One week ago, HIRA explicitly warned Republicans like you that this would happen.
We warned that the state party's extremely poorly selling 2017 Lincoln Dinner soiree scheduled for next Monday night would get cancelled . . . so don't bother buying tickets. And we were right . . . again.
HIRA learned directly from reliable sources in Washington, D.C. and in Salt Lake City that keynote speaker and Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz (semi-famous for his ubiquitousness on Fox News) would be undergoing emergency surgery last week and would need to recuperate in Utah for a full month. Further, HIRA warned that the extremely mismanaged state party had no backup keynote speaker of any note and that nobody would want to pay $150 to watch a live Skype video (or prerecorded YouTube) for an hour of an congressman on post-surgery painkillers getting his cast signed by well-wishers. [Of course the event had to be canceled. Who'd really want to sit through another cringe-inducing speech from RINO Linda Lingle pretending she's a conservative.]
Based on horrible ticket sales all along and now the keynote speaker's surgery (with no backup plan), HIRA knew the state party's major fundraising event was doomed.
BAIT AND SWITCH: Late last night, following a week of total silence from state party officers who tried to avoid the inevitable, the Hawaii GOP finally announced the devastating news that its main source of revenue for barely existing each year was now cancelled. Toast. Finito. Indeed, the Hawaii GOP appeared to deliberately hold back such devastating news in hopes of continuing to sell tickets to misinformed donors (whom party leaders hoped would notask for refunds).
As part of the ongoing disinformation campaign by party officers since HIRA broke the story last week, e-mail messages have circulated among clueless, low-information, high-ranking RINO officers of the Hawaii GOP actually alleged that HIRA was making up this story about Chaffetz's emergency surgery. That's right, when HIRA first broke the story one week ago, top party officers began accusing HIRA of making up the story in order to "hurt Lincoln Dinner ticket sales" rather than recognizing that HIRA was honorably trying to warn donors about a potential bait-and-switch in which tickets were being sold under false pretenses.
Now, about those refunds . . .
As proof of the party's disinformation campaign, ticket sales for the cancelled event are still being promoted and still being sold online on Tuesday morning.
THE BIGGEST AND 'REALIST' CONSEQUENCE OF ALL:
Cancelling this event now, at mid-year, has the same apocalyptic effect as having a family's long-unemployed breadwinner lose his brand new job after spending all the family savings buying new suits and a new car for a job that no longer exists. We're talking rock bottom, folks.
Far more important than cancelling a rubber chicken gala is the massive financial shock to the system this Lincoln Dinner cancellation represents. Andria Tupola for State Chair campaigners Jack James and Fritz Rohlfing bet the proverbial farm on this one. Spending a literal fortune of scarce party dollars on the Democrat-run Honolulu Convention Center in hopes of packing in a thousand attendees to hear the Utah congressman, Tupola campaign operatives James and Rohlfing promised to bring in nearly $150,000 in revenues in one night. Poof, up in smoke. That's why you don't bet the farm. One crop per season, maybe. But not the whole farm.
The money raised from this event doesn't just sit in a passbook savings account until the 2018 election. This is day-to-day survival money for a barely-breathing state party. Lincoln Dinner is not a break even affair to get free publicity for the Hawaii GOP. No, the now-cancelled event is specifically budgeted to bring in one-third to one-half of all revenues the state party will collect over 12 long months.
SORRY, FRITZY: Jack James, Fritz Rohlfing and Andria Tupola expected that they would be welcomed like heroes when they entered the Kauai state convention hall just five days after a wildly successful Lincoln Dinner. After all, who could say no to voting for Andria Tupola (or even for another 2 years of Fritzy Boy Rohlfing) after such an amazing haul of loot had been realized? Who would NOT want Jack James to get a big, fat pay raise and a lifetime contract as the party's executive director after scooping up that much record-breaking cash from one event.
Instead, the party is now broke. Beyond broke. Jack James was contracted by Fritz Rohlfing and the Hawaii GOP Executive Committee to bring in a minimum of $15,000 per month, each and every month (no exceptions, no averages) from the date he was hired in late 2016. Forget Lincoln Dinner. James' focus was supposed to be on attracting sustaining donors while Fritz Rohlfing's "Finance Committee" (formerly led by HART's John Henry Felix and now rudderless) went after big money.
Instead, there was no Finance Committee. There are no sustaining donors. And, now, there is no Lincoln Dinner. it appears that Tupola operatives Rohlfing and James have deficit-spent the party's tiny cash reserves by that same $15,000 amount by foolishly trying to mount a massive event at the Democrat-run Honolulu Convention Center, where the expenses are in the tens of thousands of dollars and profit is considerably harder to realize.
HIRA will soon report on a recent meeting of the state party's State Committee at which the RINO Civil War between Tupola and Ostrov was fought for two long, very angry, and entirely uproductive hours by the surrogates of Andria and Shirlene. Why mention this? Because the highlights of that meeting include the revelation that Jack James never got the consent of the party's treasurer to spend like a drunken sailor on the Lincoln Dinner; signing contracts and blowing through cash without the consent of the party's treasurer. [When you hear the meeting highlights, you'll be blown away by all the revelations . . . and you'll say to yourself, "OMG, that's why we keep losing."]
Making matters worse is that Rohlfing has refused to answer serious inquiries about party finances for WEEKS. Multiple state committee members have asked Rohlfing and James for updates on the financial health of the party and have provided recommendations on stopping the bleeding. Every single request has been ignored along with every single proposed solution.
But, hey, forget all the sordid details. Let's get right to the stark reality: 2018 will be another unmitigated disaster for the Hawaii GOP, whose 'tentpole' event is now history. The cash flow has officially dried up. And there is ZERO chance anymore of the party breaking free of its longtime practice of existing solely to cover its massive monthly administrative overhead. Yes, any thought of the state party having enough money for advertising to reach new voters, new donors, new volunteers and new coalitions (not to mention candidate support, lobbying, etc.) has been completely gobbled up by the stark reality of merely scrounging to meet the monthly 'nut' of mortgage, huge maintenance fees, utility bills, salaries, taxes, and more.
And speaking of a new job that no longer exists. WHY is Jack James still working at the Hawaii GOP. This con man has failed to raise the money he promised to; $15,000 per month in sustaining donor income which were among the explicit terms of his hiring. Why aren't Andria Tupola and Fritz Rohlfing and Steve Yoder and Bob Hickling and Andy Mukk helping to pack up Jack James' desk and taking him out to the sidewalk?
HIRA might just have the answer.
There might be more than simply Jack James' DESK to pack up with a Jack James termination.
HIRA has received reports from too many sources to count that, in violation of county zoning ordinances, Jack James actually LIVES INSIDE PARTY HEADQUARTERS -- reportedly with the full knowledge and consent of Fritz Rohlfing and other pro-Tupola party officers.
One of the most interesting of these 'party insider' reports comes a top official with the Oahu League of RINO Women.
Stay tuned for a full report later today . . .
In the meantime, it won't be long before new hashtags on Twitter start trending:
#baitandswitch
#wantmy$back
#moveoutjackjames
#stoplootingourparty
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