Many of them participate in monthly phone calls coordinated by the Republican State Government Leadership Foundation, a group that raises money for conservative causes and helped arrange the March news conference. Chris Jankowski, the foundation’s executive director, said the calls are focused on strategy and policy yet can involve litigation decisions.

The officials also coordinate their efforts through the Republican Attorneys General Association, another fundraising group. That organization, started in 1999 out of frustration with environmental and other priorities of the then-overwhelmingly Democratic state attorneys general, raises money to help elect more Republicans to state office. The timing of that group’s founding was ideal, as Republicans took the White House in 2000 and made great strides at the polls over the next decade. (Democratic attorneys general formed their own group in 2002.)

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Alexandria, Va. (April 11, 2012) – The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) today announced the launch of a television and online ad campaign in the Wisconsin Senate District 29 recall election to highlight Donna Seidel’s disastrous, partisan record.  The ad, available here, shows how the unsustainable spending of Democrat Donna Seidel and the special interest unions have crippled Wisconsin’s economy.

“The Democrats and the union bosses spent almost $30 million toward a losing effort in last year’s Senate recalls.  They came up short because families and businesses in Wisconsin know that the economic reforms enacted by Governor Walker, Lieutenant Governor Kleefisch and the Republican majorities are working,” said RSLC President Christopher Jankowski.  “This second round of recalls is estimated to cost Wisconsin taxpayers $17 million at a time when working families are still struggling to make ends meet.”

“This latest waste of taxpayer dollars comes from the same union bosses and Democratic flunkies who gave taxpayers a Madison bus driver making $150,000 a year and furloughs for the best and brightest young teachers because union rules reward seniority rather than merit,” continued Jankowski.  “It was bad enough that the Democrats spent their last two years in power raising taxes by billions of dollars.  They continue to have the wrong recipe for Wisconsin- Donna Seidel voted against nearly half the job creation bills last year.  She just doesn’t get it.”

The two-week long, district wide “Wrong Recipe” television and online campaign follows yesterday’s announcement of a statewide ad campaign by the RSLC’s Lieutenant Governors Association in support of Lieutenant Rebecca Kleefisch and the positive results of the economic reforms enacted by her and Governor Scott Walker.

About the RSLC

The RSLC is the largest caucus of Republican state leaders and the only national organization whose mission is to elect down ballot, state-level Republican office-holders. Since 2002, the RSLC has been working to elect candidates for the office of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and State Legislator. The RSLC has more than 100,000 donors in all 50 states. The RSLC raised more than $30 million for the 2009-2010 cycle as part of an effort that picked up 20 legislative chambers, six Attorneys General, three Lieutenant Governors and seven Secretaries of State.

Alexandria, Va. (April 9, 2012) – The Republican Lieutenant Governors Association (RLGA) today announced the launch of a new television and online ad campaign in Wisconsin as the state heads into its latest round of recall elections.

“As Chair of the RLGA, I am proud to stand with my colleague who has been subjected to an expensive, unnecessary recall which ignores the needs of Wisconsin voters at the expense of partisan politics,” said Nevada Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki. “As these ads make clear, the truth is that Lieutenant Governor Kleefisch has worked with Governor Scott Walker to deliver the budget and education reforms the state desperately needed to reduce the deficit and get on a path to prosperity– and it is working.”

“The RLGA has been a part of the RSLC since 2004, and it has never been more important to stand with our Lieutenant Governors as they partner with Republican governors to reform state government,” stated Chris Jankowski, President of the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC). “The advocates of unsustainable spending who lost control of Wisconsin government in 2010 will not go away quietly, as they now target the office of Lieutenant Governor. The RSLC continues to stand with our elected Republican leaders in Wisconsin and across the country who are standing up and making the smart, tough choices that families, taxpayers and businesses need and deserve.”

The ad campaign includes a targeted statewide cable buy and a geotargeted online ad buy focused on informing Wisconsin voters about Lieutenant Governor Kleefisch’s record of reform and real change. Click here to watch the new television advertisement.

About the RLGA

The Republican Lieutenant Governors Association (RLGA) is the only national organization committed to raising money and assisting Republicans in their campaigns for Lieutenant Governor. The 44 Lieutenant Governors across the country hold an office that has served as a springboard to elected positions such as Governor, Senator, U.S. Representative, or appointments to the President’s Cabinet.

From the RSLC:

As chief legal officers of the states and commonwealths, attorneys general are the last line of defense against an increasingly overreaching federal government. Attorneys general have a duty to uphold the laws of their respective states and uphold the U.S. and state constitutions.

One of the ways in which attorneys general protect the integrity of state laws and constitutions is by carefully reviewing the actions of the federal government and responding when they break the law or overstep the bounds of the Constitution.

Federalism is the division of authority between the federal and state governments that the Founding Fathers created to provide a check on federal power so that the federal government would not become destructive of the very liberty it was instituted to protect.

Read the Rest of the Memo at RSLC.com

This rejection of special interest unions, in a district won by Obama, is a warning to Democrats in Michigan and across the country: Voters are fed up with cronyism and the unaffordable flow of taxpayer funds to union special interests, and want the strong leadership of those who have the skill and will to create jobs in their state Capitols. The RSLC congratulates Representative-elect Joseph Graves on his important victory.

