San Bernardino County GOP gets new executive director
A trailblazing political consultant from San Diego County has been hired on as the San Bernardino County Republican Party's new executive director to help boost the number of registered Republican voters in the county.
As an executive board member for San Diego County's Republican Party, Matt Schumsky, 42, helped bolster the number of Republican elected officials in San Diego County over the last six years, from about 30 percent to about 70 percent. He hopes to do the same thing in San Bernardino County, where the number of registered Republicans has waned in the last year.
"Our main mission is getting Republicans registered and getting Republicans elected," Schumsky said Wednesday. "We're basically going to be doing a lot of the same things we did in San Diego here in San Bernardino."
Democrats have been gaining marginal ground in San Bernardino County since the November election. As of Monday, there were two-percent more registered voters in San Bernardino County than Republicans, with 337,283 registered Democrats and 320,414 registered Republicans, according to the county Registrar's Office.
In October, registered Democrats in San Bernardino County had a 1.21-percent lead over registered Republicans.
An aggressive signature drive by Republicans in September, which led to allegations of voter fraud, could not thwart the number of voters registering as Democrats.
"What we have seen is a slow, steady increase in Democratic registration since the November election," said Carol Robb, chairwoman fo the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee. "I think people are beginning to realize that the Republican party may not be representing their interest. Clearly, the candidcacy and election of Barack Obama really captured many people's imaginations and hearts and minds."
County Republicans, however, are not deterred, and say the slight Democratic majority will be "short lived."
Schumsky plans to bring in more paid staff to the county Republican Central Committee soon, but that hinges on raising enough money to do so.
"For now, it's a one-man show," Schumsky said.
State Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party, said Schumsky's organizational skills and demonstrated leadership while working under former San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, now the chairman of the California Republican Party, makes him the perfect candidate for the job.
"We're hoping Matt can bring some of the great work he did in San Diego to San Bernardino County," Adams said, stressing Schumsky's "very aggressive" voter registration and precinct programs in San Diego County and excellent fund-raising skills."
Adams has come under heavy scrutiny from fellow Republicans in recent months for supporting temporary tax hikes in California of more than $13 million. Sen. Robert Dutton asked Adams to resign late last month, and in January, radio shock-jocks John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou made Adams a target of their "heads-on-a-stick" campaign after Adams said he would support tax increases to help resolve the state's $42 billion budget deficit.
Controversy aside, Adams will remain the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.
"Anthony is a very hard working guy, and no matter what other things are going on . . . he's helping the party as much as he can," Schumsky said.
Last year, Schumsky ran the John Mccain/Sarah Palin Congressional campaign for the California Republican Party. Prior to that, he was the campaign manager for Congressman Duncan D. Hunter.
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