaws
specify that “The agenda for the organizational meeting shall remain as set forth below,
unless modified by a majority of those eligible voting Members present” (see attached
agenda). There was no vote taken.

However, the Temporary Chair chose to interject this into the agenda (without committee
vote) in direct violation of the Bylaws. Nobody protested, through ignorance by not
having the Bylaws in advance. This action on the part of the Temporary Chair who should
have known the terms of the Bylaws was an illegal action.

It was announced that there were empty Central Committee positions in Districts 4 and 5.
At that point an elected member from District 3 verbally submitted her resignation. Once
this was done and three vacancies were announced, a motion was made to immediately
fill the three positions. This action is not permitted under the Bylaws. The Bylaws
specify how vacancies are to be filled:

“ARTICLE IV. REMOVALS AND VACANCIES, Section 8. Vacancies: Whenever a

vacancy occurs among the Regular Members whether by death, removal, resignation, or
by failure to elect a sufficient number of eligible Regular Members in the direct primary
election, the Chairman shall immediately declare a vacancy and call for an election to fill
the vacancy. The election shall be held in the following manner:
a) the Supervisorial District Chairman from the district in which the vacancy
occurred shall solicit the names of all interested Republicans residing in the
district where the vacancy exists;
b) the Supervisorial District Chairman shall call a meeting of the voting Regular
Members who reside in the district for the purpose of electing a qualified
Republican to fill the vacancy by majority vote (Alternate Members may vote in
the absence of the Regular Members who appointed them);
c) if the Supervisorial District Caucus fails to elect a qualified Republican by
majority vote, then the vacancy shall be filled by an election of the full County
Central Committee at the next regular meeting;
 d) The Secretary shall notify the Contra Costa County Clerk and the California
Republican Party within thirty days after the vacant position has been filled.”

This is the process that should have been followed which would have allowed other
interested Republicans to apply for these positions (there were contested elections in
some of the Districts, notably 3 and 4). However, the Temporary Chair accepted the
motion to fill the vacancies immediately and directed the members of Districts 3, 4 and 5
to caucus and select a candidate to fill the vacancies. It is unfortunate, that those of us
who were new, had not had the opportunity to read the Bylaws on this point.

Being a member from District 3, I joined the group. A motion was immediately made that
Greg Poulos be selected. Greg was the former Chair of the CCRPCC, but had failed to
be elected in June. I objected and suggested (not knowing the Bylaws at that time) that
the next highest vote getter in the district be nominated (he was in attendance and made it
known that he would like the appointment). One lady then opined that “the vote is not
important since people don’t really know who they are voting for and the vote is
irrelevant." It then became obvious that enough votes had been obtained before the
meeting (not mine) to appoint Poulos.

The three folks nominated by the district “caucuses” were accepted and sworn in. This
included the former Treasurer who had also failed to be elected by Republicans who
voted in June.

It was now clear that the seating of these three replacement members was carefully
orchestrated prior to the meeting. The resignation in District three and then the advance
commitment to Poulos by several members from District 3 were set up before the
meeting.

I highly suspect, but can’t prove, that the same strategy was implemented to seat specific
people in Districts 4 and 5. Reviewing the election results, all positions in those districts
were filled by voters as was the case in District 3. The resignation of the District 3
member at the meeting and a vacancy in each of the other two districts stretches credulity.
And then the motion, not permitted by the Bylaws, to immediately fill the positions. This
all adds up to a preplanned and well executed strategy.

Conclusion: the three members seated in Districts 3, 4 and 5 have not been selected
legally and in accordance with the Bylaws.

Permanent Chairman

Greg Poulos was elected as permanent Chairman for 2009-2010.

Conclusion: Poulos is not legally Chairman nor is Darcy Linn the legal Treasurer since
they were not legally on the Central Committee as a result of the invalid method of
selecting candidates to fill the three vacant positions.
Overall conclusions

1. There was clear disregard of the provisions of the Bylaws.

2. The agenda was arbitrarily changed without a vote of the Committee.

3. There was an unethical plan, agreed to before the meeting, to place specific
people on the committee through the strategy of creating vacancies in Districts 3,
4 and 5 and ignoring the requirements of the Bylaws by immediately seating
them.

4. The version of the Bylaws provided and approved at the organizational meeting
is invalid. And there are several versions floating around out there so no one can
be sure if he/she has the latest and correct version.

5. It is clear that this committee is controlled by a small clique headed by a strong

individual. It was also clear that necessary changes will not be possible without
outside intervention.
Attachment 2

Organizational meeting agenda as contained in the Bylaws

ARTICLE XI. THE BIENNIAL ORGANIZATION MEETING

Section 2. The agenda for the organizational meeting shall remain as set forth below,
unless modified by a majority of those eligible voting Members present:

1. Call to Order by the out-going Chairman (or Acting Chairman);

2. Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of American
3. Roll Call of Voting Members
4. Administration of the oath of office
5. Election of Temporary Chairman
6. Election of Temporary Secretary
7. Challenges to the credentials of voting Members (if any)
8. Adoption of the Bylaws
9. Election of officers in the following order:
- Chairman
- First Vice-Chairman
- Second Vice-Chairman
- Secretary
- Treasurer
10. Accept election of Supervisory District Chairman by the Supervisor District Caucuses
11. Appointment and confirmation of the Parliamentarian, Sergeant-At-Arms and General
Counsel (at the discretion of the Chairman)
12. Appointment of Committee Chairman (At the discretion of the Chairman)
13. Selection of Standing Committees
14. New Business (if any)
15. Selection of the date, time and place of next meeting
16. Adjournment