Schickel Makes Bid for Iowa GOP Chairman Official

DES MOINES?Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) co-chairman Bill Schickel today announced his candidacy for RPI chairman by outlining a plan to boost early voting by 40%, increase Republican voter registration and brand the Republican party as the ?party of conservative ideas and solutions.?

?Republicans suffered terrible defeat on November 6^th. There is no sense in pretending otherwise,? said Schickel. ?I agree with Senator Rand Paul and others who say that the Republican Party is in danger of becoming a dinosaur unless we change.?

Schickel ?pledged to work with all Republicans and unite the party. ?Republicans must rally around that which unites us,? said the former mayor and state representative. ??Lincoln?s words about a ?house divided? are as important today as when they were spoken.?

The party also needs to ?reach out in new ways to Independents and Democrats,? he said.? ?Bringing Republicans together is only the first step. No election can be won with Republicans alone.?

?And perhaps most importantly we must be the party of conservative ideas and solutions, not negative campaigning and politics as usual,? said Schickel, a Christian broadcaster.

The party does not need to be less conservative, but it does need to get much better at communicating a message of opportunity for all Iowans, said Schickel. ??It?s time for a new era in Iowa politics in which conservative ideas and solutions are used to help middle class Iowans achieve the American dream.?

?The strength of the Republican Party of Iowa lies in its grass roots activists and county, state and national committee members,? Schickel said.? ?Our path to success in 2014?and beyond?will hinge on our ability to tap their ideas, energy and passion.???

Schickel also announced? a three-part agenda he would launch in his first 100 days in office:

1) A plan to increase early voting by Republicans by 40 percent.? This will be accomplished by increasing early voting 20 percent in 2014 and an additional 20 percent in 2016. Central to the plan will be increasing Republican voter registration?by 10% in 2014 and an additional 10% by 2016. The focus of RPI party events will change to attract and sign up new voters. ?The easily downloadable Iowa Secretary of State ?Register to Vote? mobile phone app will be utilized. There are 1,788 precincts in Iowa.? If each precinct registers just 17 new Republicans a year, the goal will be met. ??The newly registered voters will then be a key part of our early voting campaign.? Daily goals for new voter registration and absentee ballot requests will be established for every precinct in Iowa. ?Early voting and Election Day voting will utilize the latest technology for real time vote monitoring.? Most importantly, RPI will shift from a top down to a bottom up, grass roots driven process.

2) Clearly brand RPI as the party of conservative ideas and solutions. This will include starting a grass roots process of identifying ?100 Innovative Ideas for Iowa?s Future.? ?The ideas will be gathered from the party platform, SCC members, grass roots, party leaders, and others. ?The ideas will be presented annually to the Legislature, governor and business leaders. ?The ideas will be gathered and communicated through district workshops,? news conferences, social media, and other means.? A ?News Media Boot Camp for Republicans? that will outline the most effective ways to present our message to the media will also be conducted, said Schickel, a former television news anchor and newspaper reporter.

3) Coordination of Republican campaigns.? The chair, in cooperation with the SCC will act as a liaison between Presidential campaigns, the Governor, the legislature, county leaders and grass roots activists. ??The key to our success is coordination between all of the people and organizations within our party.? Also, in cooperation with SCC members, district workshops will be held in all four districts to learn how the party can better serve the grass roots, and discuss plans to increase early voting and Republican voter registration.? Specific invitations will be extended to people from the various factions of our party to talk about and identify shared priorities.

You can contact Mr. Schickel at 641-512-4502 or bpschickel@aol.com.? He has a blog at http://billschickel.blogspot.com/

Source: http://theiowarepublican.com/2012/schickel-makes-bid-for-iowa-gop-chairman-official/

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