The long awaited announcement last week that the Obama Justice Department and state attorneys general have reached a settlement with five of the largest mortgage lenders over foreclosure practices contains a mixed bag of consumer benefits: a regrettable lack of connection between the alleged legal violations and remedy provided, coupled with the all too familiar grandstanding by the Democratic attorneys general. As Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt indicated when his state refused to join the settlement, this settlement went beyond the actual alleged legal violations. It contains generous terms for those who may have fallen victim to shoddy foreclosure practices, but equally generous benefits for those who were never subject to any such practices. While I suspect that many of his fellow Republican attorneys general agree with Pruitt’s assessment, it is completely understandable given the dire housing market that some conservative attorneys general would reluctantly sign on to the settlement. And so it is that this settlement, which even the Washington Post described as “rough justice”, is firmly located in the American political neighborhood at the intersection of “Principles Street” and “Pragmatism Avenue.”

The banks should not be faulted for being willing to settle. Like all businesses, the mortgage lenders need regulatory certainty and predictability.  In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Congress did not enact laws requiring “cram downs” on mortgages and other features included in this settlement. The American public was truly divided on wanting to help get the housing market back on its feet and not wanting to reward irresponsible behavior – after all, while there were lenders that were making ill-advised and irresponsible loans, there were also consumers on the other side willing to accept them. (Yes, yes, I realize that some consumers probably could not understand the complex terms of the mortgages, but who, making $35,000 a year, would not wonder why they were being lent enough money to buy a $500,000 home with no money down and a poor credit history?)

Read the Rest at RSLC.com

Gillespie’s organization, the Republican State Leadership Committee, has made a six-figure investment in an initiative that promises to replace poorly designed candidate websites with sophisticated, yet inexpensive sites.

The average budget for a state senate campaign is only $190,000, said RSLC press secretary Adam Temple. But a complete website created by the group’s GOPro program only costs Republican candidates $550.

“They can’t afford to use a major DC firm, and a lot of times they end up using local yokels who end up charging them two or three times that,” said Michael Luethe, a political consultant in North Carolina who has run four campaigns using the program.

“Candidates really are stuck in a difficult position between having to choose a crappy website or something that looks professional,” he told The Daily Caller. “And usually professional ones are cost-prohibitive.”

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“Democrats in state legislatures across the country are picking up in 2012 precisely where they left off in 2011 – with brazen “election nullification” tactics. The Democrats participating in these undemocratic and unlawful election nullification exercises do so under the guise of protecting a “fundamental policy issue.” I am talking about, of course, the practice of legislators not coming to the chamber floor to deny a legislative body the required quorum of members present. The most recent case is in Indiana, where Big Labor is opposing Republican efforts to enact a right to work law. While some might question the term “election nullification” as too dramatic, it’s actually the simplest way to describe the intent of the actors here: to prevent public policy changes enacted by lawfully elected Republican majorities.”

Continue reading at RSLC.com…

Alexandria, Va. (January 12, 2012) – RSLC Chairman Ed Gillespie joined New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez to address Republican officials at the RNC Winter Meeting today regarding the ongoing state level Hispanic recruitment efforts and the RSLC’s Future Majority Project (FMP). Gillespie highlighted the need to engage, recruit, support and successfully elect Hispanic candidates to help grow the Republican Party and help it thrive in 2012 and beyond.

“If the Republican Party nominee in 2020—just two elections after this one– gets the same percentage of the white, African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American vote, according to current projections the Democrat will win the White House by 14 percentage points,” said Gillespie.

“Efforts such as the FMP are significant and needed if our party wants to establish long-term success, not only among Hispanic voters, but the entire electorate. I have always believed that to compete for Hispanic votes, Republican candidates must look each person in the eye and communicate their vision to create jobs, improve education and reform the way government functions. Hispanic voters overwhelmingly agree with so much of the Republican Party’s message – but we need to begin to take major steps in articulating that vision this election cycle,” said Governor Martinez, who is a Future Majority Project advisory board member.

This summer, the RSLC launched the FMP, aimed at building support for Republican candidates among Hispanics, women and the youth, three pivotal constituencies that leaned strongly Democratic in 2008. Many of FMP’s efforts are aimed at candidate recruitment, including our Hispanic initiative to spend $3 million and work with Republican organizations to identify 100 new state level Hispanic candidates and elect 30.

As part of the FMP, the RSLC has been extensively reaching out to Hispanic communities and organizations to foster increased cooperation, messaging and coordination. The RSLC will also be working with other key national groups to do extensive microtargeting, data work, message testing and focus groups to identify the right voters and the right messages.

In 2011, candidates in New Jersey and Virginia received direct financial and programmatic assistance through the FMP.

“Americans of Hispanic descent, like an overwhelming majority of Americans, first and foremost want to know how candidates articulate their plan for jobs and economic recovery,” said Gillespie. “Our Party has better solutions to these challenges, and we will focus on presenting them. Our focus and determination will drive us to success.”

About the RSLC

The RSLC is the largest caucus of Republican state leaders and the only national organization whose mission is to elect down ballot, state-level Republican office-holders. Since 2002, the RSLC has been working to elect candidates for the office of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and State Legislator. The RSLC has more than 100,000 donors in all 50 states. The RSLC raised more than $30 million for the 2009-2010 cycle as part of an effort that picked up 20 legislative chambers, six Attorneys General, three Lieutenant Governors and seven Secretaries of State. The RSLC spent $4.5 million during a successful 2011 that resulted in a net pick up of more than 20 seats and control of two new chambers.

Democrats in Indiana are replaying a scene from last year by refusing to allow the state’s House to come to session and vote on a controversial bill that they say will weaken unions.

The Indiana House returned Wednesday for a 10-week session. On the agenda: a so-called right-to-work bill that would ban negotiations between a union and company if workers are forced to pay fees for representation.

Democrats did not show up for the legislative session and instead remained in private meetings, which prevented the Republican majority from having a quorum to start the session. Indiana law is written so a quorum is needed for every vote, whether or not it involves spending money.

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