Dave Patterson was elected to fill a vacancy left by the 5 absences of Ken Campbell (if you count tonight’s meeting as an absence).

Last month, there was a 14-7 vote to resolve the headquarters partnership issue.

Almost on Queue, Senator Doug LaMalfa – for reasons I am still unsure of – decided to weigh in on the issue.

As featured in the Jim Ruffalo column of last week – there was an email signed by LaMalfa urging the Headquarters Partnership to prove itself innocent.

Apparently one of the 7 vote super-minority decided that they could not abide the decision of the committee and decided to get Doug LaMalfa involved.

The email was sent from DSR Enterprises – the Consulting Firm run by David Stafford Reade. (LaMalfa’s former Chief of Staff).

The Committee voted down the attempt to re-open the issue 8-15-1abs.

I called Jim Ruffalo on the way home to tell him what happened – first I told him that this re-escalation was un-necessary on a resolved issue. (he asked why the committee “ignored” a request from LaMalfa)

I also explained to him that Placer is one of the most successful committees out there and we will do our job next year and do it well.

A key point is that despite co-signing with LaMalfa – both Gaines were not represented nor present at the meeting tonight.

Do I think the issue will go away? no. There are a couple people that are obsessed with trying to “get” their political enemies – this is how these things go.

In addition, based on their behavior – I am of the opinion that Cheryl Bly-Chester and Karen England want to destroy the Central Committee and its’ ability to be effective – so they will continue to bang their drum.

If they decide to stop and become a part of the team – I’ll gladly retract the above statement.

Suffice to say – there are 18 members of the committee that are ready to work to get Republicans elected. (and 77 members of the Placer CRA)