GOP picks new party leader; next task: resolve debt

MARSHALL - The Republican Party of Minnesota has moved forward in mending its wounds by replacing Amy Koch with Dave Senjem as Senate Majority Leader and electing a new party chairman in political consultant Pat Shortridge to replace Tony Sutton.

The Central Committee met Saturday to elect its new leader, and Secretary-Treasurer David Sturrock of Marshall said Shortridge brings a combination of tested experience, as well as a fresh face to the beleaguered party.

"We need both of those right now," said Sturrock. "We're very fortunate he's willing to offer himself to lead the party at this time."

Shortridge will serve out the remainer of the current term before the party elects a new leader in April 2013.

Now comes some more heavy lifting.

The party, besides having to fill those key positions, is also looking at nearly $1.3 million in debt, with another potential $719,000 in legal expenses.

Part of Shortidge's task is to let potential donors to the party know "their money's going to be spent wisely," he said at Saturday's meeting. He said the party must "walk and chew gum," meaning it must begin to retire the debt while raising money for the upcoming 2012 elections. "We have to pay down our debt at the same time as we invest in critical programs."

"What he meant by saying 'walk and chew gum,'" Sturrock said, "is we need to deal with the financial picture and carry on our political mission at the same time. Both are important. With our financial situation we need to develop an orderly plan to pay off our debts, and that will require various steps."

One of those steps was to figure out what the real financial picture is, Sturrock said. That became clear last week when officials revealed the Minnesota Republican Party is nearly $1.3 million in debt, plus the additional $719,000. Next, Sturrock said, is for the party to develop a process to work through its debt issues - a process he said could take "a couple of years." Sturrock also said the party needs to investigate some possible internal reforms.

"We need to understand what our true financial picture is and what our obligations are in real time," Sturrock said. "We need to have some careful, thorough discussions about what kind of internal reform we need."

After his election, Shortridge said fixing the debt was "pretty simple - raise more, spend less," the Star Tribune said.

Shortridge said his top priorities will be retaining Republican control of the Legislature and protecting the party's four U.S. House incumbents. Republicans in 2010 captured both the Minnesota House and Senate for the first time since 1971. Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is up for re-election in November and Shortridge, who managed former U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy's losing campaign against Klobuchar in 2006, has reportedly not emphasized that race.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/531742.html

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