Some background on Hoplin and Company

This post is courtesy of CRNC Chatter.

I post this so that (1) the Minnesota GOP understands fully who is their Deputy Chair and (2) for all of the wonderful visitors from Save the GOP understand who needs to be purged from the GOP leadership in order to save the GOP.

Why do I call him Eric The Crook Hoplin?

The newly elected Deputy Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, Hoplin has been at the center of our problems with RDI, yet accepted no responsibility. Instead, in a move of utter disconnect, Hoplin has attempted to take credit for getting out of the contract. Here are the facts:
1) Hoplin took over as Executive Director of the CRNC in 2001.
2) In 2002, the CRNC settled out of court with a family to the tune of $30,000 after their elderly grandmother poured out her savings to support the CRNC. This means Hoplin knew about the fundraising abuses at the very least three years ago.
3) The CRNC re-negotiated the contract with RDI under Hoplin's time as Executive Director and Chairman multiple times. Despite a stated goal of changing the messaging, that never happened. In fact, it got worse, as evidenced by the infamous 'lapel pin' letter. Aware of the content of the letters, Hoplin refused to sign the letters, instead having others sign away.
4) Along those same lines, the real focus of the re-negotiations of the RDI contract were not focused on changing the message at all, but rather increasing the output and volume of the letters so that the CRNC could rake in more money. The CRNC went from bringing in a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to pulling in an astounding $17 million during the past cycle. Of that, the CRNC got roughly 10%.
5) When the press finally caught ahold of Hoplin, Gourley and the CRNC's abuses, instead of attempting to explain the situation, Hoplin issued a release to State Chairs claiming that this was an invention of the liberal media, and that it would all go away if everyone remained silent.
6) After coming under a firestorm of opposition from College Republican leaders and the media, Hoplin claimed that he couldn't talk about the matter because of pressing legal negotiations, leaving states affected by the mess to fend for themselves.
7) Now Hoplin claims that he single-handedly worked to get the CRNC out of the contract, and that there was no wrongdoing. In the process, he has decided to attack the few College Republicans willing to publicly speak out against his abuses as trying to advance their political careers. This is the guy who just ran for higher elected office - what room does he have to talk? Ever?

And this is the guy that the "pundits" of the party are circling their wagons around.

Disgusting.

To learn about other people who are putting their own personal interests above the good of the party (not necessarily a crime in itself) but then lying to everyone by saying they are sacrificing for the party read this posting. Included are Paul Gourley, Brian Mazanec, and Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Disgusting. Yet again dealings of the CR make me wonder if the party is less about Right and Wrong and more about Nepotism and Cronyism. (Remember Kristen Meyer's "elections" she fixed to install Tyler Richter as Chair of the Minneapolis CR.)

Is this really what the GOP stands for?