Hit the Streets, Not Deb Pauly: No More Covering Up for Mary D. Young

This is the text of a statement I made to the OCGOP over a year ago in defense of my friend Mike Munzing. Given the upcoming election, I thought it would be a good idea to publicize this statement, in part, as an explanation for why I think it is so important to have Tea Party, 912 and Ron Paul activists band together to promote a constitutional conservative philosophy at the local level.


Dr. Drew with David Horowitz at
event featuring Stanley Kurtz's book,
Radical-In-Chief.


 Since I'm not longer serving as Mike's OCGOP alternate, as of today, I'm free to release this letter to the general public.

As you might know, Mike and I disagree about how to deal with people like Mary D. Young. As one of the people campaigning against her for the Orange County Republican Central Committee, I'm thankful I now have the opportunity to speak and write freely about what is motivating me to root out the sickness that is holding back the growth of the Republican party in CA. I should add that Mike is in no way responsible for my past or current political statements or activities. I remain an independent sort of guy.

Open Letter to OCGOP from John C. Drew, Ph.D. on February 14, 2011

As a political scientist, I know that one of the secrets of success in politics is the ability to get along with others. Accordingly, I was disappointed to read the unfriendly, mean-spirited personal attacks that Mary D. Young has launched against my friend, Mike Munzing.

Background on Mike Munzing's Party Building Efforts

As you may know, Mike has been like a breath of fresh air to the Republican Party in South Orange County. He is attracting independents and conservatives who are brand new to politics, or - like me - re-energized by the possibilities of the new social media. In the process, Mike is building a powerful and exciting wave of enthusiasm based on his energy, charm, warmth, and commitment to conservative values.

Knowing him as I do, I'm alarmed for the future of the local party by the two e-mails cited below, e-mails which are authored by Mary Young. What is most puzzling to me is the level of hostility unleashed by Mary Young in attacking Mike on personal grounds. As you may read below, Mary's unfriendly attitude goes so far as to suggest that he is not a true Christian or a true team player within the OCGOP.

As I understand it, Mike got the idea for hosting a "Conservative Happy Hour" from the folks at American's for Prosperity and their Right On-Line Conference a few months ago. Mike has been planning an Orange County version of this idea with the intent of attracting a much larger group of independent and conservative activists. In his vision, the Conservative Happy Hour will attract a younger crowd and local neighbors who are concerned about what is happening to our country, but who do not know where to go to plug into the new Republican party. Mike's plan is to work out the details here in South Orange County, and then - if successful - create a template which will make it easier for others in the Central Committee to host similar "Conservative Happy Hours" in North Orange County.

Mary Young's Response to Mike's Efforts

As a courtesy to others, Mike e-mailed the results of his hard work to members of the OCGOP this past Friday. In response, he got an unfriendly, puzzling reaction from Mary Young. I'm sharing the e-mail exactly as it was written, removing only Mary D. Young's e-mail address:

From: 
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 1:02 PM
To: root@list.munzingmortgagegroup.com
Subject: Re: Mike Munzing's Conservative Happy Hour - March 3rd

Mike!


I thought now that the election was over and you are part of the OCGOP team, you would join us and be in charge of a happy hour for the OCGOP, instead of having your very own? We are conservatives and it looks like very few of you new CC members have any intentions of joining us.


It should read; Happy Hour Chairman, Mike Munzing presents the very first" OCGOP Happy Hour Series". Scott would have been delighted to have you take on something such as a Happy Hour. Now that the election is over, I can see, you had no intentions of being part of our team. Maybe because you are too important to you and the good of your Party & Country come after that


I am really disappointed you aren't trying to help the OCGOP or help Lee Lowery & myself try to have a get together.


You wonder why we as the OCGOP can't do all these things? I will tell you why, because people just like you are more interested in yourself then making the Party grow to be bigger and better.


I can see this next year or two, it will be the same people doing all the work (with the exception of Dean Gross, he is already trying to help)for the Party and then you guys will complain we aren't doing enough.


Very sad, Mary

Without a response from Mike, Mary decided to "double down" on her unfriendly attack and hours later followed up with an even more insulting, harsher and thoroughly unprofessional mass e-mail, as follows:

From:
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 10:56 PM

To: root@list.munzingmortgagegroup.com
Subject: Re: Mike Munzing's Conservative Happy Hour - March 3rd

Mike, I was right about you from the very beginning, but I believed you when you asked for a second chance.

You care about Mike and only Mike and everyone will soon find out, as they already are.


You should be totally ashamed of yourself, but you won't be, because you don't know the slightest about being a good Christian.


I am going to have a long chat with ???? & ???? all about you.

My Responses to Mary D. Young's Attack on Mike Munzing

I feel called upon to gently dispute the comments in Mary Young's emails as inaccurate and unhelpful to the OCGOP. First, I should point out that Mike is, indeed, a good Christian. I met Mike when my wife and I started attending Coast Hills Church, in Aliso Viejo. Mike was introduced to me by the wife of one of the elders of our church, a woman who has worked with Mike for over a decade. Any suggestion that Mike is not a true Christian will come as a great surprise to me, my wife, Mike's wife Erin and all of us who have witnessed Mike participate in the worship services and social activities of our church. Through church, Mike has entertained us with his juggling skills and has performed to the delight of homeless and military families assisted by the church. He has also taught Sunday School at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA.

Mary's suggestion that Mike is not a conservative also strikes me as oddly out of touch with reality. Mike has been energized by the dysfunctional Obama administration and has made heroic efforts to support those of us calling attention to Obama's socialist ideological roots and to participate in the larger effort to end Democrat control of the House of Representatives. In my experience, Mike follows public policy debates closely from a conservative perspective. He has impressed me with his skill in covering the details and nuances of policy issues particularly regarding the economy, the money supply and the environment. I have no doubt that Mike's commitment to conservative philosophy has been informed by his 27 years of experience and prosperity in the real estate and mortgage industry.

I  think Mike is the sort of young, energetic, principled, fun-to-know conservative leader we ought to be nurturing and building in Orange County. Mike's friendliness, imagination, and skill with on-line media make him a great guy to work with and an inspiring example of the new energy released by a resurgent Republican party.

In contrast to Mike's friendly and positive style, Mary Young seems to have knack for attracting negative attention and dragging down otherwise respected government institutions - especially in her role as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointee to the Orange County Fair and Event Center (OCFEC) Board of Directors.

I did a quick Google search, for example, and quickly learned that she has been criticized for voting to increase O.C. Fair ticket prices at the same time that she was enjoying over-the-top personal benefits including free tickets and free meals at the O.C. Fair's expense. See, http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2008/08/greedy-oc-fair-board-forced-to-cut-their-free-concert-ticket-allocation-again

As far as I can tell, Mary was a key leader in the embarrassing effort of the OCFEC Board of Directors to re-establish itself as a non-profit, OCFEC Foundation, a foundation capable of raising enough money to purchase the land on which the OCFEC conducts its activities. The Orange County District Attorney's office has criticized decisions made by the OCFEC Board of Directors in terms of their public communications in the "OC Fair Board Investigation Report" which is available at http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp

Conclusions

All in all, it looks to me like Mary Young brings bad timing and unnecessary divisiveness to many of her public roles. Objectively, I think she is part of the problem when it comes to addressing the failures of big government to serve the public interest. I certainly want to call on Mary to apologize for - and retract - her personal attacks on Mike's religious commitment, community service and his conservative principles. If the OCGOP is going to grow, we are going to need more fun, positive, people-friendly guys like Mike Munzing assisting us. He's a good man, he is my friend, and I'm proud to stand by him now.

John C. Drew, Ph.D. is an award-winning political scientist.